<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by geo1004:
I guess I view relationships with individuals in a different light than relationships with non-human entities (travelocity, airlines, etc.)
Some of my faith based internet experiences include:
- Meeting Catman, an unknown to me in the spring of 1999, for a beer (first time I ever met a FT'er).
- Trusting that Rudi, who I only knew through the internet, would be at the Zurich airport as promised to welcome me to Switzerland.
- Getting on an airplane to fly to TPA to have dinner with 10 individuals who I had never met, had NO way of knowing anything about, yet trusting that their backgrounds were exactly as they had offered to me as 'the truth'.
I fear that if my life were given 100% verification and certainty, I would somehow be less human. 
(edited for poor spelling)
[This message has been edited by geo1004 (edited 02-21-2002).]</font>
Each of those
faith based internet experiences, while wonderful in nature, began or culminated in a personal meeting, ensuring verification. That is a far cry from calling an internet only "election" a democracy, or a web-based venture a "faith based experience", where many of the people either "are or are indistinguishable from a 13 year old with too much time on his hands".