Slashdot.org
is definitely a non-fiction based virtual community, which
gives it a flesh feel, meaning that you feel
are talking to people who represent their flesh beings. One of
the ways you are able to differentiate yourself from others is
your screename
and profile. When posting comments you use your screename,
or you can post using the generic screenames "anonymous" and
anonymous coward". These generic screen names are usually
used to post information which one does not feel stating under
their
actual screename. When I first joined I assumed that anonymous
posts would be useless, however it turns out that it is actually
used for real purposes like posting comments about corporations
and other "political" centric happenings.
Something
that I have found interesting about slashdot.org is the lack
of gender/race/class references made within the community.
At first I made the assumption that probably everyone thinks
everyone else is a middle aged white male, however after reading
a lot of posts, it would seem more like people just assume they
are talking to a geek more then a person with a specific race
or gender. However this does inherently leave women as a source
for objectification, but I have yet to see it in a post I have
read.