Online "Communities"

"Community" is one of those red flag words. It means whatever we say it means. I found this on Wordnet

Noun

• S: (n) community (a group of people living in a particular local area) "the team is drawn from all parts of the community"
• S: (n) community (common ownership) "they shared a community of possessions"
• S: (n) community (a group of nations having common interests) "they hoped to join the NATO community"
• S: (n) community, community of interests (agreement as to goals) "the preachers and the bootleggers found they had a community of interests"
• S: (n) residential district, residential area, community (a district where people live; occupied primarily by private residences)
• S: (n) community, biotic community ((ecology) a group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other) 

Nothing here about people in a class together being a "community".  I've been sitting in classes for more than half my life, as a student, as a teacher, as a vagrant, and never did I think I was a member of a community. But suddenly, because I am in an electronic database with people, I am supposed to be a member of an "online community".

And then again, I am a member of a kind of online community in the form of discussion groups that I persist in. We know each other on line only, and talk about whatever it is we gather to discuss. It isn't like a real "community" though, as in a district where we live. It's maybe more like a community of bootleggers sharing an interest.

We are classmates and we help each other but when the bell rings, we are gone. The problem with an online course is that the bell never rings.