> > Maybe it's comments made here years ago, the one koalamom quoted about posts needing to be intellectual, original, or at least funny. >

> Really? I don't think that the "funny, intellectual, or original" standard is all that tough. If a post isn't any of those, then it is unfunny, unintellectual and unoriginal. Why on Earth would you post that kind of thing anywhere?


...to comfort someone? to show support? *shrug*
Some situations in life...and on-line...don't require originality, et al--they just require a kind word or a nod of the head, so to speak.

>
> I think that's a good standard, but some people may believe that the bar is too high for reaching any of the three criteria. Being funny doesn't mean being hilarious, being intellectual doesn't mean being academic, and being original may just be some interesting insight a person has.

Agreed. I don't think it's a bad standard, and I'm not saying it should be abandoned; I'm just pointing out that it can be somewhat inhibiting, at least to me personally.


>
Better to be a little slow (though I realize the forum is so slow it's practically in rigor mortis) than be AOL.


While I enjoy the discussion of ideas here, I enjoy the people behind the ideas more. I don't chat or blog or AIM so what I know of you all is here, in the forum. I *like* the personal threads, but what I'm hearing is that they do not belong here, they belong in chat or on a blog or AIM.

Does that make me AOL? No, it just makes me more relationally oriented in this forum since I don't chat or blog or AIM. I would hope there was room for both personal *and* idea driven discussions here.

koalamom