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CFH's Paper on Saddoboxing as a social group for those who wanted it posted
Here it is. I wrote this over a few hours for a 2nd year cultural anthropology course - the part at the end about an anthropologist studying the group was required by the prof. It's for an audience who has no idea what Saddo's is, obviously. I didn't have much time to spend on it, so it could have been a lot better...
CFH
The Saddoboxing.com Forum as a Social Group
Throughout history social groups have played an important role in the structure and stability of human culture. With the phenomenal rise of the internet, people have been able to connect with others in ways that never could have been imagined thirty years ago. People have the ability to establish themselves in a greater number and variety of social groups than ever before - often forming relationships with people they never have, and never will, meet face to face. Saddoboxing.com is just one of the tens of thousands of “forums” that have sprung into existence on the internet, yet it has created a community with a culture that is undeniably its own. One of the fascinating things about Saddoboxing is that, like other forums on the internet, it brings together people from all over the world, from all kinds of socio-economic situations and backgrounds into a discourse in which there is no consideration of ones social standing, economic background, age, or race and ethnicity – all members are judged on the merits of what they say and their abilities to explain why they think that way. Through its members, Saddo's (as is is commonly known to those members), has grown into a social group, a community on to itself containing many elements of culture. It has its own hierarchy, its own unique vernacular (which can initially be quite confusing to new members), its own rituals and symbols, and its own rules and customs – both stated and unwritten.
Before discussing the individual facets of this social group, it is necessary to understand what defines Saddoboxing.com. On the surface, Saddoboxing is little more than a website that provides viewers with boxing news and coverage of fights - photos, stories, and information with an attached forum section where members are able to discuss the latest boxing news and express their opinions on related subjects. The membership of the forum is made up of a diverse array of people drawn together by a common passion, boxing. People gather before, during, and after all boxing matches, be they major or minor, to debate, dissect, and discuss. Before major fights there is a groundswell of debating and conflicting opinions, but one thing that separates Saddoboxing.com from many other boxing forums is the way in which these divergent opinions are expressed. Unlike many other boxing forums (sadly enough), there are no racist overtones or insults bandied about. Personal insults are also frowned upon and rarely appear in even the most heated of debates; such indiscretions are swiftly dealt with by the moderators of the forum, the roles of whom will be discussed shortly. Reason and rationality are valued above all else on Saddoboxing, unlike other sites where the ability to insult another poster in the most creative or derogatory way seems to be a more valuable asset. Like many boxing sites, Saddoboxing creates a shared sense of identity, communion, and solidarity among its members as boxing these days goes largely ignored in the mainstream sporting media and it is these members who ultimately define the culture of this internet social group.
The forum itself is broken up into many different sections, some of which are not visible until the member has reached a certain number of posts. The main board on the forum is dedicated to general boxing discussion, and as such is named Boxing Talk, this is by far the most popular and frequently visited area. However, there are numerous boards, each with its own degree of popularity. Beneath the Boxing Talk section is an area called Ask The Trainer, it is a board in which aspiring or current boxers can go for tips, strategies and advice on all aspects of recreational, amateur, or professional boxers. Many of the regular contributors to that section of the forum have themselves had recreational, amateur, or training experience and expertise that can provide an invaluable source of information and inspiration to young or inexperienced fighters. These posters are almost invariably treated with a great deal of respect and admiration. There is also a board dedicated to Boxing Predictions, which is a ritualistic component of the site which will be discussed later on in this paper. Underneath that, there is a section dedicated to discussing boxing in the United Kingdom (called U.K. Boxing), as the site is based in Britain and many of its members are from the United Kingdom. There is also a board dedicated to the ranking of boxers in the various weight-classes as well as something referred to as a “pound for pound” ranking where boxers are somewhat democratically ranked in order of their skill and accomplishments, regardless of their individual weight classes. There are also boards dedicated to mixed martial arts (commonly referred to as MMA), the “Fight Night” series of boxing video games, and a Spam board where mostly useless information is posted.
As an individual becomes a regular member and begins posting frequently, three other boards appear after certain criteria are met. After one hundred posts, a member is able to see two boards that were previously unavailable to them, one of which is the File Sharing Board where members can post links through which boxing matches can be downloaded. The other board that becomes visible after one hundred posts is an off-topic forum called Lets Get It On which is mostly unmoderated, and where members are able to post about anything they like as long as its not “racist or illegal stuff”. Members frequently post incredibly personal things on this board, doing so comfortably because of the relative anonymity of an internet forum. Heartfelt advice as well as often scathing criticism abound in this board, but it is of great value, both to this social group and to the member who may find him or herself in desperate need of advice from a source not connected to them on a personal level. The off-topic forum always creates bonds between posters are they are better able to get to know one another on a deeper level. Beyond these hidden boards, there is a more deeply hidden board, also an off-topic board, that can only be viewed by members who have a post count of one thousand and above.
As with any social group, there is a hierarchy at Saddoboxing that must be observed in order for the group to function properly. At the top of the Saddoboxing hierarchy is Saddo himself, the creator and manager of the site. On the forum he is an almost omnipotent force, with all of the associated power concentrated in his hands. Beneath Saddo are the moderators of the site, who are essentially the force which polices the forum, ensuring no member invokes personal insults as a defense of their position. Moderators, or mods as they are commonly known as, also ensure that no sexist or racist remarks are allowed to remain on the site. There are only a small number of moderators in relation to the number of members, but there is almost always a mod present. The selection process for moderators is a fairly simple one, they are chosen from the regular membership base and selection seems to be based on the quality of the members previous postings, the level of respect they command from the membership base, and their availability in regards to how much time they are able to spend on the site. Below the mods there are the members – or so it would appear on the surface. In fact, there are various levels of stratification between regular members. At the top of the membership base are those posters who, by title at least, appear no different from any other posters, but who, by the consistent quality of their posts command a certain amount of respect above that which is accorded to regular members. In addition to the regular members, Saddoboxing.com always has a large number of “guests” viewing the forum, there are often more guests than there are members viewing the site at any particular time. These guests would be considered to be at the bottom of the social hierarchy as they cannot contribute anything to the ongoing discussion, being able to view the various threads but not able to post within those threads.
There are also several posters who can only be referred to as the villains of Saddoboxing. Members who, for whatever reasons, take a more hard lined and negative approach with their postings, preferring to back up their posts with both information and reason, as well as mild insults and ridiculing taunts. These posters rarely cross the line between tame insulting and serious offense, but when this occurs they are quickly reprimanded and admonished by the moderators. They play a valuable role in the social group however, often stirring up heated debate while at the same time providing a great deal of humor for the other members. This type of member also provides a great service to the forum in that they question the reasoning and rational of a poster by intensely questioning the facts behind posted opinions. Quite a few members remarked on how the forum just was not the same after one of these villain-type members could not post for several months as he was having personal issues.
Like many social groups, the Saddoboxing forum also has many colloquialisms, abbreviations, and slang terms which can be quite confusing to the outsider or the new member. Many of the terms that are found on Saddoboxing are familiar to the boxing fan, but completely foreign to those who do not follow the sport. Some terms refer to the abilities or styles of fighters, such as a “shot fighter,” a boxer who is over the hill and has absorbed too much punishment to continue to fight their usual level; a “weight-drained” fighter, a boxer who has become badly malnourished and dehydrated by attempting to make weight (which means to weigh in below the limit of their particular weight-class); a “brawler,” a fighter who disregards defense and technical precision in favor of violent offensive fighting; and a “punchy” boxer, a fighter who has taken so much physical punishment over their career that it has begun to effect both his speech and his mind in a negative manner.
Some of the slang terms refer to things that surround boxing, but do not take place in the ring – for example, the term “alphabet strap” refers the title belts that are presented by the various sanctioning bodies that govern boxing (there are currently four major alphabet straps); the “Ring Magazine champions” are those who hold the Ring Magazine championship belts, which are seen as the only real legitimate belts by the majority of boxing fans as they are the only belts which have an unbroken, linear string of champions; the term “pound for pound list” as mentioned earlier refers to the list in which boxers are ranked in terms of overall skill with no regard for the weight class they compete in (heavyweights are excluded from pound for pound lists, as heavyweights are generally considered to be separate from other fighters in that they fight at the highest possible weight and thus are considered to be the best fighters). IMO stands for in my opinion, another commonly used abbreviation. The abbreviation KTFO is seen quite frequently on the forum as well, it refers to a fighter who has been “knocked the f--- out”.
Many of the abbreviations that are found on Saddoboxing would perplex even those who are familiar with the boxing vernacular. Cool clicks and sad clicks (which are almost always abbreviated as CC or SC on the forum) are a visible rating system by which posters can voice agreement or disagreement with another poster's opinions. A member's cool click to sad click ratio is displayed next to his or her name. The names of popular fighters are often abbreviated as well, PBF stands for 'Pretty Boy' Floyd (the nickname of Floyd Mayweather Jr.), JC is Joe Calzaghe – the long reigning super-middleweight champion from Wales. Pac-man refers to Manny 'Pac-man' Pacqiuao – a tremendously popular Filipino fighter.
British slang is often seen on Saddo's, as many of the members hail from the United Kingdom. Americans are at times referred to as “yanks”, while an individual from Liverpool would be called a “scouser”. People from a wide range of cultures and countries participate in the Saddoboxing forum and all the different linguistic inflections can take a bit of getting used to, but it contributes to making the forum a compelling social institution.
As mentioned earlier, there a some ritualistic elements to Saddoboxing. The most popular of the ritualistic activities is Wacko3205's Drunken Round by Round, which occurs whenever a major fight takes place. Arguably the most respected and celebrated moderator on the site, Wacko posts a round by round summary of all major fights for those who are not able to view them. This is a great service to the many members who cannot afford to pay the $50.00 fee required to watch most pay-per-view boxing contests as well as to those who live in parts of the world in which the fights cannot be seen. So many people log on to read his synopsis that the site often crashes and becomes unstable due to the number of people attempting to view the round by round. As the title would suggest, Wacko is usually well intoxicated by the time the fight occurs, and this only adds to the popularity of his play-by-play. It should be noted, however, that members posting on the forum while drunk has become almost a ritual onto itself as it happens quite frequently.
Another ritual that members of the board take part in is Killersheep's sportsbook, a simulation of sports betting in which the member Killersheep acts as the bookie, posting the available fights and setting the odds. The sportsbook generally runs in three month increments and the poster who accumulates the most virtual winnings is declared the winner. Most of the dedicated posters enjoy taking part in this activity.
The boxing prediction contest is another ritual that many people from the site participate in, though it is not as popular as Wacko's round-by-round or Killersheep's sportsbook, mostly because it requires a lot of time and attention. Participants predict the outcome of various boxing matches over a specific time frame. To win points in the contest one must accurately predict both the winner of a fight and the means by which he or she wins the fight. This is the only ritual in which the winner of the contest is presented with a prize, normally something quite mundane like a t-shirt or a signed portrait of a fighter.
On the the more interesting elements of the forum is that no one is excluded from participating. The vast majority of the members are men, many of them quite young, but it does not stop female boxing fans from joining. All of the male members treat the female members with respect and rarely, if even, is a sexist or derogatory comment seen. In fact, the female members are probably treated with more kindness and understanding than any of the male members are accorded. While nobody is discouraged or excluded from posting, the only group that could be considered to be inadvertently excluded from participating the forum would be homosexuals, some of whom might be made uncomfortable by some of the joking insults that are at times thrown around, which is admittedly unfair; unfortunately such opinions and jokes are all too common in many facets of sports.
If an anthropologist were to study this group, it would be a relatively simple process. First, of course, one would be required to join the forum as a new member – a very easy process that requires only access to the internet and an active email account. The anthropologist would simply need to visit Saddoboxing.com and register, shortly thereafter an email would be sent to the prospective member explaining how to activate the account.
In terms of data gathering, participant observation would be by far the best method of data collection, structured interviews might have some success as well, but they would not be nearly as effective as active participation. If the researcher was to make their intentions known to the membership at large, many posters would be willing to help provide date; however, some of the members who play the role of the board villains might attempt to make things difficult for the researcher by teasing them or mocking their attempts to gather information, but such actions would be undertaken in jest, and those posters would probably end up contributing valuable information in the process.
A base of knowledge about boxing in general would certainly be a requirement for any researcher attempting to study this social group; both to gain the trust and confidence of the other posters and as a way to actively participate in forum activities. A thick skin along with the ability to handle some good-natured (and some not good-natured) criticism would also be a boon to the anthropologist studying this group, as new members are often welcomed quite warmly, but can sometimes be treated quite critically by existing members. This is not done maliciously, but rather as a way to weed out those who are uninformed or belligerent in their opinions. An easy going, patient personality would also be an asset to anyone seeking to study this group, as there air about the forum
Ethical concerns on the part of the anthropologist would not be very significant at all in terms of studying the members of Saddoboxing.com. Not recording some of the sensitive personal information on the off-topic forum would be an important ethical concern, and perhaps protecting the identity of the informants would be necessary if sensitive information was provided, but beyond that there would be few ethical dilemmas that would arise during the study of this social group. There would have to be some minor concerns on the part of the anthropologist in regards to drawing false conclusions about the site, as there would be with any internet based social groups. The relative anonymity of the internet allows users to project false information with little concern for repercussions – the researcher would have to ensure that they had trustworthy informants before drawing any conclusions based on information provided by members.
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Originally Posted by CFH
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