There's a big dividing line for me between TFP and certain blogs, where I know there are actual meat-space human beings behind the pixels, and certain other sites and media, where that human contact is less clear.
Usenet generally lacks any human quality. Interestingly enough, I think IRC does too. Reading those is sort of like reading the newspaper.
I think the difference is, on TFP and on several of my favorite blogs, there's an effort made to be genuine and authentic, and the things that inhibit that authenticity are kept out by rigorous moderation. Blogs are basically a single voice, so the moderation is inherent in the structure. On TFP the moderators and admins do the admirable job of filtering anything that's not true human connection.
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