I'm pretty similar, OP. I don't quite know how or if I handle it - I guess my demeanor often lets people know. "Standoffish" is probably how you'd describe me. I CAN be entirely the opposite, but that's something that occurs with a with a partner, and that depends on how I feel about them, how comfortable I feel with them, whether I trust them, etc ... the rest tends to be a brief manly hug, and that's it, ... failing that, a decent hug with my dad or, less often, my step-mother. xD

As for online, all those endearing actions; I do them when I would actually do them in real life, had I the opportunity. So, if I say --> *hugs* <-- I genuinely imagine hugging the person, ... because I've been like that for so long, it makes me really uncomfortable, sometimes, when others constantly "hug" me, online, ... because I know I wouldn't feel that comfortable in person; this is the reason for my being here for years and only having given 119 of PC's "hugs".

I guess I just take these things a little more seriously than others, ... online, there's so many empty usages, like the ever persistent "lol" when people don't even laugh, or even chuckle! Then there's all the hugs, when, in reality, I doubt they would hug that person. I'm fine with pissing about, but there's a limit to said pissing. xD 99% of the arbitrarily stated time, I at least have a good chuckle, if I put "lol", but I'm so pedantic, that I know it means "Laugh Out Loud", and so, ... a chuckle, isn't a LAUGH, it's a chuckle. :P I'm just weird like that. We need another sort of lol... one that means "I just chuckled"; good idea? xD