though i guess it is probably okay to talk very generally about boards in general rather than anything specific to this board.

one issue can be the online dishinibition effect. the upside of that one is that people feel anonymous so they share more. they might disclose intimate things that they never would irl. the downside of that one is that people may become angrier / more hostile on boards than they would be in person (maybe because they would be too terrified of being thumped irl). there is the potential for older men to pretend to be young teens and so forth. i really do think that you get a pretty good idea of people over time, however. i post a lot. if you post to someone nearly everyday then you get a pretty good idea of their personality and their moods etc. sometimes people do 'flame' though which is when people post very hostile or attacking posts. that can be hard to take sometimes. different boards have different ways they deal with that. some boards 'move' posts they don't like to the trash. some boards block a poster from posting for a certain amount of time etc. there can be conflict on boards over admin actions sometimes...

it is much harder to assess the tone of peoples posts. you don't really know if the person was smiling and joking when they said that or whether they were scowling and meant it to express genuine disapproval. because there are less cues (body language, facial expression, pitch and volume of voice) and because it takes a while to get to know people there is the potential for people to project onto others. e.g., some people go around thinking that everyone is picking on them (they project their fear onto other people). it can be hard when you attempt to post something caring and helpful and it feels like the person threw it back in your face. i've learned to take a deep breath and try and go 'their issue' and try and walk away. not take it personally. but it can be hard sometimes yeah. i know i've really misunderstood other people at times too.

downside... one poster on this other board who i used to post and chat to quite a bit... he killed himself. that was a bit hard. fortunately it was verified to my satisfaction. but posters sometimes do disappear / stop posting. and they are anonymous. so mostly there is no way to check that they are okay unless you have their number of whatever. it can be hard for some people to not know what has happened. especially if the person has been posting about how depressed they have been etc.

there is also this little problem that some people have of spending more and more and more and more time on boards and withdrawing from friends and relationships in their real lives.

i'm a bit of an internet addict ;-)

but i get something out of it sometimes.

balance is good i guess.