It's an odd sort of community I've joined.

Online journal writers (journalists? journallers?) are an odd sort of breed. They all have an exhibitionist streak to some degree, and they all want to share their lives with the world. On the other hand, they all cherish their privacy and keep some aspects of their lives secret.

Generally, they don't give out their real names, or their real-life contact info. They change the names of the innocent and not-so-innocent, or just use initials or first names. This is for safety primarily -- stalker prevention, as well as a way to avoid those pesky slander lawsuits.

But one of the things journallers do look for is feedback. Any journal your read, you will find some way to contact the writer directly, to give them your feedback and thoughts. Some of the more egocentric ones host forums as well.

Here's where you enter a sort of weird limbo world. See, journalists want feedback. They want to know that what they are doing is having and effect on people. We all want our readers to laugh, cry, be offended, or commiserate. But there is a barrier, because although you read about someone's life, by no means do you actually know them.

An email from a reader can lead several directions. There is the chance that the writer may turn out to be a really neat person and a conversation may develop. It is not unknown for deep friendships to develop.

On the other hand, the person could turn out to be a scary stalker person. This is also not unknown.

Most journallers adopt a one-email sort of policy. If you write them, they try to write you back. In the case of some popular writers, this could take a while, but most make some effort. But don't expect any sort of ongoing conversation to develop.

Hey, you can write the best, funniest, most captivating email in the world and send it off to your favorite journal writer. But if they are popular, you can bet they get a dozen neat emails a day, and there just isn't enough time in the world to make friends with everyone.

C'mon, this is just like writing a fan letter to Jennifer Lopez. I'm sure Jennifer would love to tell you how much she appreciates your kind words and back rub offer, but she's a bit busy right now.

I'll give you a 'for instance'. I got an email from Ana, who's going through a move much more dramatic than ours was and wanted to say she liked my 'moving posts'. I write her back with a couple questions about her move and we've passed a few messages back and forth since. I'm lucky in that my readership is low and I can take the time to chat with what turns out to be a neat person.

Now, when I write a note to Pamie or stee and tell them how much I liked their latest entry, and I'll get an email back within a day or two that says 'Thanks' and chats a little bit. But frankly, they are far too popular and busy to 'test the waters' to find out if I'm some sort of psycho. So that's as far as it goes.

But that's okay. I understand, because I'm part of the online journal community, and grasp the problem. But there are a lot of people out there who don't get this and are hurt when their favorite writer does not keep up a conversation or does not automatically become their best friend.

If you want to talk to me, please go ahead and write. I love hearing from people and getting feedback on what I do. I'll do my best to respond to everyone. Those of you who have written me, thank you ever so much for your support and encouragement.

And hey, there's always the forum if you want to chat a bit.

My wonderful friend Jax wrote a nice harangue against the existence of UFO's, and agreed to let my post it here. I'd love you all to take a look and chat about it in the forum.

The Case Against UFO's

Over in the forum:

Debunking UFO's
Trash Talk Update

Yesterday, you talked about stuff

Got some good news for us?

Take me home, big fella