From the article flea linked to:

Dr. Horrigan said there was anecdotal evidence that some members of a community use e-mail and the Internet "to keep up with people very close by." The Internet can help expand social networks, although the ties it creates are not as strong as those the Duke researchers are concerned with. Yet they can be useful.

His group's research has shown that the Internet is increasingly being used during life's "major moments" — to gather information or advice when making a big financial investment, deciding where to live, or choosing a college for a child. The research has shown that "people were more likely to get help through their social network" for those kinds of decisions.

Still, Dr. Putnam said, "The real interesting future is how can we use the Net to strengthen and deepen relationships that we have offline."

And in the end, she and others pointed out, e-mail or instant messaging is no substitute for face-to-face contact. "E-mailing somebody far way is not the same as them going to pick up your child at daycare or bringing you chicken soup," she said.

Someone oughtta write a book disputing this.

Allyson, I was going to ping you to make sure you saw it.

My mother is recovering from knee replacement surgery. I cannot imagine what it would be like encountering such pain so late. I already know how that goes. I took her on a mental walkthrough of the house and explained to her how to elevate in every room.

I do think we're the exception that proves the rule, though. Aside from the Bronze back when, I've never run into another web community whose members I wanted to meet and befriend in real life (and then it was handfuls of people rather than the community as a whole).

Are the NYCers still alive?

I'm not dead yet! t /Monty Python Plague Victim

It was a nuclear bomb at the UN. You have to be precise in your DOOOOMMM!!

Not merely the UN, at The United Nations Plaza (which had my co-workers and I wetting ourselves, since the address of our building is _ _ _ UN Plaza)

On the bright side, at least the water is raining in the bathroom. Inconvenient, but at least it's not raining all over your books or computer equipment.

I was thinking, "on the bright side, at least its his draining bathtub that's leaking. And you landlords should pay up.

"E-mailing somebody far way is not the same as them going to pick up your child at daycare or bringing you chicken soup," she said.

That's absurd. a) sometimes it IS; b) sometimes its BETTER and: c) its a false dichotomy anyway, the far away person COULDN'T do those things, its a different sort of relationship entirely.

(hmm... 'dichotomy' is not the word I want. what is the damn word I want? its a crap comparison regardless)

I've seen it happen in about every fandom community I've tripped over, Matt. Nathan (Quantum Physics Boy) still meets up with the Robert Jordan fandom.

Daily Kos just did it with Yearly Kos (and are behaving as though no internet community before them eve had a F2F).

I've encountered at least one usenet community (soc.culture.african.american) which had a similar effect. As for web communities, it happened all over TT, didn't it? It might be continuing/renewing/happening anew at DriveWeSaid and The Perfect World. And those are just places I've been, and I don't get out that much. At least not to new places.

I don't think it's rare enough to be left out of the article.

the far away person COULDN'T do those things, its a different sort of relationship entirely.

You sent me bagels to cheer me. msbelle sent me cookies. Sometimes internet friends send me flowers. Chicken soup is a shit example. The only reason people don't send it is because it doesn't travel well. My mom is 3000 miles away, and I'm closer to her now than I was when i lived with her. Her care packages filled with tea and goofy t-shirts that I'd never wear and some crappy thing she found at a second-hand store ARE chicken soup. Same exact effect.

So we do those things.

Shit, we brought Nilly here from ISRAEL, and coordinated a five city tour of America. As much as I like to think we're innovators, I can't believe we're teh only ones to have gone to such lengths for one of our fellow internet axe murderers.

Sorry. I'm passionate (overly) about this stuff, these days.

The only reason people don't send it is because it doesn't travel well.

Come to think of it, if I knew a diner in your neighborhood that delivered and that you loved chicken soup that would totally happen.

Pre-telephone (and cheap telephone) people had relationships that consisted almost entirely of passionate correspondence. And then that just about died completely... until the interbunny revived it in a more instant form. I think that is the more apt comparison.

Oh, the nature of my pants notwithstanding, I don't mean sexually passionate.