I have been reading a book called "Communities in Cyberspace." It is, as the title suggests, a collection of essays about the different aspects of online communities. In it there is an interesting, although a bit old (1996), piece called "Net Surfers Don't Ride Alone: Virtual Communities as Communities". The ideas in the essay may not seem all that revolutionary anymore but the authors open up a still-relevant discussion of the different types of discourse that the Internet facilitates and how it affects individuals on and off screen.