We take for granted that Web sites are 24/7 entities. Whenever I visit Amazon, it's there, ready to sell me something. The moment I hit Salon, even if it's 3am, I get content. But is this really the best way for all sites to do business?

It would be very unique to have a community site that had hours of operation like a cafe. Instead of taking for granted you could post anytime, you'd have to wait until it was 'open'. Instead of hours of 'dead time' when only a handful of insomniacs and international users moped around, everyone would have to wait a few hours to come back and meet again.

Boredom and stagnation are real killers in online communities. Perhaps by eliminating some dead time, users would have the feeling every morning of walking into a fresh, clean store that had just opened - not a revolving mess that's been droning on endlessly.

It wouldn't work for sites with immense user-bases, like Yahoo. But a smaller community-type site with primarily North American members could give it a try.