ABSTRACT
For many observers, the words ‘online’ and ‘community’ do not easily sit together: online life is seen as essentially alone and lacking in human contact. To assess the activity in this way is to bring to a new environment the values and measures of a previous one. Many users of the Internet see themselves as part of communities that transcend and even replace some of the day-to-day contact with other human beings which has been seen as essential to community life.
