Redigging the WELL

by Michelle Chihara

With Norman Lear joining its board of directors and a public stock offering in the works, the online magazine Salon has generated a lot of publicity recently. But in terms of Internet culture, Salon's most important news lately is its acquisition of a 10,000-member online community called the WELL.

The WELL (short for Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link) is a 15-year-old bulletin-board system run out of Sausalito, California. In its heyday, in the late '80s and early '90s, the Well, with its impressive roster of Bay Area thinkers and writers, was pretty much the model of the electronic village: in addition to running famously high-minded discussion groups, the membership was so tight-knit that it raised money to see individual participants through family emergencies. When Web idealists talk about the medium's potential for community, they're usually talking about something like the WELL.

Its new owners won't be abolishing the WELL, which for now will continue to operate as a distinct online entity. And from the outside, the purchase looks like a good fit: many Salon staffers are long-time WELL members, and Salon's existing discussion forums were in fact modeled on the WELL. On the inside, however, the takeover is the subject of hot debate: some "WELLbeings" see acquisition by a publicly traded corporation as a potential disaster. "It will mean in one sense the death of what the Bay Area considers so sacred," wrote one. "The Well with all its quirkiness represents what makes cyberworld so interesting and vital."

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In reality, even some die-hards admit that things have already changed. The WELL has had its share of growing pains, and has lost many devoted members to smaller spinoff communities. And it's been a long time since all the WELL's members met for cocktails every week. Says Virtual Community author Howard Rheingold, a WELL member since 1985, "It could probably survive some shaking up."

Still, you don't have to be a fanatic WELLbeing to recognize that something is being lost. In a world increasingly focused on the Web as a means of selling things, the WELL's absorption into a corporate interest, no matter how benign, is a bit like losing your town square to a condo developer. It's hard not to feel that it's the end of an era.