Providing different access to documents in an online document sharing community depending on whether the document is public or private

1. A computer program product for implementing an online document sharing community in a network environment including a plurality of participant computers operated by participants in the online document sharing community and a storage system storing documents, wherein the computer program product is implemented in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and includes a computer program executed to perform operations, the operations comprising:

maintaining, in a database, document information for documents, wherein the document information for each document identifies a document in the storage system, a public/private status flag indicating whether the document is public or private, a public description providing a description of a nature of the document that does not include all content of the document, and a provide public description field indicating whether the public description is to be provided to participants not authorized to access the document, and wherein the document information for at least one document indicated as private indicates a group of participants avowed to access the document;

receiving a request for a page from a requesting participant computer comprising one of the participant computers;

determining a document to include in the page;

including in the page an access element to provide access to the content of the determined document in response to determining that the public/private status flag in the document information for the determined document indicates that the document is public;

including, in the page, access to the public description for the document identified in the document information for the determined document in the database in response to the

public/private status flag in the document information for the determined document indicating that the determined document is private, the provide public description field indicating that the public description is to be provided to participants not authorized to access the document, and that the requesting participant is not a member of a group of participants allowed to access the document.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

including in the page the access element to provide access to the content of the determined document in response to determining that the determined document is private and that the requesting participant is a member of the group of participants allowed to access the determined document.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

maintaining, in the database, comments from participants and owners about the documents for which document information is maintained in the database; and

including all the comments for the determined document in the database in response to determining that the determined document is public.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

maintaining, in the database, comments from participants and owners about the documents for which document information is maintained in the database;

determining whether the requesting participant is a member of the group of participants allowed to access the determined document in response to determining that the determined document is private;

determining the comments associated with the determined document in response to determining that the requesting participant is a member of the group of participants allowed to access the determined document; and

including, in the page, the determined comments for the determined document.

5. The computer program of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

maintaining, in the database, comments from participants and owners about the documents for which document information is maintained in the database; and

including, in the page, comments from participants that are not in the group of participants allowed to access the determined document in response to determining that the requesting participant is not a member of the group of participants allowed to access the determined document.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the request identifies a participant, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining each document for which the identified participant is an owner, wherein the operations of determining whether the document is public or private, including, in the page, access to the content, and including, in the page, access to the public description are performed for each document for which the identified participant is indicated as the owner.

7. A system for implementing an online document sharing community in a network environment including a plurality of participant computers operated by participants in the online document sharing community and a storage system storing documents, comprising:

a processor;

and a computer readable storage medium including code executed by the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

maintaining, in a database, document information for documents, wherein the document information for each document identifies a document in the storage system, a public/private status flag indicating whether the document is public or private, a public description providing a description of a nature of the document that does not include all content of the document, and a provide public description field indicating whether the public description is to be provided to participants not authorized to access the document, and wherein the document information for at least one document indicated as private indicates a group of participants avowed to access the document;

receiving a request for a page from a requesting participant computer comprising one of the participant computers;

determining a document to include in the page;

including in the page an access element to provide access to the content of the determined document in response to determining that the public/private status flag in the document information for the determined document indicates that the document is public;

including, in the page, access to the public description for the document identified in the document information for the determined document in the database in response to the public/private status flag in the document information for the determined document indicating that the determined document is private, the provide public description field indicating that the public description is to be provided to participants not authorized to access the document, and that the requesting participant is not a member of a group of participants allowed to access the determined document.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise:

including in the page the access element to provide access to the content of the determined document in response to determining that the determined document is private and that the requesting participant is a member of the group of participants allowed to access the determined document.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise:

maintaining, in the database, comments from participants and owners about the documents for which document information is maintained in the database; and

including all the comments for the determined document in the database in response to determining that the determined document is public.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise:

maintaining, in the database, comments from participants and owners about the documents for which document information is maintained in the database;

determining whether the requesting participant is a member of the group of participants allowed to access the determined document in response to determining that the determined document is private;

determining the comments associated with the determined document in response to determining that the requesting participant is a member of the group of participants allowed to access the determined document; and

including in the page the determined comments for the determined document.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise:

maintaining, in the database, comments from participants and owners about the documents for which document information is maintained in the database; and

including, in the page, comments from participants that are not in the group of participants allowed to access the determined document in response to determining that the requesting participant is not a member of the group of participants allowed to access the determined document.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the request identifies a participant, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining each document for which the identified participant is an owner, wherein the operations of determining whether the document is public or private, including, in the page, access to the content, and including, in the page, access to the public description are performed for each document for which the identified participant is indicated as the owner.

13. A method for implementing an online document sharing community in a network environment including a plurality of participant computers operated by participants in the online document sharing community and comprising:

maintaining, in a database, document information for documents, wherein the document information for each document identifies a document in a storage system, a public/private status Hag indicating whether the document is public or private, a public description providing a description of a nature of the document that does not include all content of the document, and a provide public description field indicating whether the public description is to be provided to participants not authorized to access the document, and wherein the document information for at least one document indicated as private indicates a group of participants allowed to access the document;

receiving a request for a page from a requesting participant computer comprising one of the participant computers;

determining a document to include in the page;

including in the page an access element to provide access to the content of the determined document in response to determining that the public/private status flag in the document information for the determined document indicates that the document is public;

including, in the page, access to the public description for the document identified in the document information for the determined document in the database in response to the public/private status flag in the document information for the determined document indicating that the determined document is private, the provide public description field indicating that the public description is to be provided to participants not authorized to access the document, and that the requesting participant is not a member of a group of participants avowed to access the determined document.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising: including in the page the access element to provide access to the content of the determined document in response to determining that the determined document is private and that the requesting participant is a member of the group of participants allowed to access the determined document.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

maintaining, in the database, comments from participants and owners about the documents for which document information is maintained in the database; and

including all the comments for the determined document in the database in response to determining that the determined document is public.

16. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

maintaining, in the database, comments from participants and the owners about the documents for which document information is maintained in the database;

determining whether the requesting participant is a member of the group of participants allowed to access the determined document in response to determining that the determined document is private;

determining the comments associated with the determined document in response to determining that the requesting participant is a member of the group of participants allowed to access the determined document; and

including, in the page, the determined comments for the determined document.

17. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

maintaining, in the database, comments from participants and the owners about the documents for which document information is maintained in the database; and

including, in the page, comments from participants that are not in the group of participants allowed to access the determined document in response to determining that the requesting participant is not a member of the group of participants allowed to access the determined document.