Walter Hinteler wrote:Besides, and honestly, I think that everybody has got the opurtunity of good old fashioned emails or even older telephones or antique snailmail, if one is concerned.
Oh, yes, not knowing addresses etc: well, why weren't they exchanged then :wink:
Because just that we like to interact with a bunch of people on a message board doesnt mean we want to be sending around our personal email address across the globe? Duh.
Why are we on this board? Because it offers a kind of interaction that traditional communication means dont offer. Phone? Hello? The
last thing I want right now is more people calling me in the evening. Get off my back already. Even email, I dunno .. exchanging emails means, you gotta answer when they write you something, gonna worry if they suddenly dont mail back anymore - another traditional contact to keep up, with all the mutual expectations that come with one ... no thanks. Plus, here on a board, I got an alias. I am not here by my real name. I can be as honest about anything as I want, and be as assertive or strange or shy as I feel, without having to worry - cause in the end, you dont even know who I am.
But all that doesnt mean that I dont wonder about people when they suddenly disappear ... doesnt mean that I havent come to feel fondly about names I see here, cheer out loud when I suddenly see them reappear, worry if I know that things are up in their lives and they suddenly dont post ...
No, exchanging home addresses with 60 random people around the globe is not an alternative. But yeah, its nice to know how people you've gotten used to seeing and care about are doing.
