Internet communities

[Anat]

I think it's fascinating the way the internet is used to create communities (just like this one).

I just checked the list of the web top 100 sites (http://www.100hot.com/directory/100hot/) and guess what - if you ignore the search engines, you see that all the top web sites are helping in some way to bring people into communities of some sort. It's like "The Internet - connecting people"...

I have a web site about cats in Hebrew - http://www.shoonra.co.il - and we have an active snug little forum. Next week we plan to actually meet for the first time IRL, in a cat show in Tel Aviv. I wonder what that would be like.

In the past, people used to think of web surfers as detached and unsociable because they could see them spend hours in front of a comp screen. Would you say that with all these thriving communities this image is changed?

[jamesglewisf]

Forums are nice because you can have a discussion without pre-conceived notions getting in the way. No one can tell if you are black/white, male/female, short/tall, fat/skinny, young/old, etc. All I really know about you is what I can discern from reading your posts.

[blinc]

I definitely think the image is changing Anat. Before we purchased our computer, I used to have a preconceived notion of how things would be on the internet. Then I discovered forums... I've met a lot of nice people through forums and for the most part have enjoyed them immensely. :)

[TWTCommish]

I've been trying to become more adept in running a community myself - I'd like to become an expert of sorts at some point...I think community building skills are important and very useful.

Let's face it: a community of people are dedicated and loyal to the site...they pay attention to announcements, they listen to what you say in other ways, and they're more than glad to provide feedback.

I think community building is a science of sorts. And one worht learning, at that. :)

[In_His_Shadow]

I know what you all mean. I am also a moderator on a RV site. We had our first Texas Boomer Rally last year and after having talked with these people daily you become really close. During conversation at the rally we all discovered our apprehension of meeting each other. What were we walking into? We only thought we knew these people they could be perverts. YIKES.

As it turns out they are as sweet in person as I imagined them to be. We are going on our next rally in December to Galveston where we will be meeting old and new friends.

One thing I love about these type groups is, upon meeting the folks from my other forum we started talking about how in our minds we had pictured each other so differently and also had we passed these people in the street would we have wanted to get to know them or would societies standards made us think twice (i.e. weight, looks, poor, rich etc). PHEW that was one long sentence.

Anyway these forums really are wonderful and can be used to perform a reality check on yourself as in the above situation.

CJ

[Anat]

My mom is a regular in a local chat. It's a chat room for people in their fifties (she is). Anyway, at some point they started arranging meeting IRL and now they organize a trip somewhere (with hired buses and catering) every few months. Israel being so small means most of them can meet on a regular basis and they do. Mom has several new friends now and it's really nice for her. She never surfed the internet until a couple of years ago, but now she' hooked :)

If I'm ever in Texas, I'll pop over to visit you people... :) and you're all very welcome to visit me here!

Anat

[Anat]

I almost forgot - I never did get to meet the people from my Hebrew cat forum. The show (which was planned for the coming weekend) was cancelled... Next time maybe.