How close should a pastor get to the members?

[Maple Leaf]

Originally Posted by Indy

Talk about creepy and weird. Little ol me with my measly few posts causes you so much grief that you must search and analyse my posts. Now that is scary. Tell me you didnt really read all of them. Who really is the stalker?

I am a connoisseur of words, not in the sense that I consider myself an expert, but in the sense that I love words. I love fine words in the way that a musician loves a complicated chord. I enjoy unusual words in the way that a collector enjoys a rare stamp or an especially rare coin. Because of this interest I notice unusual words and unusual uses of common words.

For example: Newman is a very articulate writer, but she invariably uses the word "rather" where you would usually use "whether." If she were to adopt a new identity, this usage would give her away within a few posts. I’ve always wondered if it was a regional colloquialism.

Then there are words that are not commonly used. One that I like to use is “milady.” I use it because it expresses respect and because it has a whimsically British feel. If you were to search the forum use of “milady,” you would find the word used in a grand total of 10 posts. Eight of those posts are mine, and the other two belong to two users who only used the term once each.

This long convoluted explanation is only to say that I noticed the use of an unusual word by Indy, so I did a quick search. The result was that the word has been used eight times on this forum: once by Amos, once by Indy, and two times by two other posters. The remaining four uses of the word all belong to one poster. That means that of the seven times that this word was used by people other than Amos, five times were by Indy and this other poster, and four usages of the word belong to the mystery poster. Is it coincidence that a full one half of the uses of an unusual word belong to one poster?

I have no intention of revealing either the “word” or the poster, and I certainly have no problem with the legitimate use of multiple identities, but anonymity is a myth among frequent forum participants.