Conforming to Preece's Requirements

The TOMB certainly fits Preece's basic definition of an online community (Preece 2000, p.10), as it consists of

• people who interact socially in seeking to fulfill individual or common needs, with some playing clear roles as moderators
• a shared purpose, that is, the exploration of all things related to the black art/weird science of recording music
• policies both written and unwritten, such as posting rules, netiquette, and membership requirements
• a "computer system" to support and mediate the social interaction; in this case an old-school online bulletin board platform, phpBB

When a user first attempts to register for access to the forum (if s/he wishes to be anything but a lurker), s/he's presented with a list of posting rules, along with some random new member info. This immediately establishes the tone and spirit of the message board and lays out clear yet simple ground rules for becoming a registered member. The first rule states "There are no rules. Just kidding." Farther down the short list of rules, you encounter: "7. Post responsibly - we don't really want to have to be keeping an eye on the bad apples! Remember, the board and the magazine are free! 8. Speaking of apples, eat some fruit, it's good for ya! 9. Oh yeah, don't bug the web folks with silly questions. Only smart questions"

Clearly the folks from TapeOp who created the TOMB convey an irreverent, lighthearted attitude that encourages friendly interactions in a comfortable environment. This parallels the hard copy magazine's editorial tone. The registration process consists of a basic one-page form with typical fields for user name, password, email address, occupation (required to avoid spambots), interests, web site URL, a signature field, avatar upload tool, etc. Only the first four of these are required, but most members choose to include a web site address and additional information about themselves.