Real Tales from a Virtual Place Called the Well
The Well, the online community that is the focus of a story in the Journal’s Bay Area section, taught many people about communicating and interacting with others in cyberspace. Their initial experiences have inspired some vivid writing.
Early member Howard Rheingold, for example, went on to become one of the most influential observers of the culture that would later flourish on the Internet. He described his early exposure in the first chapter of his 1993 book, “The Virtual Community.”
“Finding the Well was like discovering a cozy little world that had been flourishing without me, hidden within the walls of my house; an entire cast of characters welcomed me to the troupe with great merriment as soon as I found the secret door,” Rheingold wrote.
