Members of `terrestrial' communities are migrating in ever-increasing numbers to a
new `Third Space' that manifests outside traditional geographical physical
boundaries. This online space consists of purely social relations where
interaction and community are performed at-a-distance. The diversifying populations
of these virtual villages, towns and cities now constitute very real communities.
Online non-gaming spaces such as Ebay, Active Worlds and Secondlife, for example,
deliberately utilize the discourse of community in an attempt to instil a sense of
communal space and shared responsibility among their members. While the majority
subscribe to the rhetoric of `netizenship' others find alternative means to
participate online. The avocations of these few have resulted in the endemic
deviance/crime problem that exists online. As a result, online communities have
developed their own distinct history of control and regulation.
This article explores the ways that online social spaces maintain orderly
`communities'. It contrasts `proximal' (online) forms of governing online behaviour,
such as online reputation management systems, `virtual' police services and
vigilante groups that employ `online shaming', with `distal' (offline) forms such as
offline policing and criminal justice processes. The central theme of the article is
a critical account of how these, often contradicting, nodes of governance interact.
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