Most folks think of it as a group of people who share a particular place in the world.
Net users, on the other hand, know that that online communities can transcend geography, relying instead on shared interests and intimate bonds with unseen friends. If a site can convince people to hang around in chat rooms and forums, it can show them more ads and make more money. That's why sites ranging from portals to porn shops try to convince visitors that their pages are the perfect place to set up a cozy community. These differing definitions of community can cause problems, particularly for Net users who believe Web sites share their own idea of what that word means. Netscape added a community forum to its Netcenter portal site just over a year ago.