Data was collected from the Baidu HIV-related bar on August 29, 2017 and from the TB-related bar on August 30, 2017 respectively. Based on those dates, the 2,500 most recent posts and replies were selected for each bar. The following data were collected for each post: web address, time of posting, username, title, content, and number of comments. After deleting duplicate posts (same contents that were posted by the same user on the same day), we obtained 2,443 HIV-related posts and 2,470 TB-related posts. Although most posts were from 2017 (2,010/2,443 for the HIV-related bar and 2,040/2,470 for the TB-related bar), we noticed that 254 posts had been created between 2005 and 2014 (103 for the HIV-related bar and 151 for the TB-related bar). Thus, to better understand PLWHA’s habits and needs during the 3 most recent years, we omitted the posts from 2005–2014 and ultimately evaluated 2,430 posts from the HIV-related bar and 2,319 posts from the TB-related bar.
