Table 2:
Derived roles and their representative behaviors ranked by their frequency in descending order.
| Role Name | Frequency (%) | Typical Behaviors |
|---|---|---|
| Emotional support provider | 33.3 | Provide emo support in the forum, provide appreciation in the forum, provide encouragement in the forum, # subforums a user participated, provide empathy in the forum, provide info support in the forum |
| Welcomer | 15.9 | out-degree in forum, # replies in the forum, the ratio of talking to newcomers in the forum provide encouragement and provide empathy in the forum, the entropy of user-user interaction in the forum |
| Informational support provider | 13.3 | Provide info support in the forum, provide empathy in the forum, provide encouragement in the forum, mention symptom related words, mention drug related words, mention anxiety related words |
| Story sharer | 10.2 | # threads in the forum, self-disclose positively in the forum, seek emo support in the forum, self-disclose negatively in the forum, seek info support in the forum, use interpersonal pronouns |
| Informational support seeker | 8.9 | # threads in the forum, seek info support in the forum, self-disclose negatively in the forum, seek emo support in the forum, mention disease related words, mention symptom related words |
| Private support provider | 5.3 | Provide emo support in private chats, provide appreciation and provide empathy in private chats, provide info support and provide encouragement in private chats, self-disclose positively in private chats |
| Private communicator | 5.3 | Preference for using private chats, provide encouragement and provide info support in private chats, provide emo support in private chats, provide empathy in private chats, seek info support in private chats |
| All-round expert | 2.5 | # messages in private chats, provide appreciation in private chats, provide emo support in private chats, provide encouragement in private chats, # replies in the forum, self-disclose positively in the forum |
| Newcomer member | 2.4 | # threads in the forum, seek info support in the forum, self-disclose positively in the forum, self-disclose negatively in the forum, seek emo support in the forum, mention diagnostic test related words |
| Knowledge promoter | 2.2 | # urls/links per message, mention ingredient related words, provide info support in the forum, mention drug related words, mention anxiety related words, mention death related words |
| Private networker | 0.8 | The entropy of user-user interaction in private chats, out-degree in private chats, in-degree in private chats, # messages in private chats, the ratio of being talked to by oldtimers, # private conversation initialized |