I found this piece by David Carr about 24-hour news people in the Times from a post on Thomas Barnett's blog about why he wouldn't dream of giving up his blog. The gist of both articles is that blogs are lot of work, but once you're hooked, it's hard to imagine life without it.

Carr talks about how he has friends from his blog, sort of:

There is a serial commenter on my blog and others at The New York Times, "Mark Klein, M.D.," an older, accomplished gentleman with a lot of opinions and time on his hands. He can be a bit of a crank, politically incorrect to the point of provocation, and yet he always writes as though we are friends.

And maybe we are. A week ago, he posted a note saying that he was traveling to Israel and that I wasn't to interpret his sudden silence as a sign that he'd lost interest in me. As if I cared.

Except that I did. I sort of missed him. I dropped him a note and then called him in Israel about being off the grid (in particular, my grid).

"It's nice to hear from you. I missed you too," he said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"There is an intimacy to the exchange of electrons --- almost like an online romance --- that means you are a real person to me," he said. "We were already having a conversation of sorts."

From 24-Hour Newspaper People - New York Times
Referenced Thu Jan 18 2007 08:30:09 GMT-0700 (MST)

It's funny, there are lots of people I've never met in person, who I know because they read my blog and send me email or comment. Occasionally, I run into one at a conference or something and it's not at all like the first time you meet someone.