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#1
08-08-2006, 03:59 AM
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Are Online Communities Real Communities?
Are online communities real communities? If so, why? If not, why not?
Have online communities come to replace social interaction with offline folks for many people?
__________________
Then I came back from where I'd been. My room, it looked the same - but there was nothing left between The Nameless and the name. - Leonard Cohen. 
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#2
08-08-2006, 07:49 AM
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Lemme take the easy one first.
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 They are big and bold behind the keyboard, but in real life they are afraid of real human interaction.Quote:
I've actually met a lot of 'online' people in real life, and many are pretty much the same as they are online. A few others are real tigers on the web.  They know everything, and will rip your head off in a heartbeat if you disagree with 'em, but meet 'em in person and you can't get the time of day.BTW...this evening at Jock's n Jill's at CNN Center, we are meeting a chap from Australia that we've known online for several years.  A few months ago, he posted that he was going to be stateside for business in a few cities. Some other people we've actually met raved about what a great guy he is, so we're looking forward to sharing a pint as well.
__________________
I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convinced I am of this truththat God governs the affairs of men. --Benjamin Franklin
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#3
08-08-2006, 08:30 AM
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By the way, I think I am pretty much the same online and in person. Do you agree, Glen?
__________________
I am an atheist. Therefore, all comments I make about God are hypothetical. Last edited by retrorich; 08-08-2006 at 08:33 AM.
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#4
08-08-2006, 09:01 AM
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Yes! Online communities are communities. Hopefully it's not the only place that we interact with people, but the human touch comes through.
__________________
"Scully, one of these days, we're going to look back on this moment and laugh." - Fox
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#5
08-08-2006, 09:16 AM
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I think of online communities as the cyperspace addition to the collective community. I don't think of them as real or unreal, perhaps hyper-real.
I don't know if online communities have replaced real world social interaction so much as given an alternative where real world social interaction is either a) unfulfilling or b) inaccessible. What I find exciting is that the dynamic web, consisting of things such as forums like this one, chat rooms & instant messengers, blogs, video-clip communities, MMORPGs, social & business networking tools, VoIP, etc. have come about and been accepted as part of life so quickly. It seems that every month I discover some great new semi-social thing to use the net for and barriers to communication are falling while communication technologies are expanding all the time. Impossible to know for sure how this is changing us all but I intuitively feel something very good is happening.
__________________
"Do not be afraid of falling into emptiness. Falling into emptiness is not so bad.." - Layman P'ang
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#6
08-08-2006, 09:19 AM
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Yes, I believe online communities are real communities. I've met Retrorich and CaptainXeroid as a result of our interactions from an online community.
We've been chatting together for years in our New Beetle chat. You can really learn a lot about people, and grow to really appreciate them.
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#7
08-08-2006, 11:03 AM
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i'm real..your real we are all real (i think)just because we communicate online doesn't make our interaction any less valid.
I have friends who live close by and friends who live on the other side of the UK from me,and i have met people online, community can be where ever you make it as long as the people involved support each other you have a community.
__________________
When man has burned the last tree,to cook the last fish perhaps he will realise he can't eat money.
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#8
08-08-2006, 11:17 AM
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When I think of all the GOOD that ScubaBoard has done for the diving community I KNOW that it's real. People have met and married, kids have been born, we take trips together. Wow... it's such a blessing to be a part of a place like that.
__________________
On sabbatical until things become fun again.
Reach me at NetDoc@ScubaBoard.com or on www.ScubaBoard.com.
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#9
08-08-2006, 11:19 AM
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I am with Ladyhawke on this one--a community isn't just born it is created. I came to this forum because someone from another forum recommended it. I know people on this forum because I met them on another forum. I don't know about this particular forum--but I know people who live in rural areas who view forums as thier human interaction bcause the closest physical interation is miles away. I don't necessarily think it is a substitute for face to face interation--but an broadening of your horizons so to speak. The community of the forum gives us interaction with people of different countries and cultures that we might not other wise experience.
__________________
"The important thing is not to stop questioning."--Albert Einstein When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. And that is my religion." Abraham Lincoln
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#10
08-08-2006, 06:07 PM
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