The internet is a very strange place.  From one angle, it is a place of business.  Websites are technically owned by various companies and individuals.  From another angle, it is a social gathering place.  People meet, fall in love and debate important issues like what color prison uniform Paris Hilton is wearing.

I’ve been posting on a bulletin board named www.thebackpacker.com/trailtalk since about 1999.  I started posting there because I love to hike and travel.  Anyone who has read this blog knows that.

When my mom was dying of cancer in 2000, that site gave me a place to pursue my love of the outdoors even when I was sitting in a hospital waiting room or at home helping my dad.

Over time, I got to know the regular posters.  And, remarkably, many of the regular posters started to hike together and plan trips.  A handful of the posters have become in-the-flesh friends.  We meet for dinner and sometimes hike together.

thebackpacker.com/trailtalk even started a decade-long rivalry with another hiking/backpacking board, forums.backpacker.com .  Regular posters would jaw at each other and argue about which board was better.  It was like two small towns before a high school football game.

So, it was a bit unsettling last week when thebackpacker.com was sold by the wonderful man from Georgia - Matt - who created it.  He sold to trails.com.  Trails.com is big and corporate.  And, of course, everyone on the board is worried that the site will change for the worse.  You can see that discussion here:

http://www.thebackpacker.com/trailtalk/thread/48437,1.php

http://forums.backpacker.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/852107219/m/9171089303

It’s just an interesting event.  Unlike the real world, website administrators control the terms of interaction on the internet.  And, in many ways, a website can become the location of a friendship and an archive of interactions over many years.  It’s unsettling to see that get sold.

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