Labor Day. In a desert in Nevada, thousands of people came together to form a spontaneous community at a festival called "Burning Man." (Late on the last night they burned a 40-foot sculpture of a man to culminate their quest for artistic freedom.)

But on AOL, users find there's always someone watching what they say. AOL passes judgment on their members' material -- and sometimes makes troubling decisions. Hispanics were offended by AOL's English-only policy, as were women who used the phrase "breast cancer" in their member profiles. Subscribers in the U.K. town of Scunthorpe couldn't even enter their city's name -- and ultimately even British author Clive Barker had to contend with AOL's language police. But some policies changed in the light of public scrutiny -- which goes to show that sometimes, thousands of people can make a difference...