http://www.utne.com

The Utne Cafe, part of the online version of in The Utne Reader, supports over 30 hosted conferences. Perhaps its most interesting, and telling, conference is the Feedback conference, which raises questions after question. Should the Federalist Society have its own conference? How does that affect the gender-balancing policy (the Utne Cafe management ensures that the female-male ratio is even, though that requires that men sometimes wait before their registration is activated)? Should posters be limited in the number of posts they can make? Is it okay to say fuck you? If you like the content and style of The Utne Reader, you will most likely appreciate the tone in the Utne Cafe. Concerned with developing policies that encourage diversity and posting by a wide cross section of participants. self-reflective, the Utne Cafe is a tightly woven community as much about itself as anything else; if you are interested in developing the norms and policies of a community, this is a great place for you. - J.S.D.

subject matter: general conversation

regional affiliation: global

format: conferencing (web conferencing using Motet)

language: English

cost: no cost