Virtual Communities are Not new, and not really Virtual

This requires some explanation. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, it used to be possible to use the net to get to know people. to have conversations on USENET without wading through the spam and trolls. To actually post things to usenet about parties and not have every lamer in the world show up crashing it for the chance at free beer.

Below this is some correspondence about what became known as the first End of the World party, which was held in my place to celebrate Gene Spafford visiting the left coast. A party was held, and contrary to some of the notes, a good time was had by all and the swat team wasn't called out.

why is this notable? Take a look at the dates, and the newsgroup. "net.singles", which hasn't existed since the usenet Grand Renaming moved it to soc -- and this electronic shindig happened in 1984. I believe the FIRST on-line get together I was involved with was in 1979, perhaps 1980, and in fact I just got a note from some dear old friends who are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary this year. They met through an online community that we were all involved in (not internet or arpanet, but one involving colleges in the CSU California system).

So when you hear pundits talk about how virtual communities are hot new things on the net, that's crap. Virtual communities aren't new -- just trendy. And the best ones aren't virtual -- they're real communities that have a virtual component. Which doesn't mean you necessarily get together in person (but it doesn't hurt), but the community has to be rooted in something real -- and the virtual aspects enable you to participate in that community.

This requires some explanation. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, it used to be possible to use the net to get to know people. to have conversations on USENET without wading through the spam and trolls. To actually post things to usenet about parties and not have every lamer in the world show up crashing it for the chance at free beer.

Below this is some correspondence about what became known as the first End of the World party, which was held in my place to celebrate Gene Spafford visiting the left coast. A party was held, and contrary to some of the notes, a good time was had by all and the swat team wasn't called out.

why is this notable? Take a look at the dates, and the newsgroup. "net.singles", which hasn't existed since the usenet Grand Renaming moved it to soc -- and this electronic shindig happened in 1984. I believe the FIRST on-line get together I was involved with was in 1979, perhaps 1980, and in fact I just got a note from some dear old friends who are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary this year. They met through an online community that we were all involved in (not internet or arpanet, but one involving colleges in the CSU California system).

So when you hear pundits talk about how virtual communities are hot new things on the net, that's crap. Virtual communities aren't new -- just trendy. And the best ones aren't virtual -- they're real communities that have a virtual component. Which doesn't mean you necessarily get together in person (but it doesn't hurt), but the community has to be rooted in something real -- and the virtual aspects enable you to participate in that community.