I think friendships are formed all the time in online forums. But that doesn't mean that on-line communities are authentic communities in the 3D sense.

In other words, I don't have to find a way to get along with the users here on a daily basis the way I do in 3d life at work, at home, and at play. One does have to do that in an authentic community.

I've always maintained that the best security one can have is knowing and having good neighbors. That is why I participate every year in my block's National Night Out. Those relationships allowed one of my neighbors to call 911 and sit with one of our elderly neighbors with a drinking problem, who they had found passed out in the alley during the heatwave, rather than keep driving and look away. That sense of community (and acceptance of our elderly neighbors faults) saved that man's life.

I appreciate that it is wonderful to get the attention some people are getting on-line in this and other groups. It is nice to receive the get well cards, the gifts we sometimes share with on-line friends, and meeting in each other face to face.

But it still doesn't mean this, or any other on-line "community" is or can be the same as authentic 3D community. Unless of course the forum is local, and the users are interacting in 3D all the time, with the on-line community supporting the 3D community.

That is all I meant. I wouldn't want to suggest that people aren't forming real friendships, because a few are. But the majority of users don't. And I think it is important to recognize the difference between friendship and community.