Internet Community

Since I just read a quote I like allot, you now get it. "People talk about an internet community. But it's not a community in my mind. Community doesn't happen until you smell people." It's both funny and an accurate observation about the internet because the internet is absolutely not a single community. I see it more as a whole lot of communities, mostly of the lunatic version. The singular quality about the net is that there is no cohesion among its elements, people, or content.

Where else can you receive a letter from an alleged African Queen who says she left you 100 million dollars if you'll just give her your bank account number, while at the same time be able to view the results and details latest medical test you took at your doctor a mere 30 minutes earlier. The crazy and the real, the serious and the silly, an outlet to show love or hate, greed or generosity, the latest gossip or the latest news and on and on.....the Internet is so diverse it's hard to evaluate. But it certainly is not a single community.

I think the Internet is sometimes mislabeled as being only one of those endless communities, the social network community. They are the ones that encourage interaction, sometimes focusing around a particular interest, or sometimes just to communicate with each other. But proliferation of social networking communities is also diverse, impossibly diverse. No wonder we have such a glorious mess out there we call the Internet. Message boards, chat rooms, social networking services, informational communities, and those social networking platforms I mentioned before.., is it no wonder we can get lost as easily on line as off.

It looks to me that the internet is as chaotic and confusing as the off line world, a pretty consistent match I think, probably because the internet is still a mostly free exchange platform. Perhaps there is more freedom on line than off, and that may be the main attraction to it we have. It's a good thing, even if it includes your having to listen to me.