As I stated above, for two years I have been posting here, then all of a sudden it pissed someone off, possibly the accelerated pace of covering events surrounding the Gaza Flotilla. I am not a dropby diarist, since no one will deny that I tend to the comments. I also read others' diaries, and enjoy the Eurobiography section, and sometimes the photo features.
As for being part of a community, my estimate is that only about 5% of the daily visitors (2000 at last look at the site meter), the ET regulars, many of whom diary or frontpage, fall into that category. I know others feel differently, but that's my estimate.
As for Eurocentricism, the site description is not so narrowly defined nor is the diary material, although a focus on Europe certainly dominates.
And for overpowering the site or rec list with IP diaries, that has really never happened until the last month or so during the Flotilla crisis. In a good number of cases in the past, my diaries never made the rec list and often no one even commented on or rec them. One cynic asked me why I bothered since no one paid attention to them. But we don't know that since only registered members can comment or rec.
The 5 % is natural dynamic outcome of self-organizing systems: 1% are fully active, 5% are active and 94% are lurkers. This is how dynamic systems work when people are involved. You can't be me, I'm taken
