I've been experimenting with various ways to be present on the "intarwebs," as my kids call this cyberspace universe. I started years ago on GEnie, and some of those friendships have lasted and deepened over the years. It was all text, of course, but for many of us, the format promoted conversation and fostered a sense of community. Not that there weren't flame wars, of course. I quickly learned to UNMark certain topics! For a number of years, GEnie was going to go away, everyone would run around being upset, and the upsetness further served the sense of loyalty to one another. Eventually, GEnie really did die, and I was one of those online during the final countdown. Dueling Modems got set up as a "bolt-hole" and eventually many people migrated there and to the sff.net topics. I did, although I found the format much less easy to use.
My kids dragged me into LiveJournal by the simple strategy of informing me that if I wanted to know what they were doing (both of them being on their own), I should read theirs.
