I journaled off and on through out youth and adolescence and all that. I find that I write pretty much the same way here that I would have in paper journals... I just need a safe venting place. Sometimes I can't exist in the denial of the things that stress me and I have to let it out. I do enjoy the extra interaction, however... It's nice to know that I'm not completely whiny or nuts.
I read the journals almost every day - or at least every work day - and I do think I've learned a lot about the other people on TFP. I value that - you're all real people and the journals illustrate that more completely.