Popularity and Discourse in Tech-Related Online Communities

Popularity and Discourse in Tech-Related Online Communities | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Popularity and Discourse in Tech-Related Online Communities Abduljaleel Al Rubaye, Gita Sukthankar This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3998556/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 31 Jul, 2024 Read the published version in Social Network Analysis and Mining → Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Tech-related online communities on GitHub, Reddit, and Stack Overflow are an invaluable resource for software engineers, allowing them to find solutions to problems and connect with other professionals. Much of the discourse on these platforms is conducted using commenting mechanisms in which one user responds to content posted by another user. Even though these communities lack formal organizational structures, these technologists are often followed by other software developers who monitor their posts; users who regularly post useful solutions are recognized using platform-specific mechanisms such as stars or karma points. This article investigates the relationship between popularity and discourse in tech-related online communities. To do this, we create comment timelines from sequences of user interactions and extract commenting networks from comment response patterns. We study how the popularity of the post authors and other commenters shapes community interaction. Although there are some commonal-ities, there are distinct differences between the commenting behavior of GitHub users vs. Reddit and Stack Overflow. By understanding how popularity affects user interactions, we can design communities that are more effective at supporting learning, collaboration, and knowledge sharing. social coding platforms tech-related forums popularity knowledge sharing Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 31 Jul, 2024 Read the published version in Social Network Analysis and Mining → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 12 Jul, 2024 Reviews received at journal 12 Jul, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 11 Jul, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 10 May, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 17 Mar, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 29 Feb, 2024 First submitted to journal 28 Feb, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-3998556","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":275530909,"identity":"62ca647b-a7e3-442c-a28e-8c3ab16805cf","order_by":0,"name":"Abduljaleel Al Rubaye","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Central Florida","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Abduljaleel","middleName":"Al","lastName":"Rubaye","suffix":""},{"id":275530910,"identity":"4fb6ddfa-6015-4b38-ae86-66ba330b08ee","order_by":1,"name":"Gita Sukthankar","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABCUlEQVRIie2PMWvCQBTH3/EgU6rrHS3NV7gQiIKFjv0aJx1u0UnI1CEgpIvUNX6LuHROONClOGcqKQXnTOKg4qV2EnJdO9xvuAfv3o//ewAWy38EL4UDBSAxwL0uFYBjUi4Od3+VQLe4WYErZRj/pXhP3aKGgwoeb6fbr/TlU2ZrBVBHqlXxFSIliQrdu1XPz1aTcfbxDCTdGJQpAiWxenCpCFnliHFWdnO8SYwK7vViWpE7Vp2E5CUCHg2Kh+hQcPRidBSyZSLEj0IMCkcM+8NEBm45itjiTfgLfUsx28j2lHnxXdaHgf+aync22wmvs1ak2keD9pRcP+K6m7fONymx6ddisVgsDWeBAVGuRZnKGAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"University of Central Florida","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Gita","middleName":"","lastName":"Sukthankar","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-02-29 04:59:13","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3998556/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3998556/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-024-01312-y","type":"published","date":"2024-07-31T15:57:18+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":61793362,"identity":"5584d171-63bf-45b5-965e-e3766410359f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-08-05 16:11:35","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2860165,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SukthankarSNAM2024.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3998556/v1_covered_7c590f25-376d-4055-aac6-cb14bdb5e4e7.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Popularity and Discourse in Tech-Related Online Communities","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"social-network-analysis-and-mining","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"snam","sideBox":"Learn more about [Social Network Analysis and Mining](http://link.springer.com/journal/13278)","snPcode":"13278","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/13278/3","title":"Social Network Analysis and Mining","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":" social coding platforms, tech-related forums, popularity, knowledge sharing","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3998556/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3998556/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Tech-related online communities on GitHub, Reddit, and Stack Overflow are an invaluable resource for software engineers, allowing them to find solutions to problems and connect with other professionals. 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