Abstract
This study examines other-initiated repair as what has been termed a light practice, demonstrating how it facilitates interactivity and moments of community creation online. Specifically, I analyze user comments on expert-written blogs that appear on an English-language weight loss website, showing how posters collaboratively initiate, accomplish, and show appreciation for repair activities. These activities, which are, as in face-to-face conversation, typically mitigated through various linguistic strategies, are aimed at aspects of blog text (including vocabulary and amount of information provided), as well as the choice of accompanying images. I show how various people – commenters, a person profiled in a blog, and bloggers – all may play roles in collaboratively accomplishing repair and thereby engage in the community. In addition, I suggest that repair not only facilitates participation, but also simultaneously serves as a means of highlighting shared expectations, or what have been called cultural discourses, about expert-written blogs. In other words, in engaging in repair activities, participants create routine forms of interaction that also (re)affirm shared expectations among members of this community.
Acknowledgements
I thank Alla Tovares, Ingrid Piller, an anonymous reviewer, and especially Najma Al Zidjaly for their comments and suggestions. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 3rd International Conference on Language, Linguistics, Literature and Translation at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman: Connecting the Dots in a Glocalized World (November 2016).
Appendix
(those marked with an asterisk include extracts and comments analyzed in this article)
*Brennan, Jacquelyn. (December 21, 2014). So You Want to Start…Running. Retrieved from http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/so-you-want-to-start-running/
*Coach Stevo. (June 14, 2016). So You Want to Stop…Snacking Late at Night. Retrieved from http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/so-you-want-to-stop-snacking-late-at-night/
Freedman, Jonah. (April 29, 2017). This Stay-at-Home Dad Put Numbers to Work to Lose 110 Pounds. Retrieved from http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/stay-home-dad-put-numbers-work-lose-110-pounds/
*Havey, Mackenzie L. (May 23, 2016). No “Secrets” to Weight Loss: How Victoria Wagar Lost 164 Pounds. Retrieved from http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/no-secrets-to-weight-loss-how-victoria-wagar-lost-164-pounds/
*Le, Trinh. (December 23, 2014). So You Want to Start Eating Breakfast. Retrieved from http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/so-you-want-to-start-eating-breakfast/
*MyFitnessPal. (May 6, 2014). Fitness Tribe Pride: Traci Perg Gets a Little Help From Her Friends. Retrieved from http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/fitness-tribe-pride-traci-perg-gets-a-little-help-from-her-friends/
MyFitnessPal. (April 1, 2014). The MyFitnessPal Trick that Helped This Woman Drop 42 lbs.—and Keep them Off! Retrieved from http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/the-myfitnesspal-trick-that-helped-this-woman-drop-42-lbs-and-keep-them-off/
Penner, Elle. (December 27, 2014). So You Want to Start…Cooking Healthy. Retrieved from http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/so-you-want-to-start-cooking-healthy/
Penner, Rob. (January 14, 2015). So You Want to Start…Playing Tennis. Retrieved from http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/so-you-want-to-start-playing-tennis/
Sklarin, Emma. (July 20, 2017). Getting Back on the Bike: How Tracey Changed Her Life After an Accident. Retrieved from http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/getting-back-bike-tracey-changed-life-accident/
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