[laughing] Elloquent as always, Skip.

I've said elsewhere (elsewhere here and elsewhere elsewhere) that I think that online relationships are odd. Not necessarily bad, just different than the relationships (casual and romantic) I've had in real life. They play on a different level, and that cacn be a level certain people are more vulnerable. Whether those people tend to be women, I don't know. In real life, I think, for women, emotional intimacy and sharing is a more powerful sign of love and connection than even physical intimacy is (not saying physical intimacy isn't a REAL big one, just not as big...in my limited experience, the women who get hurt by sex are the ones who confuse it with emotional intimicy). And because the "closeness" online HAS to be of a verbal, and therefore more emotional, level....it could be they are more vulnerable? I've known a lot of guys who had their hearts broken by someone online, though. It may be too much of a generalization to divide it along male and female lines.

As far as the proportion of "white knights" one runs into online, well....boys show off for girls all the time. Here, they have to do it with words...and they're going to do it with the words that put them in the best light, the part of themselve that earns attention. As do we girls...although we may not recognize the categories as such. These same guys probably have white knight tendencies in the real world as well (just the same way as the girls who become charming flirts online have some of that in them in their day to day life), but they aren't pushed forward as much.

But, as I will no doubt repeat again, there are things people can and should do and be aware of to protect themselves from the misinterpretations and occassional outright lies they'll encounter in the world of text. The simple ones are to be honest with yourself and others about what you're thinking and feeling. Most importantly with yourself. Be eternally careful about reading too much (for better or worse) into someone else's words...and to ask them for clarification anytime you're not sure. And finally to dig your heels FIRMLY in and go slow.

Most importantly, I think that until you know someone in real life, on their good days and their bad days, you don't really know them. That's not a bad thing...but it is something to keep in mind.

And Ginge has obviously long since stopped making sense, so she's gonna go be quiet .