I'm writing a thesis on computer mediated communication(like this weblog!). Today I went to see a professor studying media and asked him for some advice. He told me about the difference between Japanese online community and other countries' one. I was surprised to know that there are lots of differences.
For example, it is very common in Japan to use a webname on the Internet in order to hide the real name. We separate the online world from "offline world". It is very unusual in Japan to put the real name in the weblog.(That's why I'm using "Roman" here, not to be recognized by my "offline" friends.)
Also, there is a very popular BBS community called "2ch", which millions of people visit every day(There are thousands of BBS in the community, separated by themes). We don't even have to put our webnames there. Lots of comments without writers' names flow on the BBS. However, conversations there are very interesting and entertaining, since writers know that thousands of people are reading their comments and want to entertain them. Most of the readers there are ROM(Read Only Member). Anonymity is one of unique characters of Japanese online communty.
"2ch" is here http://www.2ch.net/ only in Japanese, but worth visiting just to know how many BBS are there!(Click the pot of the toppage, and then the left side of the second page is a list of the themes of BBS).
By the way, I replied to Kevin finally.......I admit that I still have a special feeling for him, and I don't know why.