Meaning of Online Community

Online communities as i define it is the meeting place for people with same interests creating SIGs of different groups. I remember my first interactions with people years back on IRC when i started. I felt like someone from underground left alone in newyork all by myself. Atleast full logs of chats, diverse topics, myriad of people and flying time got me without guard. I had to learn a lot of commands and to be honest, i got banned couple of times for not being able to unban myself quicky once given the operator status :) I mean there are all kinds of people in communities but i am convinced that most people would help you impulsivley if you are willing to learn.

Then i moved to social networking. I tried messengers, file sharing, wikis, forums, web designing and it one thing lead to another. To date i am amazed by the collaboration between people with different beliefs and geography. I literally know people who'd kill each other in real life and there were times when they'd verbally grounded each other, but i have never seen them holding knowledge back from each other.

In this regard i would like to share an experience i had with a canuck friend/enemy of mine. Well this sounds pretty much an oxymoron but thats true. I met this guy who was the first person i met online. For no reason that i could comprehend, he hated religions. I must confess he had pages of sacriligeous propaganda and dirty lists of slurs for religious people. Name calling was probably something he could be given an honorary degree for. So i started talking to that guy. I learned two things from that guy:

1. Smart ways of dodging controversial questions. I believe i wouldn't have learned it without him. Its hard for some people to realize, but unless you meet someone who make you realize that there are people like them out there, and how to treat them, you never know that you have the power and skills to talk to them without being rash.

2. This part is really hard for me to say as an online enemy (atleast thats what he thinks) but i would be honest and brave enough to say that, John is someone i owe most of my internet knowledge. He could talk at length about new technologies and troubleshooting and despite his hatred for me, it didn't stop him from helping me. His only bad habit, that i personally think is justified to a larger extent is his typical instruction "RTFM'. In linux community, atleast more professional community, its an unsaid rule that you should read before you ask and never ask to ask, just ask the problem. To be short 'Try it and tell the problem, Don't Whine'. I accept i was a whiner to an extent. Being a teenager you sometimes like being helped without trying, and being one i ofcourse had the germs. What 'fixed' me was that RTFM word by John.

I wouldn't get into technical discussion as to what online communities are, new tools like facebook, torrents, twitter and AJAX phenomenon. My point here is that there are two things in human life.

One relates with personal influence that can be controlled by humans themselves and other are divine things that are beyond human control. For me internet and online communities are divine things, that helps you appreciate creation of Allah and the beauty of people who live hundreds of miles from you in another geographical reigon, with a different culture and subtle belief. They don't speak their language, they might hate you, they might want to kill you, but online they can be as big an angel as Lucifer.

Thanks John, IRC and All those beautiful people who i will never be able to thank enough for their interactions both good/bad. I would leave you with a questions to reflect.

How many of you are ready to return the favor to a teenager on IRC ?