Moderation and "passive" users in the practice of local internet communities

This article deals with the stratification aspects of network societies, in particular, describes the features of moderation in local Internet communities. The study of moderation various manifestations in virtual groups we base on a practical case study, which is aimed at social-stratification analysis of local online communities existing in cyberspace of the large Russian cities. Generalization of theoretical positions and processing of the data obtained allow us to conclude that in any local community, even in those where moderation is carried out by the users themselves, there is a stratification scale for ranking of users. The variety of criteria for the system of status and role stratification, the skills of participants in these criteria application influence the degree of moderation rights use by formal and informal leaders of network societies, and contribute to the control of interactions in a virtual group. The article may be useful for realization of socio-philosophical and sociological analysis of the phenomena caused by the Internet’s development.