firecat

do you automatically feel there is still a community connecting you with such people? Or does the community become irrelevant at some point and the people become friends?

A bit of both. I feel a community connection with those people who know me from most of the communities I claimed. The exception would be the Marines, but that community is a special case, bound together by a shared purpose and common goals. In the general case of communities, I've always held with the "It's not the place, it's the people." view. If I have friends somewhere, that's what matters to me. In specific, you'd be welcome in my home but jimbat wouldn't be.

Is a political party a community?

A loose one, I think. There's the common interest factor, and common goals. Certainly among the party precinct workers there is a strong bond of shared work and experience.

Is a community just a common name or interest?

It might be. Or it might be much more than that.

You say you have a strong connection to US Marines. What does that connection entail for you and why?

It entails most of my adult life, from ages 18 to 40, when I was an active (or reserve) member of the Corps. Even in military retirement I have to be available for lifelong recall. If you could see what happens when someone who spent some time in the Corps, however long ago, realizes that I'm a retired Master Sergeant and the transformation that takes place as they 'fall in' it is amazing. I feel a strong obligation and responsibility to my fellow Marines, and I know that they feel the same toward me. This is one community that goes far beyond the loose interactions that I see as being the minimum necessary criterion for 'community' to exist in general.