I used forums occasionally before coming to LOS, but these were in relation to work and not in any sense social. I picked up on the Ajarn forum from a link on the main page and found myself quickly dragged in. I read the Ajarn forum for good while before joining and always felt a intimidated about posting anything - Marko and TMB didn't seem to take any prisoners. Then emboldened by drink I wrote what I thought was a masterpiece of a reply-post in a thread by sodum. It went through about twenty edits and was full of, 'although I can see merit in aspects of your opinion, may I respectfully suggest.....'. More dreadful than you can possibly imagine. Anyhow, I sat back and expected reams of replies to my intelligent, considered opinion on the matter - not a dicky-bird. A good many more wastes of pixels followed before chang made a comment on a post and I felt a buzz of acceptance - sounds a bit melodramtic, but there you go. After that, I felt more relaxed and started posting spontaneously - now, I just type randomly and if anything intelligible comes out so much the better.