First, I will examine the issues, and answer the questions I asked at the start:

(i)    the prevalence of Feng Shui on the Internet
(ii)   the ease with which one can learn about Feng Shui via the Internet
(ii)   the utility of the Internet to Feng Shui practitioners, consultants (and their clients), teachers, students
(iii)  the impact of Internet Commerce on retailers of Feng Shui products
 

(i)     Feng Shui has exploded on the Internet. There are a host of Feng Shui related websites where one can learn about Feng Shui, get a consultation, buy Feng Shui related products, and so on. The Internet has been the perfect vehicle for the spread of Feng Shui.

(ii)    One is spoilt for choice when surfing for informational Feng Shui websites. There is a wealth of information, articles, definitions and explanations of Feng Shui and its different schools and frameworks. However, as explained below, this allows "New Age" Feng Shui schools to easily propagate their ideologies, infuriating some of the practitioners of "Traditional" Feng Shui.

(iii)    The Internet has expanded the reach of Feng Shui practitioners and consultants, and has facilitated long-distance learning. This is explained in more detail here.

(iv)    The Internet has transformed the Feng Shui product retail industry. There are innumerable on-line stores selling many different Feng Shui related products. A list of stores examined is here.

Religion?

     One of the most interesting and common reactions to my e-mail was vociferous objection to Feng Shui being studied in a class that goes by the title "Religions in Cyberspace".
     My attempts at explaining that I had no intention of defining Feng Shui as a popular religion were met with, at best, uncomfortable acceptance, and at worst, more disbelief and fury.
     Upon further probing, some consultants explained their reaction as their seeing the need for mainstream Feng Shui to be divorced from all religious, mystical and supernatural connotations.
    There are several different schools and frameworks of Feng Shui thought – Flying Star, Pyramid School and Black Sect Tantric Buddhism (BTB) Feng Shui, to name a few. They each often also have different applications.
 

For example, the Flying Star school of thought is based on the premise that you will improve your luck by providing something large and stable for your house's mountain star to sit on. The location of the mountain star, in turn, is determined by the direction your house's front/main door.

The I-Ching, on the other hand, uses a hexagram and coins (which are tossed) to help answer your questions.

Both these practices come under the wider banner of (traditional) Feng Shui, but may be practiced by very different people, in very different circumstances.
 

     Many non-BTB consultants saw the BTB as a threat in their attempts to secularize modern Feng Shui. The BTB school, they regret, sells Feng Shui as a mystical mixture of Taoism, Buddhism and “real” Feng Shui, hoping to create a religious aura around it.
     However, the BTB school consultants I corresponded with were as equally adamant that Feng Shui is NOT a religion, and (quite similarly to non-BTB consultants) defined it as an art of placement, more akin to a science.
     Which leads to the next issue, that of the Internet allowing and further accelerating the development and diffusion of different definitions and schools of Feng Shui thought.
 
 

Wealth of Information – boon or bane?

 Several consultants lauded the Internet for allowing the novice to quickly learn about Feng Shui, and seek out “genuine” Feng Shui consultants, through the use of web directories, bio’s, references, articles and so on.
 However, some also lamented the fact that this wealth of information available might overwhelm and confuse the novice, unless he/she knows how to distinguish “real”, traditional Feng Shui from the fake, “New Age” inventions and spin-offs.
 There are varying definitions of Feng Shui given on websites.
 

Furthermore, the phrase Feng Shui is being used by a range of practitioners, merchants and industries, to promote their wares and/or beliefs.
 

 Therefore, I postulate that while the Internet provides this bounty of information, it may necessitate more discretion and sifting, to distinguish traditional, mainstream Feng Shui from the newer, different sects, schools and interpretations.

E.g. the Black Sect Feng Shui school, and the Dragon Horse School, both of which incorporate Taoism - a practice rejected by traditionalists.

Black Sect
Dragon Horse School
 

I also suggest that there is no one set universal Feng Shui, but rather a few interpretations – some popular, others more obscure. Furthermore, the proliferation of these different interpretations is helping change the contemporary definition of Feng Shui – it has become more of an umbrella term today, encompassing different schools, beliefs, frameworks and commercial products – and this process has been (and will continue to be) greatly facilitated and catalyzed by the Internet.

To quote Gary Quelch, who started the Dragon Horse School together with Dr. Ye Zude,

Over the past 12 months I have discovered the benefits of the Internet and like many, I have come to the conclusion that it is a very valuable tool for learning. When Master Ye came into my life again, we decided to start a school and for me, the Internet was the obvious choice for the venue.

Commodification of Services?

 Another interesting phenomena is that the Internet may be slowly commodifying the Consultation Services provided by Feng Shui practitioners. This is exemplified by the fact that many prospective clients are now using the Internet to search for "the best deal" or the cheapest consultant, without really realizing that different consultation fees may reflect a difference in the service, or/and the experience of the consultant. This problem was highlighted to me by several of the consultants I interviewed.

Utility of the Internet as a tool for learning?

 My final inference from this study is that Internet websites and sources, while providing a wealth of easily accessible information, may require careful scrutiny from the reader, in determining their authority and authenticity. The Internet itself is thus a double-edged sword - on the one hand serving as a wonderful avenue for practitioners and teachers to reach their clients and students respectively, but on the other allowing anybody at all to display and offer information and goods to suit their needs.