I have just finished reading Katie Hafner's The Well: A Story of Love, Death & Real Life in the Seminal Online Community. More journalistic than academic, it nevertheless provides an interesting insight in the rise and fall of an online community. It seems like people do not like too many changes and prefer familiar old-fashioned technology to new, for instance. Also, when the Well was bought by people who were in it for money more than idealism, the society lost momentum. - The story of love and death is mainly that of long time member Tom Mandel who ended up dying of cancer, but posting till the last moment about his illness and feelings. Shortly before his death, he was married to a woman he got to know via The Well and whom he had previously being verbally abusing in the Well community because she had withdrawn from him. Strong feelings tie people to these places and stories unfold, even if people are not masquerading as someone else than themselves.
# posted by Lisbeth at: 11:48