Hollywood Stock Exchange Results: I Made a lot of Money on the Lego Movie Sequel!

Let me begin by saying that I have no idea how stocks work.  I do however, understand what movies and shows are and going to be awesome.  This is clearly reflected in my enormous gain of over 30% in less than two days from LEGO2.  I feel like I should have bought more stock in it.

I believe that HSX is an online community and a valid candidate for a 3rd Space.  I could easily see this site as a 3rd place.  It has all the needed components.  It has participation through posting in the forums, and buying stock.  There are privileges to signing up.  The capital of the site is the stocks that you can trade.  Elders would be considered forum moderators and admins for the site.  I didn't really have any interaction with other users on the site but that is due to me not seeking out any other users.  To be honest, I thought I would dislike this site, but I actually found my experience with this site enjoyable.  I may continue to use it.

Is AnimeFreak.tv a Comunity?

After looking over AnimeFreak.tv, I have come to the conclusion that it is in fact not a Community.  I find that most of the things that make a community are absent from the this site.  The three that stuck out the most for me would have to be Governance, Privilege, and Participation is the biggest one of the three.  To start off, the site seems to be controlled by either one person or a small group of people that find the anime materials to post daily.  There is no user control or input on what these people pick to post, so there is no Governance.  There is also no Privilege to using this site because there is no benefit to using the site other than catching up on some TV, which is not a social act inherently.  There is no upside to using this site over another anime streaming site, thus there is no Privilege.  Perhaps the biggest reason that this site doesn't qualify as a community is the lack of the ability to Participate.  There is no comment structure, no user registration, no interactions between users what so ever.  If a community needs any of the major characteristics of a community, it needs Participation.

Couch Surfing Assignment

1.  I first expected this site to be about people sitting on couches surfing through TV channels.  It never even occurred to me that it would be about finding a place to spend the night.  I also expected the site to look outdated and old and look like someone threw it together in an hour.

2.  My first impression of the site came after I realized the site's true purpose as apposed to the site I thought it would be.  I think that the site looks very professional and inviting.  It romanticizes the idea of travelling without set plans and or a place to stay for a night.

3.  As I stated before, my original thought was that this website was for people that would sit on the couch and surf through TV channels.  On this site, the users could post entries about their experiences and interesting shows or commercials that they saw.

4.  I think either someone who travels spontaneously without planning or someone who cares for the welfare of people like Backpackers or travelers would run this website.

5.  I probably would not become a member because I usually plan my travels thoroughly ahead of time.  I also don't feel comfortable sleeping near people I don't really know because there are quite a few odd people out in the world that could abuse this system.

6.  I don't really have any concerns about this community itself, but more with the people offering the housing.  How are they approved?  Are they screened for safety?