> The only thing I wish is that we could all have parties in real life on a > regular basis. Sure would be nice to just sit and chill with you all with >some > food and drinks and music and swimming and pool. *sigh* Victims of geography. It's funny that you mention this. There is a computer operation here in New York that is specifically geared toward this kind of balance. The woman who runs it, Stacy Horn, has a new book out on the notion of why online communities need real, physical, community too. It's called Cyberville; I wrote a brief review of it, which is supposed to appear at: http://www.nyu.edu/acf/pubs/connect/spring98/BookByteCybervilleSp98.html Unfortunately, due to space constraints in the original paper form, this review was trimmed heavily, and doesn't stress the virtual/physical world notion to the extent the original manuscript did. But you're right -- there is something to meeting people that cannot be reproduced online. That's why whenever I take a trip, I post a message here asking if there are any list members in the town I'm in. So far, no luck. --tim