The family of Robert Downey Jr. formed a flash community after the movie star was shipped off to a California state prison in August for repeatedly violating probation on drug charges. The family wanted Downey to do time at a drug-rehabilitation facility, not in prison. About three weeks after the site went up, Downey was transferred to a rehab clinic. We are very grateful. The phenomenon also has spread beyond the Web, to include communities that are hybrids of Web sites and e-mail groups.
Postings are e-mailed to all members of a group.
Members can also view the whole discussion on the Web site. I am getting far too many and cannot keep up. Jonathan Prince, who organized the Bradley group, says he is considering splitting the group into subsections as the primaries near and interest grows. The appearance of tools such as eGroups and eCircles, and the success of cause-related sites such as MoveOn, should keep driving people to set up flash communities. The real issue, of course, is how to get people to visit the sites in the first place.