# Effective Voice: Empowering Online Communities Beyond Exit and Affect

Source: https://arxiv.org/abs/2009.12470
Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Effective-Voice-Empowering-Online-Communities-Beyond-Exit-and-Affect?index=0x64f4880b692b20631521c82122ff697cf4dc1051f9d83e751198d53ee3d42eb0a23947c2
Submitted by chaomons.eth on 2023-09-03 UTC, 2 upvotes, 0 comments

## Summary

Frey and Schneider argue that online communities offer plenty of room for self-expression but usually give ordinary users no direct control over community policies, and they propose "effective voice" as a remedy. Drawing on Albert O. Hirschman's distinction between exit and voice, the paper contrasts effective voice, which is speech that produces binding effects through transparent processes, with the much more common affective voice. The authors suggest that platform developers and researchers explore this neglected form of voice through mechanisms for authority and accountability, collective action, and community evolution.

## Article

Effective Voice: Beyond Exit and Affect in Online Communities

Authors: Seth Frey, Nathan Schneider

Online communities provide ample opportunities for user self-expression but generally lack the means for average users to exercise direct control over community policies. This paper sets out to identify a set of strategies and techniques through which the voices of participants might be better heard through defined mechanisms for institutional governance. Drawing on Albert O. Hirschman's distinction between "exit" and "voice" in institutional life, it introduces a further distinction between two kinds of participation: effective voice, as opposed to the far more widespread practices of affective voice. Effective voice is a form of individual or collective speech that brings about a binding effect according to transparent processes. Platform developers and researchers might explore this neglected form of voice by introducing mechanisms for authority and accountability, collective action, and community evolution.