Rafe Colburn at rc3 writes about the double life of the weblogger who has a non-virtual life as well as her/his online presence. While some of my boundaries are abit different — Rafe not only doesn’t mention his boss or talk about competing products, as he notes, but does not appear to mention his work at all (I’m a casual reader; I can’t swear to the fact that a scholarly study of rc3 wouldn’t provide clues as to what he does…), whereas my being a psychiatrist is one of the things for which I think some people read FmH — I agree with his conclusion that confessional weblogs are only pseudo-intimacy. I’ve never met anyone in the ‘real world’ who had previously known me only from my site, whereas Rafe seems to do so with some frequency (why?), but it would probably freak me out far less than it would were I publishing an online diary. For example, you don’t want to know (and I feel no compulsion that you should) what just happened to me at work…

Rafe also points to this definition of bikeshed discussions, which, I agree, is a very useful metaphor I will file away for appropriate future use, although I further agree that (it’s a pity) no one will know what the hell I’m talking about when I make the reference.