Noah Lubkeman Welhouse
The Missing Link: Connecting the Age of Early Hyperspace with the Era of Broadband
The WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronically Linked)
Thewell.com
http://noahwelhouse.blogspot.com/
Three Distinct Elements
1.A blog diary of my experiences on the WELL
2.Links to related material about the WELL
3.Interview with Gail Williams
4.A collection of my favorite posts on the WELL
5. Embedded video of Howard Rheingold talking about collaboration online (mentions the WELL)
The Missing Link: Connecting the Age of Early Hyperspace with the Era of Broadband
The WELL offers an integral connection to an age of the early Internet. This text-only online-based community has remained relatively unchanged since its inception in 1985. While they have incorporated a company, pricing scheme, switched owners several times and added a plethora of new topics since the WELL first came online the spirit of the site has changed very little. The Web site’s homepage is boldly emblazoned with the motto, “remarkably uninhibited, intelligent and iconoclastic” and it lives up to this creed. Only the home page is adorned with a few clip art styled images and the occasional author photograph. The rest of the site features black text and is decidedly devoid of color, the background is solid white with no visual supplements. It is because of the site’s indomitable and unchanging nature that I thought that it would be a perfect community for me to perform my ethnography on. Let others delve into the visually stunning world of Second Life and Small Worlds or other flashier text based communities with alluring color schemes and supplemental video. I had made it my mission to find out how a site with such a plain interface has survived and actually increased membership.
As I mentioned the WELL is primarily a subscription site, to which I willingly paid $9.50 for my first month of membership. While paid subscriptions on the Web are not a new invention the fact that the site requires that you create a profile with the full name that matches the one on the credit card used to register is something of an anomaly. I have always thought of the Internet as the closest thing to the Wild West that I will ever experience. Users can usually just drift in and out of any community they want while establishing an identity of their choosing under some random pseudonym or character avatar. In this scenario if things turn sour for the user (i.e. losing face in the given community, violating social norms or simply boredom with a current identity) the user can just quit and create a new account; starting over from scratch with the rest of the community completely unaware. This is not the case for the WELL. While all my posts are registered under the moniker Valhoos any user can click on my pseudonym and find my full name and unless I legally change my name and obtain new credit cards it is impossible to change my name. This facet of the WELL community is what intrigued me most. I decided to study the affects of this unique attribute of the WELL. Or to state my inquiry more succinctly: how does losing the veil of anonymity alter the content put forth by users, is there less “flaming” or the unrelenting degradation of posters and lastly, do people avoid putting up illegal or private information?
It is impossible to fully comprehend the unique nature of the WELL without some background on the site. The WELL was born in 1985 as the collective brainchild of co-founders Larry Brilliant and Stewart Brand. It began as a dial-up posting site, kind of like an early Craigslist/MSN chat forum, until it became one of the first dial-up ISPs when commercial content was allowed on the Internet (Turner, 2005). The site has been influential since its creation. The founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an online rights advocacy group, the inventor of Craiglist and many notable academics first met on the WELL. Several books have been written on the WELL during the site’s early days because of its adamantly loyal subscriber base and “counter culture” nature.
The WELL has an extensive user base that views the WELL as an integral extension of their identity both on and offline. Katie Hafner gives accounts of some of the more spectacular examples of user devotion in a 2004, WIRED magazine article. One of the most well known cases of which she writes features a user named Mandel who maintained a highly visible identity on the WELL. He was extremely prevalent in specific forums and had been the center of several controversies on the WELL. When he was diagnosed with a malignant tumor he chose to journal his bout with inoperable lung cancer through numerous conference threads. Mandel, real name Tom Mandel chronicled his deteriorating health until his untimely death. Another unfortunate example is a man who made sure to mass scribble, the WELL term for comment deletion, all of his contributions before he took his life.
Much of the other literature written on the WELL focuses on its then enormously innovative technological advancements and societal implications. The most famous of which is Howard Rheingold’s book Virtual Community that launched the site and Mr. Rheingold into the limelight. Fred Turner also wrote extensively on the WELL and its role in counter culture. Fred Turner asserts that when the WELL first began, some people saw this medium of online discourse as a threat to health and community. Keeping users cloistered in their homes. Shielded from the sun and just living through this online resource rather than stepping outside. Some also initially viewed it as a societal threat. In the early days of the Internet many theorists and paranoid citizens argued that the WELL could serve as an online hub in which activists could post rhetoric and plan illegal activities away from the prying eyes of the police (Turner, 2005). While some shady dealings have occurred, now days it is a far from the most controversial site on the Internet. In fact what the WELL has remained is a top-notch intellectual forum with a fairly pristine record.
The WELL and its compilation of private online forums comprise an expansive and overbearing virtual space. I did not know where to start when I first entered my user name and password and accessed my profile page. The WELL provided me with a set of randomly selected conferences on my home page for me to peruse. I quickly scrolled through several of these samples but critiques of pop culture, economics and the WELL newsletter did little to pique my interest. I eagerly hammered in wholly outrageous searches. When I searched “how to make explosives”, “Thermite”, “How to make Meth”, and “how to make Ecstacy” the server always came back empty. I was baffled that I did not get a single hit on any of these topics. Just to check that I was still connected to the same Internet where you can find blueprints for an atomic bomb I Googled “How to Make Meth”. After a quick compilation Google provided me with 3, 650,000 hits. While some of these were articles about local Meth issues and a substantial percentage contained a menagerie of words starting with the meth- prefix (i.e. method, methadone, method man) a surprising number of sites including the first 5 hits, were detailed instructions on Crystal Methamphetamine production. However, in order to give my readers the dirt I assume they so desire I kept plugging suspicious searches into the WELL’s online archive. I eventually found the perfect sub community to study.
Searching the term “drugs” under conference names proved extremely fruitful. While the WELL is lacking in its knowledge, or at least admittance, of explosive related articles it has more than ample content related to drugs. There was a staggering 703 conferences currently being discussed under the topic heading of “drugs”. While many of these proved to be seemingly innocent discussions such as the ramifications of Red Bull consumption, the drug policy under Clinton and even one sweetly titled “everyone’s favorite drug: [chocolate]” there were more than a few shady conferences that turned up. Just to list a small smattering of the more in-your-face conferences: “psychedelic advice”, “ICE: smokable methamphetamine”, “Buying Drugs [Online]” and “Buying Drugs in Mexico”.
While none of the postings discussed anything overtly illegal, at least that I could find, some of the content I came across was extremely suspect. For example in the “Buying Drugs Online” conference one user asked if the sites like valiumdeals.com were legitimate. Another responded that in his experience that real sites are out there but others are rip-offs and provide inadequate products. The last posting on the subject was a user who simply wrote one line of text testifying the validity of the two sites which he provided links for. Another questionable thread was “Buying Drugs In Mexico” which provided detailed instructions on how to obtain and smuggle prescription drugs from Mexico into the United States
Again, while I stated that these actions are not in and of themselves illegal the users have divulged a significant portal into the their activities which is available for viewing to any active WELL member. This would not be concerning in the anonymity of the Internet at large but as stated the WELL is different. Users must use their real names and often provide substantial amounts of personal information. To iterate I will examine the user tomcarr, who made the original inquiry for “Buying Drugs [Online].” Clicking on his pseudonym shows his lengthy profile detailing his place of residence including former homes, job description along with his full name, religious affiliations and place of worship. Another great example of this open nature of information is illustrated in a posting under the conference heading simply titled “Crystal Meth”. The user scraps had posted one of the best contributions I have found on the WELL. It begins simply but extremely forcefully: “I love crystal meth and probably would make it a habit if I hadn’t watched it wither one of my best friends”. The nearly 600-word post details scraps’ history with crystal meth and several other drugs. Scraps writes about the crippling effects the drug had on a close friend and his eventual discontinued use of the drug. The posting is beautifully written and extremely moving. It would be hard to imagine such an open confession on any other site. This is however, the razors edge I find that makes this site so alluring and disturbing. While this site does an excellent job of fostering true discourse I am bothered by the amount of information users must provide and often opt to supplement.
At this point in my research I decided I needed an insider’s view of the WELL (not until recently did I find out how valuable an “insider” I got!). After several days of idly pouring over various conferences I called the helpdesk phone number located on the bottom of the WELL’s homepage. After accidentally calling the WELL’s fax machine (not once, nor twice but thrice!) I eventually reached the WELL’s headquarters in San Diego, California. The secretary I reached was very helpful and directed me to someone who she said would “, be able to give me a comprehensive history of the Web site.” After an extremely brief transfer time I was connected to WELL administrator Gail Williams. The voice on the other side of the phone seemed especially amiable. I gave Gail a synopsis of my intentions: I am a journalism student at the University of Wisconsin Madison and I am performing ethnography and I am trying to find some ethical or legal issues. Her already pleasant tone became even more chipper and she remarked several times that she hoped that I would send her a copy of my paper. After the usual formalities I inquired as to whether the WELL had ever deemed it necessary to take down material posted to the site or if anyone besides infamous hacker and convicted computer fraud mastermind Kevin Mitnick had been banned from the site. While guarded in her answers she replied that no material had ever been removed because of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, an intellectual property law mainly used to prevent dissemination of Digital Rights Managements work but the site has turned over email addresses of user’s accused of credit card phishing, but only under subpoena from law enforcement. She went on to explain that while approximately five members of the online community have been banned the approximately 5 members were not banned because of an administrative decision. The community, in its interest of true discussion had advocated that several overly aggressive trolls, or offensive users that give no real contribution besides hateful comments, be denied continued affiliation with the site. Gale further asserted that crime is rare because the site is subscription based so many of the annoying contributors don’t feel it worth their while. It was not until weeks after my interview with Gail Williams that I discovered that she has served as the Executive Director for the site since 1998 and has received much acclaim in her role in advancing the Internet, including being named one of the Top 25 Women of the Web in 2000 (gailwilliams.com).
With Gale’s comments in mind I set about making my first post. On April 29th, 2009 I wrote: “I am currently working on a project concerning law and ethics in Internet communities. I have chosen to perform [an] ethnography on the WELL. I was hoping that if anyone had any thoughts or concerns regarding either of these topics (e.g. stalking through the use of real names, any seemingly unwarranted/valid content removal) or just some information you feel would be useful in my research I would appreciate any contributions.” Several days received several comments that seemed almost like an inquiry into my intentions as well as an informal initiation into the community. One user made sure that I understood that I may never publish written work without permission, disclose any user’s true name, that I must make a much more valiant effort to post more extensively on the site and that until I do so I will be seen as an outsider. Another user congratulated me on my interest but was wary that I was “just doing this for a paper”.
I gleaned a great deal from my first topic and response the responses to it. I was confirmed in my belief that privacy is an issue in the WELL community. To paraphrase one user, pseudonym ckridge, stated that most users realize that privacy is an issue but making the social normative that members don’t divulge any contributor’s real names to a non-WELL member and that those who do will be ostracized provides some comfort. Betsy, a member since May 1994 postulated that the WELL does not suffer from many of the ills that befall other online communities because the subscription model makes them somewhat of a “gated” community, effectively shutting out hooligans and most trolls.
Because I found that privacy is in fact a concern for many of the WELL’s members I decided to try to find anything addressing this issue included in the WELL. When I searched the subject in the WELL’s database I came back with incredibly sparse information. While there was an assortment of privacy forums, one on privacy on Facebook, another on keeping your Mac free from hacks I could not find anything addressing privacy in regards to the WELL itself. That is until I stumbled upon the WELL’s 10th anniversary timeline. A single blurb in the lengthy history of the site until 1995 defines the role of anonymity on the WELL. The excerpt from a post highlighting major events from1989 states: “February:
WELL management creates the Anonymous conference where peoples' identities are hidden. WELL members begin spoofing one another's identities.
Immediate chaos and angst occurs and the conference is removed (Figallo, 1995).” The protection of user’s online identities trumps an encompassing security of their offline identity.
With such stringent social norms I feel somewhat alienated from the community at large. Furthermore, Since my initial posting I have made several other posts, including responses to those critical of my intentions but feel that until I have nearly a hundred postings under my belt that I will be seen as an unruly outsider. This is understandable since many of the WELL’s members have been subscribers since the site’s inception and my recent membership and meager handful of posting pales in comparison to the average catalogue of material most users have contributed. Proof of this is that ckridge, the user who gave me tips on how I should behave on the WELL called himself “a relative newcomer to the site” has been an active member since 2002!
The WELL is a rarity on the Web. An honest and consistent identity is the principle this community considers most important. It seems that while privacy is a concern the community as a whole regulates itself through strict social norms and employs a subscription model as a preventative measure against virtual hooligans. While I initially hypothesized that using your true identity would limit discourse online I found quite the opposite. While users avoid any overtly illegal comments I found the threads on the WELL to be much more open than most communities online today. While I feel somewhat perturbed that if a malicious user was so inclined he could probably find me in real life the majority of the active community on the WELL feel that this is a small price to pay for honest and highly intellectual discourse. While asinine discussions about being the first to post on a message board and viral videos flood the rest of the Web the WELL has remained untainted and is still the epitome of intellectual communities online.
Bibliography
Figallo, C., Pernick, R., Williams, G.A. (1995). A Timeline Of the First Ten Years of The WELL. Retrieved May 10, 2009, from http://www.well.com/conf/welltales/timeline.html
Hafner, K. (2004). The Epic Saga of the WELL. Wired. Retrieved May 10, 2009, from http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.05/ff_well_pr.html
Salon Media Group Inc. (2009). The WELL. Retrieved April 29, 2009. From http://www.well.com/
Turner, F. (2005). When the Counterculture Met the New Economy: The WELL and the Origins of Virtual Community. Technology and Culture, 46, 485-512.
Williams, G. (2007). Gale Williams. Retrieved May 11, 2009. From http://www.gailwilliams.com/
