All on-line communities seem to start out as, or degenerate into, a nomenklatura on the one side and most of the rest on the other, with a small rest group of oddballs being ostracised, so little competition there, for want of choice; if you vote with your feet, you'll never stop walking. Supposing that the "free market" will solve this is just as much magical thinking as assuming that a God will solve it. In countries, some nomenklatura may be more democratic, benevolent, open, honest, tolerant, etc. than others, but this is usually brought about by internal pressure, be it evolutionary or revolutionary, not by competition between countries. I expect more from criticism from within than from competition from without.