Complaining about the Alliance: Extending Kowalski's Theory of Complaining through a Hermeneutical Analysis of Online Complaining Data

Abstract

In this article a complaining model recently proposed by Kowalski (1996) is reviewed, applied to a data set, and expanded to incorporate grudgeholding and retaliation. The data used in the discussion were taken from Cougar-Net, an online discussion group devoted to BYU sports. Comments in the data focus on a perceived snub of the BYU football team in the selection of bowl game participants following the 1996 college football season. We Three Kings, Alliance by name / Get to pick who'll play in our games / Though we own it, we have blown it  / Picking the wrong sixth name / Ohhhhhh. TV's luster made us skewed. / Brigham Young's the team we screwed. / Thirteen wins makes it a sin, / Alld in the end we may be sued. / (Sung to the tune of "We Three Kings ," Lopresti 1996)