i found this via laurel's windowseat weblog. laurel says some good stuff about this article.

I realize that I am more than just my online persona. But I am also more than just my in person persona. Who I am online is no less real than who I am in person. It's just differently mediated. All this is true, provided I choose to share my real self online. Turn Off Your Computer cult members can't perceive the realness of the online world, not because its realness doesn't exist, but because they refuse to present their own real selves to the online community. And, as C.S. Lewis observes, "How can the gods meet us face to face till we have faces?"

the article is found here. it's primarily about people who say "turn off your computer and go do something real!", but it also expresses a lot of things i've been thinking about how authenticity is valuable to me, and how i value people who try to be their authentic selves, whenever and wherever they are, and how i mistrust people who misrepresent themselves, especially if it's on purpose.