Before you close it Dotsie, I want to say to everyone here who responded, no I'm not doing an "experiment." I'm very interested in online community-forming, on many many levels. I've been on this site since it started, 6 years ago, and have watched it grow and made many friends, though other than Dotsie, I've only met JJ in the flesh. And that's so interesting to me -- that we can be scattered all over the world, live in countries where different languages are spoken, and actually CONNECT with each other and form a community, with its own rules, and its own hierarchies, and its own characteristics. It's really rather amazing. And it doesn't have anything to do with our nationalities, or ethnicities, or race. It's truly a meeting of the minds. And one of the things I'm really really curious about is whether this community feels as "real" or more "real" than the community outside your doors. It's not an easy question to answer. See, I think that "culture" exists in our minds. It's not external, and it's not physical. So that means that you can create culture electronically, so to speak. Boomerwomen is a world unto itself.
thank you thank you all for sharing.
Dotsie, I'm sorry you have to close this thread. I really don't think it's hurting anything, but what do I know.