Electric Minds

Electric Minds (commonly abbreviated EMinds) is a long-running virtual community that has survived several changes of fortune throughout its existence. As of 2005, the community has over 1600 registered members and hundreds of active discussion topics covering a wide range of subjects.

Structure and Topics

Electric Minds' Internet forums are divided into six conferences, or major discussion areas:

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• The Commons - a general discussion area.
• Speaker's Corner - devoted to politics and current events.
• Electric People - an area focused primarily on friends, family, and relationships.
• Altered Minds - focusing on controversial and alternative topics, such as sex, religion, and the paranormal.
• The Playground - devoted to fun and games of all sorts, including several ongoing competitions.
• The Technical Side - technology and related topics, including the support topics for Electric Minds and Venice themselves.

Within these conferences, many different topics exist. Some of the topics date back to earlier incarnations of Electric Minds, such as "Socrates' Bar & Grill" in The Commons (where virtual drinks are served, requiring only a quote as "payment"), "Wilma or Betty?" in Electric People (an ongoing game involving choices between two alternatives), and "What Do I Have In My Hand?" in The Playground (in which people attempt to guess what object one user is holding; the user who guesses correctly becomes the object-holder for the next round). Many topics are whimsically named, such as "The Beast of Redmond" (a topic about Microsoft), "The Unfettered Potty Topic," and "One State, Two State, Red State, Blue State: American Politics."

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