It is argued that online communities do not constitute 'real' communities. By definition, a community is a set of people or agents with some shared element or it could be a group of people or things that live in the same area. It would seem that by this definition, a virtual community would be included but it is argued that something is missing that makes these online groups pale substitutes for more traditional face-to-face communities. However, it is opinion, rather than extensive analysis and