Interesting. This is the only on-line community I participate in. I will occasionally go onto a Dave's Garden forum, or one of the Organic Gardening forums seeking very specific plant or gardening info., but don't ever 'converse' on those sites, or even lurk. Didn't know there were coupon sites, much less that they include forums or message boards. So I have nothing to compare Mudcat to. My observation about the 'Cat is that it is really not much different than a 3-D community in terms of how people interact, alliances, etc.

Aside from demographics and motivation, keep in mind that a very significant minority of people who post with some frequency on the 'Cat also have met each other in 3-D. This seems particularly true of the posters in the geographically smaller UK where so many festivals and events are reachable by a reasonable day's drive, and Mudgathers appear to happen with some frequency. While we are more spread out in the USA and Canada, there are events like the Getaway that some attend year after year, regional music festivals where 'Catters seek each other out. In addition, if we are traveling on vacation, we are likely to give a shout to a Mudcatter we know lives in an area we will be visiting. Mudcatters in different countries both offer, and take advantage of offers, from 'Catters from abroad for room, board, a good visit and a song circle. And so the entire network has a stronger 3-D element to the community. If you come and visit me, and you also have a 3-D connection with another Mudcatter I have not met, tell me neat stories about your last visit with them, then they have a 3-D presence for me that they might not otherwise have.

I'm gonna guess these rather widespread real life encounters also influence our virtual community.