[vertig0h]

Online forums.

Salons in 18th and 19th century Europe generally revolved around one or a few wealthy patrons of the salon who not only funded its operations but also attracted the luminaries and intellectuals to its doors.

The analogue of patrons on the internet would be forum moderators, website owners, group creators, etc. But only to a certain extent because the owners and maintainers of an online forum are far less personally engaged with the conversation and daily goings on.

Of course the scale is much larger on the internet, and we don't actually deal with one another face to face. Banter is usually restricted as well and discussions are highly focused, in contrast to salons which were more of a social club.

[pbalau]

I don't think online forums are the equivalent of saloons. I believe saloons were fairly scarce, thus if you got banned from one, you could not simply pop in another or make another account. The penalty for breaking the rules was fairly high and that made people leave some of their "crazy" at home.

[javajosh]

Is there a difference between a saloon and a salon?