Journal: Internet crushes

Well, my first story submitted got rejected (boo hoo!), so rather then just let it disappear into the void, here it is if anyone wanders in here...

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This is the first "story" I've ever submitted. Please be gentle! ;-)

There seem to be a lot of women out there, some web celebs, who have posted quite a bit of information about themselves. One theory in psychology is that the strength of our relationships is based on the amount of information we know about the other person (e.g. the reason you have a strong, although not necessarily good, relationship with your parents is that you know SO much about one another).

Every time I spend 20 or 30 minutes reading about one of these women, I surf away thinking "wow, I'd love to hook up with her!". It's happened with Bonnie J. Burton, Kathleen Fent (sorry Rob, I swear I never touched her!), sclatter (a slashdotter for whom I know her boyfriend's name and her horses' names, but not hers!) and Eve Andersson.

I've never had any delusions of potential relationships with TV or movie celebs, so what's different about the web? Is it just that geek girls (apparently their common denominator if you check out the websites) are rare enough that I can't meet them in "real life"? Have other people developed a crush with on-line strangers you haven't interacted with? What was the response if you contacted them (I've never gone that far myself yet)? Do women or gay/bisexual men had crushes on guys on-line (hell, even I am a little attracted to CowboyNeal! ;-) I was really happy when I got my first Slashdot fan, but joy turned sour when I saw that his friends list was very long (the slut!) and my current theory is that he's trying to kill the system with kindness.

I'd be very interested in anecdotes and links to published work on the phenomena. Any women reading this are invited to look at my home page then send me marriage proposals

Thanks!

John Champaign