Thanks for the comment/compliment. Took me awhile to find it. I don't always notice these comment things as soon as they pop up. Maybe I'll get better about it or maybe not.

I agree with what you're saying about signal and noice and random baroque fastenings onto textual (webalized?) signifiers.

Basically, I've been coming to the conclusion these days that identity, such as it is, in any setting, involves a great deal of misinterpretation, junk-garbled messages, and frustrating non-connectivity. How often am I misunderstanding someone's body language and words? And physically-present verbal communication conveys a HUGE amount of information (just think about the amount of processing power the brain just writes off to interpret a cocked eyebrow, say, or quirked lips!) which is still remarkable prone to mistake.

Are we surprised that a little 2kb text messages results ghettoizing flamewars? I'm not.

What am I trying to say? I've lost track, maybe.

I think a good word for what internet (as a connecting tool between individuals--"bloggers" (ick), not the passive "web" of nytimes say) does is "palimpsest"--

"A manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely erased and often legible."

Replace papyrus or parchment with textfile and you get the idea.