The JBlogosphere Community?

Wikipedia's Defintion of Community: A number of ways to categorize types of community have been proposed; one such breakdown is:

Geographic communities: range from the local neighbourhood, suburb, village, town or city, region, nation or even the planet as a whole. These refer to communities of location.

Communities of culture: range from the local clique, sub-culture, ethnic
group, religious, multicultural or pluralistic civilisation, or the global community cultures of today. They may be included as communities of need or identity, such as disabled persons, or frail aged people.

Community organizations: range from informal family or kinship networks, to more formal incorporated associations, political decision making structures, economic enterprises, or professional associations at a small, national or international scale.

Dov "he wants you to buy his book" Bear paraphrased R' Gil Student from Hirhurim as follows:

When Gil said that he didn't think the Jewish blogosphere is a true community the angels cried (Disagree) (I think he's dead right. Lots of different communities may exist within the J-blogopshere, but the J-blogosphere is not a community itself: We don't have common interests, and no one views the blogosphere as a distinct segment of society. We speak of aliya-nics, or skeptics, or TorahTrue-niks, not of "Jewish bloggers")

What does it mean, "the J-Blogosphere is not a community itself?"

Is Judaism today a community itself? Is Israel a community itself? When R' Gil said he wouldn't want to expose his readership to the "Haveil Havalim" blog carnival, does that mean he is anti-community? Of course not.

The lowest common denominators of Judaism and Israel today have eroded down to close to zero. What do Neturai Karta and Humanist Judaism have in common? The Chadash political party and Tekuma? The Treppenwitz blog and Lisa Goldman? DovBear and the Muqata? Jewlicious and Netanyahu (well, we know one is much funnier than the other one)

I'm honestly shocked that the "Who is a Jew" controversy didn't materialize over the past JBlogger conference, since the exact same controversy is applicable to "Who is a JBlogger", or more precisely, "What is the JBlogosphere 'community'?"

It's rather silly for DovBear to say "the J-blogosphere is not a community itself: We don't have common interests, and no one views the blogosphere as a distinct segment of society."

One could say the exact same thing about Jews. What common interest does a Neturay Karta Jew from Kiryas Joel have with a skeptic orthoprax Jew, a totally athiest Jew, and an aliya-minded minded Jew? Perhaps nothing, but they are part of the "Jewish Community" (even if some of them would hate the defintion, and would scream and rant that they have nothing to do with each other) -- and yet there was far more criticism of calling last week's event, a "JBlogger convention" than say, a UJA appeal.

No organization, company, or event has a monopoly on the "JBlogosphere." No one owns it, runs it, manipulates it, or controls it -- JBloggers write what they wish. whenever they want, and however they want.

It's open to pretty much anyone.

To all those harping against the community aspect of it -- give it a rest. I found lots of new friends through it -- even though others think its insane to find friends through any sort of virtual "sphere." I found many new ideas through it, learned alot, and contribute my point of view. And I had a blast meeting so many of you in the US and at the convention

Contribute to the KCC or Haveil Havalim, lurk around it, or ignore it -- it doesnt really change the "community" apsect of it. The JBlogosphere exists, just as the "Jewish Community" exists.

Yet don't overdo it -- as CK from Jewlicious said at the convention, "maybe you should get out more often...get a bike or something."

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד