I'm not sure. For me...sometimes it's a matter of whether I feel like contributing something or not to the discussion at hand at a given time. Sometimes I read an OP and mull over what's been said, meaning to come back to it and post, but that gets forgotten in the shuffle of other things. There are, quite frankly, some discussions on here that I would not touch with a ten foot pole, and there are also discussions that I have little to no desire to participate in, simply because I know that it will end up being a circle jerk. I don't see the point in joining a discussion where no progress is made on a given issue, or a discussion where the people/posters involved have so little flexibility of mind that they are unable or unwilling to see the other side of things.
Your trip to Israel sounds refreshing, cyn. I had a great weekend with some great discussions over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was nice to sit with my fiance's family over glasses of wine and talk about all that is going on in the world today and out future plans within it--the healthcare overhaul, support services for those dealing with poverty, New Zealand, increased food stamp usage, my SO's career prospects given the economic recovery, etc. We had a great time talking with one another. I think one of the things that helped these real life conversations was the fact that we were all focused on the conversation at hand; not a single person had a Blackberry or phone out to send texts or check emails.
Right now, the only tabs open in Opera are this thread and Tinychat. So there.
