I was just having a conversation in IM about how the tone of meeting people on here has changed since the journals have become so popular. Nearly...jeezly crow, it's almost been a year now--when I first joined this site, meeting people felt different than it does now. I know, I know, you're amazed by my ability to draw pictures with words, yes? I'll try to explain it better--maybe by working backwards.

When I get emails now (for the sake of this post, I'm ignoring the emails that are very "hey, hot pic, wanna date?", spam, or schemes) from people who have followed my journal or stalked my comments, they often talk to me as though they already know me. Which...is understandable, considering the journal really is there to give people more clues to my personality. But the added problem there is that it often gives a false sense of connection, before I've even had a chance to realize that the person exists. I've been finding two real problems with this:

1. It can be so very over-familiar. It is the online equivalent of someone meeting you for the first time, hugging you tight to them, and kissing your neck.

2. I tend to upset people by sending them a polite or seemingly distant reply. People get upset when I don't "get" their jokes, or don't tell them very personal things, or act as though...well, as though I don't know them.

Often, right after I make a post about something on Cupid, I will get two or three emails from people asking if that post was about them. Fair enough if we have been talking and it seems appropriate, but these more often than not come from people I'm not sure I have ever even gotten an email from before. Meeting people sometimes feels more convoluted now, more prone to tangled emotions and confusion. And heaven knows, you can't expect anymore to have a conversation in private--every misstep in communication now is potentially someone else's journal post.

In comparison, when I first started talking to people on here...it felt more simple. Someone read my profile, or I read theirs, and we sent an email that commented on a similarity. We were forced to be clever about how we made conversation, from so little information. Perhaps there is just so much information flowing around now, that everyone is jostling for attention and for their own "hook". But sometimes I feel like...I don't know, like every email I get throws me into the middle of a conversation I didn't know I was having.

I know there are some old-school Cupiders floating around...how have the journals affected how you meet people? Do you ever feel like people feel they know you before you know them? Are the journals making it easier to make connections? Are these changes good things?