LJ Idol Presents:

Late night/early morning commenters FTW!!!

I think about what Gary was saying off and on, especially in the Days Before Facebook where LJ was the place to be and how quickly people became friends both on and off LJ. One thing I learned early on in my internet forays -- this is going back to the late 90s/early 00s -- is that a lot of that *friendship* is illusion in the sense that, like in many work-related relationships, it only survives within that particular framework. If something changes within the dynamic, so does that *friendship* because it doesn't *exist* in real time.

There are exceptions, of course. I know plenty of friendships which debunk this whole thing. My husband and I initially met through an online forum and we're both still friendly on Facebook with a lot of our fellow forum members, but none of us as cozy/close/revealing as we were on the forum. Ditto for Idol.

I need more coffee. And maybe breakfast.