people are paranoid

Everyone is paranoid about what they put out on the internet. They solemnly warn you that what you post will last forever, and unwise words will indubitably haunt you 'til the end of your days. They might even render you unemployable. Or yet more unemployable!

Really? Except for all the exceptions to this argument, it seems to me that the internet is one of the most ephemeral places to express oneself. Thoughtful, heartfelt writing committed to the holy blinkybox will in another moment flicker into the cyber-ether.

I sometimes haunt other writers' abandoned blogs, the way some might explore a ghost house, looking for clues for what happened. I look for evidence of life lived, hopes and dreams expressed, and then for whatever reason, abandoned.

 source

I've also clicked on links of abandoned blog rolls. Blog rolls of friends and kindred spirits, assembled in gentle hope of creating an online community of writers, artists, dreamers, and other outsiders. These once optimistic ventures typically lead to advertisements for British gambling or some Asian website whose alphabet I can't read. The Buddhists are right about a lot of things, and a blog--as is life--is impermanent.

With this in mind, I'll venture forth with reckless courage.