A profile of Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay. And this phrase:

The Web's real power lies in its ability to connect people instantly around the world, so buyers and sellers alike can share near-perfect information about prices, products, and each other. By putting in place a few key rules, such as a feedback system in which buyers and sellers rate each other, Omidyar sparked a vibrant community that numbers 125 million members worldwide.

It shocks me how few folks get this. How few websites bother to utilize the fact that they reside on a *network*, and that with that network, you can leverage the behavior of all these individuals for both their and your gain. One of those classic "win-win" situations. No retailer other than Amazon really gets it. I can't think of a single marketing communications site that gets it. Almost no online publications get it. It's so basic, yet it requires such a fundamental shift in thinking. The web is only in very small part a "publishing platform", or a "distribution channel." The web is best when it's not top-down.