Why don't you believe I lived on a commune? Not that unusual. Lived in 2 in the last 10 years, in fact... There are hundreds in the US and around the world -
http://www.ic.org My experience was that, well, it SUCKED. Living in community pretty much stripped me of my belief in any solution to human problems - the craziest people I have ever met in my life seemed to gravitate to it. And some of the meanest, too. I tried for 4 years - took on huge responsibility - accounting, visitor and intern coordination, conflict resolution, child care, etc etc etc. This was all while I had 3 children to care for - I really burned myself out. And nothing worked. Nothing made people happy. And nothing stopped the crazies from coming. Oh, and lots of them were racist, sexist, prejudiced against people with disabilities, anti-family, anti-child, pro-hard drugs... It was really painful to see this thing I had always believed so much in reveal itself to be a huge fraud. I'm sure there are some communities that aren't like this - but both of the ones I lived in were this way.
I obviously don't say this for your entertainment, since I'm sure you'll just have some nasty comment no matter what I say. But perhaps someone else is interested in my experience and can take something from it.