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The concept of an online community is very broad. It can be anything from a small close-knit group of people who email each other about a mutual hobby to a mailing list or website with thousands of users. People who have been able to accept and transcend their differences regardless of the diversity of their backgrounds (social, spiritual, educational, ethnic, economic, political, etc.) This enables them to communicate effectively and openly and to work together toward goals identified as being for their common good. Comprised of different systems such as electronic mail, bulletin board systems, and real-time chat services, Computer-meditated communications (CMC) is both an interpersonal, one-to-one medium of communication and a one-to-many or even many-to-many form of mass communication. With an estimated 50 million CMC users worldwide (Cronin, 2001) this powerful form of communications has the potential to affect the nature of social life in terms of both interpersonal relationships and the character of community. The existence of computer-linked communities was predicted 45 years ago by J.C.R. Licklider and Robert Taylor, who as research directors for the Department of Defence in the U.S, set in motion the research that