Online tennis forum member dynamics and collective leisure experience.

Abstract

Much of our understanding of collective leisure experience emerges from “traditional settings,” reliant on physical proximity and face-to-face contact. In the presence of online spaces, this seems inherently incomplete, and by nature exclusionary. While challenges exist, online platforms can embrace diversity, foster emotional connection, and enhance group activity. The worldwide pandemic questioned leisure priorities, and in turn, online communities’ capacity to weather the pressures. What happens to an online group when the leisure pursuit that brings them together is at its most vulnerable? This paper explores member dynamics amid pandemic-related disruption from the resilience thinking framework. An immersive netnography approach is used to explore online member dynamics of a popular international tennis forum. Observations over three years reveal that to preserve the old, members introduce new activities, creating elements that extend the forum’s functionality. The moderator, a perceived villain, proves equally important to the success of the collective in a predicament.