People riding on a bus can sometimes feel themselves part of a common endeavor. They're all stuck in a traffic jam, and all of them wish that the kid whose transistor radio is blasting would shut it off already, and sometimes pleasant conversations spring up among the passengers. Ah, a community. But as soon as someone reaches his or her stop, he or she steps off the bus and immediately forgets about the people he or she has left behind. In the same vein, people sitting in the waiting room of a doctor's office truly have a great deal in common. Something ails them. They're probably willing and even happy to converse with the others who are there (anything to get their minds off their worries), but as soon as their name is called, they get up and leave the waiting room with hardly a backward glance. Most of the attempts at building internet communities that I've seen resembles the bus and the waiting room much more than they do any actual caring interaction.

Go to: We've covered this territory before, or
Go to: Virtual Zionism?