[Guinevere]

I agree very much with Aiwendil in post #98, but as H.I. said, this may perhaps not be true for everyone.

For me "a mask" means a conscious disguise to hide one's real personality and to pretend to be someone else. My internet personality is certainly not a "mask" in this sense! It is rather a part of me that doesn't show so often in daily life. In real life I often feel , well, not behind a mask, but rather like in a cage, not being able to talk about things that really matter to me, because either I am with people with whom I can only talk about trivial things, or if people are clever and eloquent, I am just too slow and shy to express my ideas.
What I find so wonderful in such an internet forum is how we can share thoughts with other people across half the world, regardless of superficialities , just mind to mind.
Of course it's not like getting to know people in real life, it's only a part of them, but a very important part . I've read so many posts here that express much of the writer's personality and world view, I feel I know them better than my neighbours with whom I share only smalltalk.