Though there are great advantages, there are also disadvantages for involvement in a virtual community in contrast to a real time community. I don't think that common, everyday people who chat regularly on the Internet, or belong to virtual communities, are fully aware, or even half aware, of these disadvantages. There are two drawbacks in contrast to real time community that I feel the strongest about. The first concerns identity and the second concerns dependence on this form of community as opposed to a real time community.

Concerning identity, a great drawback to for involvement in a virtual community as opposed to a real time community is that a person can never be 100% sure of the identity of the people they may meet in chat rooms. This can be a privacy risk and a real violation to one's safety. For example, we've all heard of people meeting online in communities that allow people to come together for possible love and romance. Some people meet online, fall in love, and choose to eventually meet in person. During the process of getting to know each other, they may share intimate details, personal information, etc. that they do not wish for random people to know. Meanwhile, one of the two individuals may have lied about his/her identity. They could be a criminal, a sexual abuser, a murderer, a thief, or of a different race or gender than they may have said they were. They could have an ulterior motive to wanting to meet and could even continue lying once the two did meet. Yes, I have heard that some people meet online and then do choose to meet in person, and that they end up supposedly living happily ever after. However, I think that having online romance, or friendship, and sharing intimate and personal information, can be a potentially dangerous situation, especially if the two individuals choose to meet in person. In "real life," it is not as easy to conceal one's gender, race, or to appear to be a successful, healthy individual. Though some do lie about their identities in real time communities, it is easier to do so on the Internet.

For my third investigation, relating to social issues, as previously explained, I chose to investigate Angels in the Night, which offers a strong community of support for young children of sexual abuse. Below is an excerpt from my investigation #3 describing my experience in the site's chat room:

Since I didn't chat, I didn't expect to be addressed. When the new monitor, "Tabitha" came on, she said, "We have some new faces! Hi, I'm "Tabitha," good to meet you all" Another chatter who was also new responded by telling "Tabitha," "Nice to meet you too." "Tabitha" then asked of me, "And skulgrl, are you new too?" I did not respond for about two minutes, and then Tabitha asked, "Skulgrl?" At this point, I felt rude about not chatting or not even explaining the purpose of my presence in the chat room. I didn't want "Tabitha," the monitor, or anyone else to keep asking me to chat; I definitely didn't want them to worry that something was wrong. Also, as I thought about the assignment and about the purpose of my investigation, I decided to finally participate in the chat so that I could have more of a personal opinion about the content of the chat room and about the users. If nothing else, they could see why I was there and then know that they don't have to necessarily address me - that I'm looking at the sight because a school assignment and should pretend like I'm not even in the chat room.

So, I finally responded by saying, "I am actually doing an essay (I'm in college) on social Internet communities, and have chosen this one to write about. I hope you don't mind me just looking onto the chat. I don't want to be disruptive or interrupt. I simply wish to see how the chat helps out the kids and what they discuss." Then, about thirty seconds later, JennieRae asks me if I've ever been abused, and I say, "No, I just chose to use this site for my essay because it seems to be a good example of a strong community." She then says, "Oh, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to leave b/c it's only for abused kids."

Another girl says, "It's a strong community, but some kids get uncomfortable when people come in to listen and watch about things they've never talked about." I felt very bad about going into the chat room, even for a school assignment, and wanted to immediately apologize in case I invaded their privacy. I replied by saying, "I'm sorry, but I commend you guys on the work you do." "Tabitha" then responded saying, "Thanks!" A brief moment later, another person wrote that they were curious about how I got into the chat room because a person has be under 20 to join it. During the registration for the chat room, I had lied about my birthday in order to join the chat room.


This example of my chat experience on this website shows that it is easy to lie about one's identity in a virtual community. In this case, I had to register in order to view the chat. Initially, I did not plan to chat but only wished to view it. So, during the registration, I provided a false date of birth, saying that I was 19 years old, because that was the age limit. I obviously had no bad intent, and only wished to view the chat in order to write about it in my investigation. However, other individuals could lie about their identity in order to enter the chat. In my investigation, I wrote it would be easy for "an adult to lie and gain access into the chat. This could be harmful to the kids because an abuser could log onto the chat and just lie about their information and gain the trust of these innocent victims. This could potentially have harmful results." Carrying a false identity on the Internet and having harmful intent towards people is very dangerous. A person's privacy could be invaded and they could become victim to a sick person. This could occur in everyday casual chats, as well as in more serious issue-oriented chats such as on the Angels in the Dark website. This is when I think it can be very dangerous, because people who are all ready suffering from emotional and psychological pains, such as victims of abuse, drug users, alcoholics, sufferers of being overweight, etc. are very vulnerable. It could be especially harmful to these individuals, who are seeking help and support, to become victimized by criminals.

Another disadvantage to online communities as opposed to real time communities (the second disadvantage I feel most strongly about) is that people can become too dependent on this form of socialization. What may start out as a "fun thing" can turn into an addictive activity that could remove a person from their real time daily lives. Just as kids could become too addicted to television or to video games, people who become involved in virtual communities can start to become addicted to this medium of meeting people. So much, in fact, that it could damage their own relationships with people in their everyday lives. For example, a young person may begin meeting people online and chatting so much, that he/she could begin to neglect their own friends at school or in other areas of his/her life. A person can become so involved in trying to find love online, out of convenience and because of seemingly more opportunity, that he/she may no longer try to seek such relationships in real time communities. Besides hurting relationships, I think that if a person becomes too addicted to going online in order to meet members of various communities, this may keep the person from focusing on schoolwork, their job, or from engaging in activities that they used to do regularly. A person may go online at work and chat, go to the school's library and chat, come home and chat, wake up and chat. This can become very addictive and unhealthy. A potential disadvantage to online communities as opposed to real time communities is that people may become too dependent and even addicted to this form of community.

Introduction Advantages Communication Analysis Participation Conclusion Competencies References

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