Can you just watch? Absolutely. Lots of people just watch.

Even on Brazen there are tons of people who we'll never be able to track by an author name, or a commenter's alias, or email they send us, but they're still important to the community.

As much as I'd like to see the quiet ones step up and communicate more, most of them probably won't. And if they get enough value out of just reading what you all write, who can blame them?

Luckily we can balance that with people who are openly engaged with one another every day, or else we wouldn't even have a community.

Don't let online communities intimidate you too much Kayla. Especially the Brazen community. But I think you're already more of a community person than you know. You're contributing so much.

Thanks.

I, too, started going online for information only. Inadvertently, I've kind of found community. I comment on this and other websites. I also joined Facebook, mostly to get back in touch with one specific person. My Facebook community now mirrors my offline community, plus some high school and college friends with whom I've otherwise lost touch. My main focus, though, is still getting information and potentially promoting myself, not being part of a community. If my self-promotion succeeds, I may very well end up being part of a community, but my purpose is the promotion part.