When I see NOTHING.. I wonder.. what is that person hiding? Why does that person NOT care about getting acquainted?
I know many people are paranoid about the Internet & revealing too much. There has to be a happy medium if one is interested in any socialization.
If one just wants to read the articles there is absolutely NO REASON to sign up for membership ... by Interaction on threads we want to know who we are chatting with (well, at least I do)
and I do NOT mean this in a dating sense.. in general. For singles yes, it is a great way to meet others & have some potential for future. I know of MANY couples that met on FR & are now married! a few of them met at our singles threads where people were willing to open up a bit & show vulnerability & show some trust.
The major BEAUTY of the age differences is that we older ones have younger kids contacts & the younger have older family friends & fix ups work JUST FINE!...
Over my years of participation since 2003 I have personally met hundreds of FReepers at various functions or just planning get togethers.. and I don't mean just opposite sex. I have phone numbers, emails & have found friends.
That is what I want out of a forum..I visit w/o membership other political forums at most just to see what is there..& normally is is done better & bigger here.
Is FR perfect.. well, of course not.. it is composed of imperfect people with strong & varied personalities. But it is a good site with good people if you take the time to get to know them.
And all that easy for us techno-pagans who are limited in what we know to do with a Computer. :(