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Electric MindsElectric Minds (commonly abbreviated EMinds) is a long-running virtual community that has survived several changes of fortune throughout its existence. As of 2005, the community has over 1600 registered members and hundreds of active discussion topics covering a wide range of subjects.
HistoryElectric Minds' history can be divided into three parts, each of which corresponds to a platform on which the site ran at the time, and also to the organization controlling it. FoundingElectric Minds was launched in October 1996 by Howard Rheingold, noted user of The WELL and author of The Virtual Community, as a vehicle for developing his ideas on online community. During this period, Electric Minds was an incorporated entity in San Francisco, California, and the site ran on a server donated by Sun Microsystems, using WellEngaged conferencing software (derived from the software used by The WELL) along with a custom content-management system. The site achieved early success when Time magazine named it one of its top ten Web sites for 1996. In April 1997, Electric Minds hosted the online discussions for the chess match between Garry Kasparov and the Deep Blue supercomputer. That same month, however, Softbank, one of the major investors in Electric Minds, elected to discontinue its funding of the company, leading to fears among the community members that the site would soon be shut down. CommercialismIn July 1997, Rheingold sold Electric Minds to Durand Communications, Inc. of Santa Barbara, California. Durand had its own community technology platform, CommunityWare, which was adapted to host Electric Minds with as little disruption to the community as possible. Electric Minds became the largest CommunityWare-hosted community, with tens of thousands of registered users; the expectation was that Durand would be able to use it as a showcase to attract potential customers who would pay to have their communities hosted on CommunityWare. Rheingold acted as a consultant to Durand for several months after the sale, but left to pursue other projects. In 1999, Durand Communications was acquired by Webb Interactive Services (formerly Online System Services) of Denver, Colorado. CommunityWare was expanded by merging it with other software to create the "WebbMe" Web portal, and Electric Minds maintained its preeminence among the communities hosted on the site. Electric Minds continued to operate even as Webb's focus moved on to other products and projects; however, due to ongoing costs and lack of space at its colocation facility, Webb announced its intention to shut down WebbMe--and Electric Minds--in December 2000. Community-Based RevivalIt was at this point that a group of dedicated community members stepped in to keep the community from dying. Eric Bowersox, who had been an engineer on the CommunityWare and WebbMe projects, created a new conferencing software system, the Venice Web Communities System, based on the original CommunityWare design and using a similar user interface. Community members pooled their money for a simple server, and hosting was found for it at an ISP in South San Francisco, California. After Webb closed down WebbMe in January 2001, the community members kept in touch via a private conference area on Cafe Utne until the new server and software were ready. Electric Minds reopened in its new environment in April 2001, under the control of its community members. Since then, the community has experienced three major interruptions of service due to hardware failures, as well as a number of software problems, but continues to persist. Structure and TopicsElectric Minds' Internet forums are divided into five conferences, or major discussion areas:
Within these conferences, many different topics exist. Some of the topics date back to earlier incarnations of Electric Minds, such as "Socrates' Bar & Grill" in The Commons (where virtual drinks are served, requiring only a quote as "payment"), "Wilma or Betty?" in Electric People (an ongoing game involving choices between two alternatives), and "What Do I Have In My Hand?" in The Playground (in which people attempt to guess what object one user is holding; the user who guesses correctly becomes the object-holder for the next round). Many topics are whimsically named, such as "The Beast of Redmond" (a topic about Microsoft), "The Unfettered Potty Topic," and "One State, Two State, Red State, Blue State: American Politics." Policy, Governance, and SupportElectric Minds' policies have largely carried over from its earliest days; many of them were borrowed from The WELL, including the guiding principle of "You Own Your Own Words." In the present incarnation, EMinds' policies have also been influenced by such sites as Kuro5hin and Fark.com. Electric Minds is primarily run by the Community Host, who oversees the social aspects of the community as a whole, and the Technical Director, who runs the server and maintains the software. In addition, each conference has a set of hosts, who manage discussion within their individual conferences. Major decisions are made by consensus, with each of the core group contributing according to their interest. Community members supply private donations as needed, mainly to help take care of the server. Electric Minds does not accept advertising or sell merchandise to raise money. MembershipElectric Minds membership is open to all; a verifiable electronic mail address is required to complete the registration process. Registration is required to post, but not to read postings on the site. External Links
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