The problem with so-called "communities" on the Internet is that they're really just associations. Clubs. Chowder societies. Nothing passes between the members but talk, and while talk is an important part of community it's not the end. The ends of community are responsibility, stewardship, and protection of shared resources.
Perhaps you're making a sweeping judgement based on your own experience, which can't be too good if you believe what you're saying about "chowder societies". I've read MsGeek and SomeGuyFromCA's posts, and I am a member of the community they are from. And I have to tell you that they fit the definition of a 'community' as you put it a whole lot better than most real life communities I've seen. I'm not the person in question, nor was I there the night they're talking about, but I can relate to that event on a personal level that I'm not going into. The upshot is that these people, this so-called 'club', actually *cared* that I might do something permanent to myself.
Additionally, when people have been in less dire circumstances (being shafted by careless corporate crud, for example, and getting a C&D notice for no apparent reason), uproar followed by definitive action to defend the person in charge and, more to the point, get the problem dealt with. Support network and strikeforce all in one.
If that's not responsibility, stewardship and protection of shared resources, I don't know what is.
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The problem with so-called "communities" on the Internet is that they're really just associations. Clubs. Chowder societies. Nothing passes between the members but talk, and while talk is an important part of community it's not the end. The ends of community are responsibility, stewardship, and protection of shared resources. Perhaps you're making a sweeping judgement based on your own experience, which can't be too good if you believe what you're saying about "chowder societies". I've read MsGeek and SomeGuyFromCA's posts, and I am a member of the community they are from. And I have to tell you that they fit the definition of a 'community' as you put it a whole lot better than most real life communities I've seen. I'm not the person in question, nor was I there the night they're talking about, but I can relate to that event on a personal level that I'm not going into. The upshot is that these people, this so-called 'club', actually *cared* that I might do something permanent to myself. Additionally, when people have been in less dire circumstances (being shafted by careless corporate crud, for example, and getting a C&D notice for no apparent reason), uproar followed by definitive action to defend the person in charge and, more to the point, get the problem dealt with. Support network and strikeforce all in one. If that's not responsibility, stewardship and protection of shared resources, I don't know what is.