h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Which other communities have you looked at? I want to go and check some out, and need some pointers. So where else have you nice people been hanging out... Slashdot? Vavo? Any more?

Allow me to be introspective, then. I've been online for quite a long time, and jumped into internet communities pretty much immediately.

When I started online, women constituted... I dunno.... certainly less than 5% of the population online. This created a sort of wierd atmosphere where a lady would enter a chat room about pet cats or needlepoint and be asked about her bra size. It was almost impossible to have a serious non-sexual discussion about anything if you admitted you were a woman. And from the beginning, I felt it was pointless to pretend to be anything other than what I am.

I figured that if you can't beat them, you might as well join them. So the first communities I joined were Bianca's Smut Shack and the now defunct PeachWeb. These were basically XXX communities. The PeachWeb, in particular, was the first place I'd ever seen that allowed the user to create their own space (a chat room). So mine was reserved for gentility and light experimentation, and anybody who didn't like it received a virtual thrashing they never forgot.

As the net became overrun with men and women and the net sex phenomenon grew, it became impossible to continue these services without charging for them. The PeachWeb closed, and the Smut Shack started charging for increased levels of service. Since general subject chat rooms became more liveable at that time also, I quit both communities.

The next community I joined was an email list called the Elitist B******s. These were originally folks from a comic book newsgroup accused of domineering elitism. (Of course, they felt they were being only reasonable in trying to control the usenet deterioration in their favorite newsgroup.) The group, once isolated, began inviting interesting and intelligent friends to join. (I was one of those who joined later.) I've met about 20 of these people in real life, even though we cover 3 continents and 6 countries. Relationships among us are rampant. And I'm still with them now.

My next community was the realm of Xenites. Basically, a bunch of nuts who love the TV show Xena: Warrior Princess are phenomenally active online. They communicate through newsgroups, email lists, chat rooms, WWW boards, and ICQ. They are tens of thousands of them, creating a force which can and has helped to determine the course of the series. Several dozen of these people have created a sort of online fame for themselves. (One online fan fiction writer has now written several episodes of the show and has had a book published.)

The Xenites are notable for being the first internet community widely reported on by the popular press. I carved out a small niche for contributing a web page and newsgroup going beyond and through the endless arguments about whether the series leads are lesbians. Then when the show's previous season declined, the community began to fall apart and I went with it. I keep telling myself I could go back anyday, but I never quite do.

h2g2 is my most recently joined community. I'm still trying to decide what exactly I'm here for. In any case, h2g2's user pages, Guide, and forums are incredibly user friendly compared to my previous experiences. I like being able to create a personal home, carry on conversations, and work toward group goals all without leaving a single site.

Agreed. Since h2g2 has goals, it certainly out distances any other communities I've participated in over the last four years.

IMO, the communities generally start out well, but quickly move into extremely clique-ish behavior, exclusionary tactics, and downright miserable slagging, flaming, and personal attacks.

It has been painfully obvious at times that the participants probably sought on-line companionship because they were completely anti-social, or even ostracized in their real lives. And that's sad, since they apparently decided that these communities on-line were their opportunity to "get even" for perceived social injustices. That's not a deep psychological assessment, that's just my opinion.

What is most enjoyable about h2g2 is that there are talking points, and they are thoroughly discussed, and then there is another. So nobody really has to get down into the dirty nether regions of the soul, unless that's the talking point du jour.

I like it! Sure beats the Backstreet Boys chat room...

LOL!

I am also a member of Ancient Sites but I don't like it as much as h2g2 - it is far more cliquey where as h2g2 has ways to get into the community. And I much prefer homepage set up to plain bulletin boards. Of course there is Douglasadams.com and Floor 42.

Have you guys visited those?

You should check out the chat room/bulletin boards at http://www.mjifc.com - the Michael Jackson Internet Fan Club. MJ was the first search query I carried out and the site was my first encounter with a community.

I like Michael Jackson but the community is scary. Very scary. 'Fanatic' really shouldn't be shortened in its title.

Dis the big man at your peril - you will recieve a pre-pubescent flaming!