A Story About a Tree and More...

I just finished a course reading, A Story About a Tree, about the reality of community even in a virtual world--the loss of a member of the virtual community was as significant emotionally to other members of the group as if they had met this person who had given them so much, expessed so much, advocated so much, shared so much of their interests--even though they had never physically met her. So is it the expectation of inclusion that makes us part of a community or the acceptance and inclusion? I wonder?

What I think is rather interesting is that this very evening I was checking out discussions on Disaboom and happened to run across an inquiry from a member of the community about another member, Rainey, who no longer was posting in discussions. There were rumors recounted and members had received private emails outside the discussion posts that described a banishment of the member for unknown reasons. As a result of this information, there was a flurry of members expressing dismay as well as others asking for explanation and posts supportive of the banished member. Finally, there were some posts from friends that had phone conversations with the member and were given permission to share and explain the situation.

It seems that another member of the discussion group was attacking this member and that according to the policy of Disaboom, both the attacker and the attacked are banished from posting. Emotions ran deep in the posts that followed, justice was demanded and posts appealing the situation for the loved member were many. (Other members, not so much!)

So what I wonder is does community mean caring who shows up, who doesn't show up? Does community mean mourning loss and defending member rights? Does community show itself in the dynamics of relationships in the virtual world of online discussion as it does in the "real" world? Something to ponder, for sure.