Online Community

This assignment was something I dreaded. I've never had the desire to join any kind of community online. I have to admit the reason is because I've followed the threads and posts of these communities and I've found them to be quite similar. The three communities that I've observed have been Craigslist, Rasa Malaysia, and Citydata.com. Craigslist may not be a typical community but there is a community that forms withing it as far as the musicians part. This is where musicians can look for either gigs or potential band members and such. There are often flair ups online regarding a particular place that refuses to pay or a musician that is annoyed by someone's post boasting of their own abilities.

In Rasa Malaysia, which is an asian cooking site, someone will post a new recipe and then there will be a flurry of responses. These responses will say things like "sounds good", "I hope to try it", make corrections, or talk about some related topic. The third site I've read is the Datacity.com where there is information about any city across the US. I've read this in order to research where we are moving to. On this site there is a community of people interacting usually based around someone asking questions of the community about what to expect, where to eat and so forth. People end up in online battles over what's good and bad about the place they live. My thoughts are "get a life". Sorry, but it seems so petty.

I've noticed that there are those responding in all three situations that seem like they are just trying to get into the conversation but really don't have anything to say. It seems to me that they seem like they are only "there" to find some sense of belonging. Then there are those that have anger or frustrations and use this forum as a way to vent and get others involved to fulfill their "need". Thirdly there are those that seem genuine in their attempt to be helpful or interactive in a way that seems to accomplish something.

Having said all that, I finally decided to join in a community that had to do with animals. We are moving out of state soon so I was trying to find an animal loving community that could give me suggestions on how to safely and comfortably move my cats across the country.

I posted a question and wondered if I would get a reply or be shunned. It took a day but I got three posts. One was okay but not very helpful, one had nothing to do with my question, they just wanted to know about the place we were moving, one was very thoughtful and helpful. I responded to the two that made sense and then the thoughtful one responded yet again. I found myself engaging in a conversation because we had found commonality.

She not only moved her cats across the country but she moved from Oregon to Arizona which is exactly what I'm doing. I could see how one could get pulled into a community such as this. Even the person who posted a little off the wall is now a person to me and I just accept her as "being in a different space" than me. Maybe she was just trying to find a place to connect with others. Maybe she's experimenting with identities (p. 139).

The issue with experimenting with different identities is also an intersting topic to me. The one talked about in the book Dlvl (p. 124) based on fantasy. These people have created a fantasy world where people speak Klingon. This community allows unlimited exploration of fantasy because the very nature is fantasy to begin with. I guess it goes back to "people have an intrinsic need for community" (p. 122) and it can take the form of shared fantasy, shared need (such as my case) or interest. The virtual communities have provided an easy and accesible outlet for all. I have to go now as I noticed my new online community friend, Belles, just posted to me (I'm not kidding).