One can join Special Interest Groups and "exchange pleasantries and argue, engage in intellectual discourse, conduct commerce, exchange knowledge, and share emotional support" (Chenault 105). There is a lot to be gained from Net relationships because there is no time limit. One can engage in an intellectual or emotional conversation twenty-four hours a day. .
Andrea Baker, an assistant professor of sociology at Ohio University states, "I really feel the basis of these relationships is better and deeper than many real-life meetings because the couples are honest with each other in their writings" (Wolcott 106). Another woman, Debbie, quoted "if you are honest when talking online, you can strip away all the superficial stuff and really get to know someone" (Wolcott 106). If both online partners are completely honest with each other while chatting online, "there won't be any surprises when they meet" (Wolcott 106). .
One must be cautious, however, of these on-line contacts. As the intensity of Net relationships grows, so do the hazards. No where are these problems more obvious than in on-line romances. "Things are often spoke and seldom meant," says Shakespeare. Much of our conversational understanding, then, comes from nonverbal cues - tone of voice, stance, and facial expressions. With its interactive format, the Internet is "based entirely on the transmission of electronic signals" (Maasik and Solomon 103) which gives the illusion of full communication, but it is not. Net users try to address this with emoticons, a form of e-language designed to help convey emotion. They include symbols like :-) , to mean a smile or @-->-->-- to signify a long-stemmed rose. It is a start, of course, but hardly full-blown communication compared to speaking to someone face-to-face. One still does not have all the information needed to decipher what his or her on-line partners are really saying. One sees what he or she expects to see.