Re: What's appropriate material for anthro-l? (was Re: Marcial

Robert Johnson (johnsorl@COLORADO.EDU)
Thu, 16 Feb 1995 20:50:20 -0700

> While anthro-l is "for" discussing anthropology, it is also a community
> whose members are linked by more than just a shared interest in
> anthropology. So my reaction to "off-subject" messages would depend
> a lot on who they are from: if a long-term, active member of the
> list posts stuff that only really concerns them personally, then I
> have context in which to set what they say, and, more importantly,
> I care about/am interested in them as much as in their ideas.
>
> I'm toying with the idea of reversing this to provide a definition of
> "virtual community": any group where commitment to and interaction with
> other participants (for its own sake) comes to rival the ostensible
> "purpose" of the group (whether implicit or explicit) as motivation
> for participation.
>
> Danny Yee.
>