>Ok, we are in an online forum. We don't know each other. A few do because they've met in person, but mostly we are strangers sharing stuff we have time to write without any risk of sharing our actual personalities. Would I consider anyone here friends. No, but I can say that I'm friendly with some here. I can also say I'm not so friendly with some here. I would even like to meet some here, but probably won't. Nadya, this is not the real world. We share a slice of who we are with others here. Is it a great online community? Absolutely, but it is not a replacement for the community you have offline. If you let an illusion, your word, of an online friendship affect your mental state, then there was already problems with your mental state beforehand. You may not Twit, and you may not like being Twitted, but put it in just a shade of perspective and realize that this is just an illusion of relationships. Go offline from the community for six months and see who emails or calls you. Those may
> be considered more than an illusion of friendship, but other than that? I don't think so.

You're absolutely right.

I found, though, that I'm too addicted to this forum to quit it easily, even when I tried.