First published: March 12, 2012

In Real Life, our community traditionally has been family, relatives, neighbors, friends, church, school, the workplace, our village—people we can connect with while using our five senses. Now, in our Virtual Life, there are only words on a screen with no ability to see body language and facial expressions, hear voice tones, and the only smell and taste come from your coffee mug. We’re a captive audience to our computers and can see only our own shadow in our monitor screens. But we still want to belong to a community. We search for friends and like-minded individuals in news groups, in gaming groups, and especially on sites like Facebook and on Q&A sites like AskMeHelpDesk

What will a newcomer find on AskMeHelpDesk? Almost five years ago I was a newcomer to the site. The Q&A site I had been a part of for five years or so was dying. Members of that site were jumping ship and flocking to AskMeHelpDesk. I wondered why. A couple of them offered me a space in their virtual lifeboat, so I climbed in. After registering at AskMeHelpDesk, I nosed around a bit, found out that I could navigate the site easily enough, asked a question, and almost immediately got a couple of answers. I noticed a question that was languishing and unanswered (and I knew the answer), so I posted my response.

I visited the site for a few days and answered more questions, then received a PM from someone named Clough who welcomed me and encouraged me to participate more. It turned out Clough lives across the state from me and plays the piano, as do I. We traded more PMs and got better acquainted. I found out later that Clough was the self-appointed “Welcome Wagon” for the site and the reason a number of new members decided to stick around. Clough apparently knew how to build community!

The more AskMeHelpDesk members I encountered and got to know, the more it seemed like “old home week.” I felt very comfortable and like I had found some new friends. Time went on, and the years went by. Now I know most of the “old-timers” who’ve been here almost since the site began and a lot of the “new kids” who joined after I did. I’ve learned a lot about dogs, thanks to Aurora_Bell, shazamataz, LadySam, and Lucky098, even though I’m a cat-only person. I read the legal boards like they are John Grisham novels and thrill to the “exploits” of AK lawyer, JudyKayTee, GV70, califdadof3, and kcomissiong. If I need rock-solid, honest, common-sense advice, I post a question or send a PM to Curlyben, ScottGem or excon. And Fr_Chuck—he’s everywhere, holding up the virtual walls of the site! Those are only a few of the knowledgeable, reliable members who are there every day, rain or shine—volunteers all.

On AskMeHelpDesk I’m meeting and helping people from all over the world, people I would never have encountered in Real Life. I’ve found my virtual family, my virtual community. Are you part of it too?