The little folk inside my computer!

I spend an inordinate amount of time each day reading through various forums within the OU and it’s amazing how you come to think of the contributors as little people who live inside the computer. You begin to forget that they have faces and voices and instead you think of them in terms of colour and font. So much so that when someone else uses those which are particular to one person you get confused, and wonder why they are posting under another name! But it is true, there is this element there that makes me believe that these people don’t actually exist outside the forums, and yet I know that they must, as how else are these messages getting posted? Unless the whole thing is just a figment of my imagination, and in fact I only think that I am reading posts, and it is just an elaborate hoax. Hmm that seems slightly paranoiac and worrying.
I know that I don't really post in forums, mainly because I don't know what to say, and also because at time they do feel like a clique. Everyone seems to know everyone else, and in some forums ignore or deride the newbies. But then again other forums seem to welcome them with open arms, (especially if they come bearing chocolate!)
But the forums do act as another world, it is almost as if as soon as you set foot in them you are taken out of the real world and placed into this world where yes things happen but on the whole is full of fun laughter and silliness. Which is what i love about it, if I am having a bad day, just lurking and reading posts in certain forums cheers me up, or sometimes makes me realise that I don't have it that bad, and maybe I should stop complaining about my minor problems and be grateful that there isn't anything more serious wrong with me.
But the best thing about it is the fact that you see/hear all these folk who are having fun and enjoying themselves and it makes the world seem a little less scary and a lot more fun.