wanted: good match for pioneering online community

The Well, known to many as the original online community with Internet pioneers like Mitch Kapor, Howard Rheingold and Cliff Figallo, turned 20 years old this year. According to the BBC, The Salon is now shopping it around, looking for a benevolent suitor.

The idea of turning stand-alone online communities into non-profits, through self-funding of its own members is not new. Membership pledge drives and donations a la NPR just might be the correct model to keep things going.