Gatekeepers, Virtual Communities and the Gated: Multidimensional Tensions in Cyberspace

Gatekeeping/Information Control is exercised frequently and daily in virtual communities. In this context, Gatekeeping mainly exists in four different levels of stakeholders: formal regulators, infrastructure regulators (e.g., service providers), communities’ managers and members of the communities (serving in two roles: as representatives of the communities or as individuals). The article analyzes the sensitive balance of relationships among these stakeholders. Additionally, it examines how power is manifested and exercised through information control in forums. Three levels that impact gatekeeping's nature are analyzed – the gatekeepers, the community and the gated while addressing: first, the duality of gatekeepers as protectors or manipulators; second, the politics of power of marginalized groups in cyberspace; and finally, the meaning of gated anonymity to information control.