MR. RHEINGOLD'S NEIGHBORHOOD

The only online community I ever felt a part of was alt.tasteless, a Usenet forum dedicated to wretchedly sick humor. Mind you, I was never an active, rec.pets.cats-baiting member, just a lurker who enjoyed dropping by from time to time to see what the lads were up to. I soon tired of it, though. While I appreciate in theory the idea of people the world over communicating through their computers, it turns out that few of them have anything interesting to say. The good stuff is communicated in private.

Still, the buzzword in cyberspace these days is community. Every Website must...

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