Addiction to Posting.

I think many MB denizens are already anti-social weirdos to some extent.

What can I say, this is a great place for me to pontificate as the internet - specifically chat rooms and MBs - as the new "front porch" of American society. As we become more insular and disconnected from one another, we still strive for human contact and the exchange of ideas with like-minded folks. The advantage of MBs is that you don't have to put up with people you have thrust upon you - your neighbor who is a right-wing Nora Ephron loving, Billy Ray Cyrus enthusiast, say - and can seek out those who are more like minded. Or at least a right-wing Ephronist who can articulate their opinions more clearly than "You've Got Mail is good; I dunno why I just like it."

The problem then becomes that if you are TOO like-minded, it simply becomes an echo chamber - like conservative talk radio - and you become stunted because your ideas (and the ideas of others) are mindlessly approved and not challenged - you don't develop the rhetorical and dialectical skills needed to become a rationally thinking human being.

At least, that's my opinion. Feel free to discuss.