Inelastic scattering of 59.5 keV photons at small momentum transfers by Ti, Fe and Ni elements

We present a study of the properties of network of political discussions on

one of the most popular Polish Internet forums. This provides the opportunity

to study the computer mediated human interactions in strongly bipolar

environment. The comments of the participants are found to be mostly

disagreements, with strong percentage of invective and provocative ones. Binary

exchanges (quarrels) play significant role in the network growth and topology.

Statistical analysis shows that the growth of the discussions depends on the

degree of controversy of the subject and the intensity of personal conflict

between the participants. This is in contrast to most previously studied social

networks, for example networks of scientific citations, where the nature of the

links is much more positive and based on similarity and collaboration rather

than opposition and abuse. The work discusses also the implications of the

findings for more general studies of consensus formation, where our

observations of increased conflict contradict the usual assumptions that

interactions between people lead to averaging of opinions and agreement.