This was a GREAT assignment for me: I recently got a new puppy, a Yorkshire terrier, I have never owned a small dog and I had/have lots of questions constantly. I joined an online community (yorkietalk.com) when I got him but didn't really know what it was until I was "apart" of it. I learned about this community when I entered in Yorkshire terrier advice into my search engine. This was the first result, so I just tried it out and it has been successful for me. I usually enter an instant chat room of general discussion once logged in, the people in this chat room and in this community all seem friendly and eager to help someone such as myself who knows little about the breed. Most of the people I talk to either give me advice (which most of it has helped) or have given me websites and other information, where to find answers.
Online communities such as this one seem helpful to me, depending on what type of activity or interest I am focusing on would be the determiner of if I would join another site like this one. I like being part of this community because these people share the same interests that I do (my dog) and I can go online 24/7 to get information and this has beneficial, also talking to people in different geographical areas has been fun as well (we share dog stories). As a society this brings us closer together, we are able to connect with people all around the world via internet and everyone can be apart of something they enjoy.
Another example I have of an online community that would be useful are dealing with politics and government issues, my dad enjoys talking politics so he goes online with these chat rooms and talks to other people to see what other people have to say. However he brought up an interesting point the other day, he constructed 2 identities on one of these communities and he has conversations with other people and they don't know that this message board of 3 chatters is really only 2 people. To me this would be very frustrating, because for this poor other person, they are believing what he is saying because of the "power in numbers" theory. Or at least sometimes their opinions are swayed, and their beliefs tested. Whether or not their mind is changed, we as consumers of information and the internet believe information is reliable when more than one person is backing it up. In this situation and this chat interest it maybe more difficult to be accepted, I am not sure. I just thought that would be interesting to add (if no one had ever considered this).
Back to my online community experience, I don't really think that in this community there is a problem being accepted, all the people on this site seem to just love their Yorkshire terriers and if you are the same way they will accept you. Along with agreements and disagreements, most people gave me similar advice if I was given multiple responses, so usually I would take the middle ground of both people, and would thank them for their information. Once again I enjoyed this assignment and I am sure I will continue using this form of communication to get information regarding the newest member of my family because it is so quick and easy.