A most interesting topic on which I've pondered myself... now if I could remember my brainy disquisitions I would shower you with lines upon lines of armchair psychology and ideas...

You raise good points...

We as humans form communities, and through the internet we find those that share some interests that the close neighbors may not ever understand. It gives us a place to voice opinions that we may feel uncomfortable or awkward at voicing to those that don't "get it," or that we wouldn't feel safe to say anyway not knowing the potential reactions of those we would say this in person but can predict the reactions of those in the online community; or simply we post it online because the topic never has and never would come up in a conversation of those friends and family members we meet face to face.
There is also the feeling of power, the feeling of belonging... you get a reaction from a lot more people when you post online, and you may get a reaction later, but in person it may not have been the right time or the right person and you may never bring it up again; in that sense a bulletin board is a more effective place to have some conversations.

The phenomenon of online communities, with total strangers becoming friends, with bulletin board postings leading to emails, leading to personal meetings and friendships, even romances and marriag;, and musical collaborations, at distance and in person; leading to try different music, or books, or movies, all on account of what an online friend recommends; leading to discussions on a great variety of topics, where maybe you wouldn't change the minds of others, but sometimes you will, and even if you don't in the process you will learn more from others and even about yourself; leading to real-time online chatting where you reaffirm the bonds created in the board and manage to learn more and like more the persons you've met; new friends, new contacts with old friends, making contacts at a distance that may not have happened in your very own town, but happened online... that and more has happened here.

It's a nice online community...



After the image of Amanda's post (made while I wrote my lengthy rambling) I must add that a good friend of my wife (from our hometown) met someone online, they chatted, they emailed, they met, they got engaged, they got married... he's Scotish, so she moved there with him, he not knowing any Spanish, she knowing some English, but certainly none with Scotish accent, now they have twins, and they actually moved to Houston due to his work... they seem very happy and in love when we've seen them.