# This article explains the secrecy paradox, but don’t tell anyone!

## TL;DR

The study explores how secrecy paradoxes shape communication in an online community discussing a Cold War bunker.

## Contribution

It introduces the secrecy paradox as an emergent social practice shaping online community structures.

## Key findings

- Network analysis showed tightly connected clusters controlled by core users.
- Discourse analysis identified six discourses sustaining hierarchy and exclusivity.
- Secrecy paradox forms social structures and norms in online discussions.

## Abstract

The present study examined how the secrecy paradox—signalling privileged knowledge while at the same time concealing its content to preserve exclusivity—affected communication in an online community. Data were a comprehensive discussion thread about the existence and location of a large secret underground command centre (a “Riksbunker”) that would serve as the Swedish governments Cold War contingency plan for a potential World War III. The study used a mixed-method design combining critical discourse analysis (CDA) with citation network and community cluster analysis. Network analysis revealed a modular structure of tightly connected clusters with a small number of core users controlling the information flow. The CDA revealed six recurrent discourses that together sustained a steep hierarchy and highly stratified social order within these clusters, which emphasizes exclusivity and—ironically and paradoxically—preserves the very secrecy the thread was originally initiated to explore. One main conclusion is that the secrecy paradox can be seen not as a mere influencing factor in communicative interaction but as an emergent social practice around which social structures, identities, and norms are formed.