> It seems to me that it's less of a permitted invasion of privacy as it is a way to ramble, to throw out words and hope someone catches them. In any case, it's anyonymous.

This is one of the things I don't get, though. I suppose it has to do with how I define anonymity. Imagine I go to some random other forum where nobody knows me, and post my full name and photograph there, without writing any other posts at all. Technically, I would no longer be anonymous to the readers of that forum. But I would still be *completely* unknown to them in every way that matters. Conversely, anybody who finds the Rinkworks forum and chat archives is in a position to know more about my inner self than some members of my *family* do, even if that forum reader doesn't technically know my name, and even if I've never interacted with them directly in any way.

> I have a LiveJournal and haven't done anything with it yet: as much as I like to talk, I think that if I want someone to hear me, I'd be better off doing it in Chat or the Forum. Talking through an online journal is, to me, like saying that what you have to say isn't important or interesting enough to make it any more public. Most Rinkies seem to use it as a weblog, though. That works, too.

What's the difference between a weblog and an online journal? I thought they were the same thing, but I guess not.