What is a community? While I have often found this place to be interesting and sometimes very supportive I think it falls short of being an actual community. To me in a community people actually know each other. This means we use actual names and do not hide behind screen names (hey I do this too). I actually think this is an important part of being a community. I have lived in many places where people do not know their neighbors and the degree of community is weak. There are, of course, communities made up of people who may not live close to each other but share many common ideas or values etc. and come together for common purpose. Still, we make a commitment to each other when we know each other, if someone is not willing to even share their name with me that creates for me a bit of a trust issue. Perhaps this is a quaint custom and I am hopelessly out of step BUT I am glad to be part of the group of readers and commentators (and rarely a poster) to this blog. I do value the communities that I am a part of, the people who share who they are without shroud.