Kathryn:

While some people find a custom of once-a-year introductions (as Tavia suggested, as per Freedom City) to be friendly and fun, for other people, it's simply an unwelcome pressure to tell a whole lot of people about their life when they'd rather keep it private. An invasion of privacy, not a fun thing at all.

In her original post, Kathryn asked for feedback, which usually -- but not always -- means that the person wishes to hear differing views. The idea of annual introductions was only a *suggestion* (and one I seem to recall someone else making previously). Even if implemented, no-one would be under any onus to say anything more about themselves than they felt comfortable with.

Given my particular biases, I asked for 'bios' for ttba and moreover I hassled people till I got something for everyone. The results vary in personal relevance from moderately accurate to utterly fictional (the only thing you can safely gather from the Tavian bio is my liking for Jane Au sten). Most people agreed that the final spread is rather amusing, including some of the people who initially were negative about the idea.

...you won't find there any of the usual vital statistics... because telling people my age, marital status, job etc doesn't actually tell them anything about *me*, about how and what I think, about what makes me me. It just gets in the way -- labels and boxes to put me in

I agree with Kathryn that 'vital statistics' don't tend to be all that illuminating, and anyway one can spin the various details in so so many ways. Personally, I'm deeply uncomfortable about the plethora of photographs of myself that have recently sprouted on a number of sites -- different people have different comfort zones and different squick factors.

Anyway, perhaps on reflection being accused of being friendly, or even warm and fuzzy, is probably not the worst thing anyone's ever said about me...

Tavia