Message boards are strange places. Honestly. The more I see of them, the more I *participate* in them, the more I realize how utterly odd they are. Maybe it's just my introduction to the species? I've run my own message board---the first one I encountered---for going on four years now, so perhaps seeing it from the inside has skewed my perspective. I've heard complaints about message board tyranny or cliquishness, but that's never been an issue on my board. People come, they talk, they go, and if there are people who know one another, those same people are unfailingly polite to newcomers.

And yet, of the message boards I've found lately, tyranny and cliquishness seem the rule. I'm interested in participating...but it's almost impossible to feel welcome. I'm constantly wondering if I've said too much, been too forward, virtually *grinned* too often. Am I just paranoid? (you're online...paranoia rules, yes?) Is it something in the water? Or am I justified in feeling this way?

Oy.

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