{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,8]],"date-time":"2026-08-08T10:06:20Z","timestamp":1786183580268,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2004,4,1]],"date-time":"2004-04-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1080777600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["New Media &amp; Society"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2004,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The proponents of cyberspace promise that online discourse will increase political participation and pave the road for a democratic utopia. This article explores the potential for civil discourse in cyberspace by examining the level of civility in 287 discussion threads in political newsgroups. While scholars often use civility and politeness interchangeably, this study argues that this conflation ignores the democratic merit of robust and heated discussion. Therefore, civility was defined in a broader sense, by identifying as civil behaviors that enhance democratic conversation. In support of this distinction, the study results revealed that most messages posted on political newsgroups were civil, and further suggested that because the absence of face-to-face communication fostered more heated discussion, cyberspace might actually promote Lyotard\u2019s vision of democratic emancipation through disagreement and anarchy (Lyotard, 1984). Thus, this study supported the internet\u2019s potential to revive the public sphere, provided that greater diversity and volume of discussion is present.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444804041444","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2004,5,27]],"date-time":"2004-05-27T09:01:14Z","timestamp":1085648474000},"page":"259-283","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":824,"title":["Democracy online: civility, politeness, and the democratic potential of online political discussion groups"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Zizi","family":"Papacharissi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Temple University, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2004,4,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"atypb1","unstructured":"Abramson, J.B., F.C. Arterton and G.R. Orren (1988) The Electronic Commonwealth: the Impact of New Media Technologies on Democratic Politics. 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Mukerji and M. Schudson (eds) Rethinking Popular Culture: Contemporary Perspectives in Cultural Studies, pp. 398\u2013404. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press ."},{"key":"atypb19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hacker, K.L. and J. van Dijk (2000) \u2018What is Digital Democracy?\u2019, in K.L. Hacker and J. van Dijk (eds) Digital Democracy: Issues of Theory and Practice, pp. 1\u20139. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage .","DOI":"10.4135\/9781446218891.n1"},{"key":"atypb20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/08824099609362080"},{"key":"atypb21","unstructured":"Hill, K.A. and J.E. Hughes (1998) Cyberpolitics: Citizen Activism in the Age of the Internet. New York: Rowman & Littlefield ."},{"key":"atypb22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0261927X970162006"},{"key":"atypb23","unstructured":"Jamieson, K.H. (1997) \u2018Civility in the House of Representatives. 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