I dug up my intro thread for this, to look at it with fresh eyes. Goodness, it feels like forever, and it was only last August... but I digress.
The point is - I loved having people look in and ask me questions. Strangers who would bother to do that. Some have become pretty good friends since then. Sadly, I haven't written with any of them yet, but the point remains: I loved the attention. I'm rather withdrawn and I don't go out to get attention, but I revel in it when I do get it anyway.
It's a forum, so by definition public. I remember quailing when I first started writing, thinking 'I'm going to look like a fool in front of everyone', but this is the nature of the place. I find the influx of people who want to keep their stories private from the get-go disturbing. We're not the Yellow Pages of the roleplaying world.
Someone said recently in his intro that he found the process unnecessary but he understood it was there for a reason. I countered that if he understood there was a reason for it, then it could not be unnecessary. He never answered back. I have to go see what became of that one...