> > ...to comfort someone? to show support? *shrug*
>
> Point.

I don't want to offend anybody (never a good way to start a sentence) but I'd like to suggest that there are limits to this sort of thing. This is a community and certainly I care about its members. When people experience tragedy or heartbreak then it's completely appropriate to post to the Forum. That sort of thing is of interest to the community at large. Maybe the "intelligent, original, funny" criteria should have a fourth item added: "interesting."

There is a limit though, and not every bad thing that happens to us is worthy of posting to the Forum. "I got a bad grade on a test and now I'm bummed" is probably not worthy of discussion. I'm not trying to disparage those who post that sort of thing. Anyone who was in Chat yesterday heard me venting about that very topic. But I think the permanance and public nature of the Forum makes it different from Chat. You're talking to a smaller audience in Chat and there's no archive of it. It is more conversational, so I think a wider range of personal discussion is appropriate.

I know koalamom says she doesn't IM or Chat or read blogs, but that's her choice. It doesn't mean that those things don't exist and are all better conduits for conveying the sort of information that only you and those who know you well would be interested in.

> I'd like to think the two aren't mutually exclusive, and I'll use you as an example. wintermute's baseball post was primarily a personal one, and so was your reply, but they're great stuff for this place, because each post expresses a distinct and personal perspective about a staple of American culture, one from within and one from without. It's obvious that both of you put thought into your words and found an interesting way to convey a view of something in the world around us. Perfect.

Sam's right in line with my thinking here. This is the sort of great discussion that's completely appropriate for the Forum. It's personaly experience plus insight, not simply a "what I had for breakfast" post. Sam was correct that at one time we had a glut of those sorts of posts. I think the popularity of Web logs helped cut down their numbers, but it may have also helped drive down other posts.

I'd also like to make it clear that I'm not here to attack anyone, and certainly not koalamom. I've never once read something by her that would be in the "breakfast" category of posts. I know that in the past I've been very vocal in my dislike for that sort of post, and in doing so I'm certainly one of the contributors to the reason many people seem afraid to post here. I never meant to do that, and if I ever criticize a post or a type of post it's only because I want this to be a flourishing community that is also worth spending the time to read.

Stephen