I find this all so fascinating because in real life I am pretty upbeat, happy and energetic, I find it difficult to do that here.

Oh that's interesting. It reminds me of how my friends who are very outgoing are shy about acting or formal public speaking, and shy people (like myself) who are crap at parties etc are comfortable in those formal situations.

And I do struggle sometimes (more than sometimes) to find nice things to say - which is why when comments are either VERY general or VERY specific, I worry either way *lol* (except for my friends whose commenting "style" I'm familiar with.) And it needn't be about "bad" work, sometimes it's hardest for me to comment on work that is just blah. Especially when I've seen the artist do better and I know what they're capable of, then I'm really stumped. ("you're clearly phoning it in here" is NOT NICE.)

I would never know that from your lj and all your lj comments.

:D

I actually used to do more personal posts on my history and depression and feelings here but I pretty much stopped that after a negative experience or two with particular people; I tend now to protect my privacy a bit more and keep it for emails to my friends or pour it into the art.