Communicating in the online forum format consists of written exchanges over a period of days or weeks. This is qualitatively different from real-time spoken conversation. By which I mean that it’s NOT the case that the only difference between written and spoken communication is that one is in writing and the other is spoken. The two are very different experiences. (And I prefer the latter. Especially when it is between just two people.) ... There are plenty of online forums (like this one) where you can have written exchanges. But shouldn’t there be some online service that sets up real-time conversations between people? (And I mean in a serious and informed way, so I exclude things like Omegle.)

So: What if I saw the members of this forum as at some kind of ‘party’ (or Lounge like this here) where you can just approach anybody and have a short real-time conversation. I know that’s NOT what this forum is. If it was then I could just message people and arrange a time to talk. Like on Skype or something. I can’t do that here, it would be a breach of etiquette at the very least. But if I can’t do that here then where can I do it? By the way, if anyone is interested in this sort of thing then feel free to direct message me. See my profile and other posts for “where I’m coming from”.

If this post has any philosophical content then it is is about the difference between interacting with people in ‘cyberspace’ (internet forums, social media etc) and in ‘real space’.