johnlew - 10:59 pm on Apr 12, 2006 (gmt 0)

Quote: I really miss the 'hippie' days when we shared our insights in order to build a stronger community."

I like your intentions, but I think your not paying attention. Most webpages you see are database driven by MySQL, a big community project. Linux. Everything in the opensource world. Wikipedia became commercial after it was a schmorgousborg of shared content.

Fact is, people love to be nostalgic, but its not always better in the past. I love it when people remember the crime free days of yore (crime rates have decreased in the last 30 years), or how reliable and sturdy things used to be made (despite what you remember, automobiles, for example, require almost half the maintenance they used to). Community is stronger than ever. Right now there are more communities online and a larger percentage of users who expect nothing but to share their ideas and work than there have been on any medium in the history of mankind. Despite how good you remember it being.