My microwave engineering site Microwaves101.com is set up as a sort of virtual encyclopedia – a textbook of microwave knowledge. We’re getting lots of hits, averaging almost about 2,500 visitors per day. As I expected, quite a few people signed up for the monthly email newsletter that tells people about the most recent articles and topics.

What I didn’t expect was the recent growth of our microwave community. For people who don’t want to wait until we get around to writing on their topic of interest, there is a message board. You don’t have to register to use it – any one can post anything they want. The surprising thing is that we have so many people who CHOOSE to register. They want to belong to the community as it grows. They want to see their own name with their contributions, and want to use the optional profile functions. There are nicknames and icons, and I’m starting to recognize people and their specific fields of interest within microwave engineering.

So even in a very technical, totally virtual space, people want to express their personality and individuality. Maybe not so surprising after all.