An Author Network to Classify Open Online Discussions

Among other modalities, online coordination can notably rely on discussions and forums. However, and notwithstanding increasing research efforts, direct approaches that would help communities and moderators distinguish between gossip and serious debates are still largely missing. We present an innovative methodology to detect the different structures of online discussions in the sub-Reddit Change My View. Applying a clustering algorithm to the author networks, we highlight three distinct classes characterized by alternative behaviors. To better understand the underlying social dynamics, we implement a relational event model that provides evidence for three effects whose influence can affect the structure of online discussions.