The research form of ethnography has increasingly been applied in contexts that can be described as "online," "virtual," or simply "internet-based" over the past ten years. Especially in the early days of the internet, approaches emerged that sought to frame the web as something specifically "other" compared to a putative "real" world. Angela Merkel's infamous speech about the internet as "uncharted territory" has drawn much mockery, but it has indeed found a strong counterpart in social science discussions. Thus, "the internet" as a "virtual world" or "second reality" has long been subjected to essentializing debates that grappled with questions of whether the internet should be understood as a "space" and whether those present could be considered "present." This is paradigmatic for this field.