Sometimes I just feel things that I type in reply would be better left unsaid - not every opinion is valid or helpful in some scenarios. There are a lot of situations that people here are involved in where I have no expertise (anything dealing w/kids & relationships & guilt especially) and my words would be useless and probably not appreciated.

There are also a lot of great minds thinking alike here, too - many times I'll read a post & someone has already replied w/something I'd say. Why repeat it? Maybe a reply that says 'Ditto'?

I also made a New Year's Resolution last Hallowe'en that I'd talk less & listen more this year. It makes my coworkers nervous when I don't talk & they goad me into babbling - that kind of talking to fill the silence, which is part of why I decided to just talk less this year - silence. It's not something I get a lot of. Since I shut up, my husband here at home talks incessantly. (His tongue is running right now, and I'm nodding along w/divided attention). But my resolution applies online as well - sometimes I would have said something offhanded or flippant or mean - and now I just don't. I can read other people's blogs w/out feeling a need to add my two cents, a lot of threads don't go unnoticed by me, but I pick & choose where to chime in. I spend a lot less time online than I used to - I've found out that I'm not so obsessed w/what other people think of what I wrote on a website somewhere.