Thing 11

The prompts for this thing have more to do with commenting, but I have some questions about online communities in general. So many of these new Web 2.0 technologies are designed with a social aspect in mind through sharing and commenting. I've wondered for a while about the qualitative depth of an online community. I know there are some people who find connections made online to be deeply satisfying, although for me I don't know that I can ever quite see them taking the place of "in person" interactions. In some ways they have the opposite effect. I enjoy hearing from old friends and acquaintances on Facebook, for example, but usually just once. We're no longer in touch, and once we've seen each other's profile, the interaction is essentially over, leaving me wistful for a time when, quite simply, I had more "real life" friends and interacted more regularly with people my age. How many online communities can a person authentically be a part of? Is it possible to even consider all registered users of say, YouTube, members of one "community?" How much time do people who do feel a genuine connection to a specific online community generally put in to creating and maintaining that sense of belonging daily? weekly? Do they feel other community members know who they really are or that they know others, since it's possible to emphasize various aspects of your personality online or even assume alternate identities?

That said, I enjoy receiving comments. It tells me someone besides myself read what I wrote, something that seems nearly miraculous when I think about what a miniscule place anything I'll ever publish on the web has in its larger context. I like commenting on others' writing for the sake of potential establishing a common connection, although as the above paragraph implies, I recognize that the connection may be ephemeral.