Defining Online Communities: The Warrior Forum and Michael Tracey

As I sit here tonight at about 8:30 PM Greece time (GMT +2), I am mulling over the meaning of “Community” and how it applies online. Over the years, like everyone, I have belonged to numerous offline communities. As many people naturally are, I am civic minded and always willing to do my part within the community to ensure that we all thrive.

During the past few years, many forums and Social Networking sites have coined the term, “Community” as a way of trying to describe their core benefit. I always balked at that somewhat because I rarely, if ever, felt that sense of community as I did offline. After all, in online terms, we are crossing political, cultural and religious borders in a relatively anonymous sense with folks we will most likely never meet in person.

Merriam-Webster online defines community as “A unified body of individuals”, but goes on to relate community primarily with the location in which one lives or works or even plays. Clearly, the Internet and more specifically, the World Wide Web has changed the meaning of community largely. I think the best definition now, to borrow again from Merriam-Webster, is the, “Group of people with a common characteristic or interest” less the “living together” portion of the definition. Unless of course, we define “Living Together” as living on a common planet.

The time, which is now 8:37 PM, is important to me, because precisely 5 days and 27 minutes ago, I started a thread to rally our own “Community” at the Warrior Forum, to help a long-term member, Michael Tracey, with a serious financial problem that was the result of personal health issues. My hope was that given Michael’s past here as a Moderator and being such a decent human being, that the more senior members would step up to the bar and help.

In any event, we needed to raise $20K as quickly as possible for Michael and his family. And we needed to do it immediately, because he was out of options.

In the first part of the fundraiser, I posted a thread in the main discussion forum, detailing Michael’s problem and included a PayPal Donation button. The main purpose of my post was to get members to donate products for a Firesale WSO for Michael. But I do know from experience that members are always willing to kick in a few bucks here and there and of course, every penny helps.


After I posted the thread, literally within seconds, the first $100 donation arrived for Michael from Kim Standerline. This absolutely freaked me out because I had barely lifted my finger off the mouse button when posting the thread! Within the first hour, we had already generated $3,378 from the members, including Allen Says, the Warrior Forum owner who did not hesitate to kick in $2K right at the start to seriously get the ball rolling.

That first day of the fundraiser, we went on to collect a total of $8, 742 for Michael and his family. It helped that it was a Thursday and a very active day at the Warrior Forum, and of course that members were not hesitating to help out a much respected fellow Warrior.

Without any planning whatsoever, something amazing began to happen. Members like Bev Clement and others began using other Social Networking Services such as Twitter to spread the word and others, like Dana Wilhoit, offered up her Press Release services to anyone willing to donate to help Michael. It goes to show that if you need something done right, yesterday and profitably, just ask a Warrior

The fundraiser literally took on a life of its own and before we knew it, hundreds of transactions were coming in from members all over the world ranging from $1 to thousands of dollars. Every single penny, no matter how large or small the amount donated, made a HUGE difference. Even newer members who had not known Michael were catching the spirit of the Warrior Forum Community and doing what they could.

Some members, like Johnny Slater and TommyG, donated products that allowed us to run a WSO (or offered a percentage of existing WSO’s) to encourage additional donations. And because our members appreciate the value of the products offered, they were snapped right up, adding thousands of dollars to the fundraiser.

As we entered day five, I was still in a constant state of amazement at how such a diverse group of people could pull together and each doing their own part to reach out as a real Community to one of its own. With just a couple of thousand dollars shy of the goal, Allen Says, the Warrior Forum owner, who found out we were still a bit short of the goal, kicked in yet another $2,000 to ensure Michael got what he needed right then and there.

Suffice it to say that as a result of the generous contributions by Warrior Forum Members, including the WSO products, we were able to meet our goal and raise a total of $20,871.81 – all accomplished through a grassroots movement by the members. Shortly thereafter, the funds were wired to Michael’s bank and he has indicated that everything was received in proper order.

In later conversation with Michael, he commented that his wife was even more astounded by such an overwhelming outpouring of help. Neither she, nor Michael could believe how quickly this came together. He went on to say that we’ll just never know how much this means to them.

Every single member who was able to participate in this fundraiser, whether through a donation, promoting it or even just adding their prayers and good wishes for Michael and family has proven beyond a doubt that a powerful sense of community exists in the Warrior Forum unlike any other.

Lastly, on a personal note, I want to thank all of you for your generosity, your compassion and respect for Michael and for just being who you are. So many people have thanked me for doing the fundraiser, but it was not me who made this possible. It was each of you, in your own way and it is each of you that deserve the cheers and applause for your efforts. I’m proud of all of you and ever so grateful that we had the chance to do something damn near miraculous as a community!

P.S. - While it was originally my intention to publish a list of every person who donated, there were so many of you who asked to remain anonymous that I was not able to easily keep track of them. Rather than risk indiscretion and inadvertently publish anonymous donor names, I have decided to simply leave things as they are. Michael has received a complete breakdown of the donations and I think if you review the original thread, many of the donors are apparent there.