A Russian friend/colleague came into my office the other day with her husband (heading to lunch together). She asked "what's that site you visit all the time?" (Come on, ALL THE TIME? Sheesh). I didn't know how to answer. I mean, she's a woman of her conviction, so she just wanted to ask that and blurted it out! But how can you describe the VS in a sentence? I fumbled for words (surprising?) and said that it was just a sports message board but that the topics vary (lol ya THINK?).

What happened next is the most interesting part, at least to me. She lit up and started laughing. She then elbow jabbed her husband and pointed at my screen:

Her: "My god, it's so 90s!"

Me: "Well, the interface hasn't been updated a lot in 20 years, but it works fine."

Her: "No. It's a MESSAGE BOARD."

Me: "So? I get bored talking with you people, so I talk to strangers about stuff."

Her: "People still use those?"

Me: "What substitute is there?"

Her: "Twitter, instagram, stuff."

Then it occurred to me. The idea of having a public forum like this seems antiquated to some people. I have a problem with that: twitter/FB etc. all produce conversations/exchanges that are not entirely anonymous. You usually know the "friends" who are commenting. At the other end of the spectrum are the wild west comments sections at the end of press articles - like Yahoo etc. Total anonymity, and comments for an article about something as innocuous as a traffic light replacement turn within minutes into racist rants and sex propositions.

So, is the VS part of a dying trend? And what does that say about online life? Is there any room for that void between the totally anonymous and the intimately personal? Well, it doesn't seem like it. And coupled with that thread a few days ago about the VS needing more people, this conversation made me - well - feel quite old! And since we're ALL pretty much "old" here, I guess the shoe fits. But still!