I do entirely agree with Jackie that we have a tenuous hold on each other here. Obviously, some information is shared with others, such as e-mail addresses and such, but I would say that only a very few have established the kind of friendship that allows more direct contact, such as phoning people or knowing their address. As she also points out, this is all a matter of personal choice, of what each of us is comfortable with, and so it should remain.
But it appears that many of us care enough, and feel close enough to other members to want to know if anything should happen to someone. The outpouring of sorrow over Carol's passing has made that quite evident. And I think there are a couple of things that we can all do to make it easier for all of us to know if anything does happen:
One is, tell a good friend of yours about the board. Someone who you think would enjoy the interaction and all the learning. We found out about Carol from Keven, since they were friends out there, and were both coming here to contribute to our ramblings. Of course, this is also a great thing, since we get to have new contributions!
Two is, let others know if you are going to be away for a long while, just so people don't start wondering or worrying unnecessarily. I, for one, will be moving back to Spain in a few weeks, and I will probably not have Internet access until I am well settled. One of the things that I had planned on doing was either make a leeetle post explaining, or simply send a few private messages to let other members know that I was temporarily leaving (maybe all this won't be necessary after this post?). You know, just in case anyone got to wonderin'.
Just some thoughts...
