Warning: tangent. A few FA:OSX bloggers are also denizens of The Well, a 20-year-old virtual community based in San Francisco but with members around the world. I've been there for almost ten years myself. In fact, the Well's most excellent Mac conference is where I first heard news of this blog. It's also where I've exchanged information, tips, and frustrations about everything from emacs to Quark XPress to FileMaker Pro to OpenOffice.org. With an active population of Unix as well as Mac experts, we've got some great cross-pollination going on. Katie Hafner's 1997 Wired mag article (all 20,000 words of it) famously dubbed the Well "the world's most influential online community" (as of 1997 at any rate). For a lighter take, see the somewhat more recent set of first-person stories in Salon. But you don't have to read any of that stuff to see what the Well is about, and now I am getting around to the point of this post. During March, they're running a special offer -- join for $2, check it out for two months, and stay if you like. It's full of sharp people (double meaning intended -- smart and spiny both) and interesting discussions. In an era where every teen haX0r has his own free PHP bulletin board, you may wonder why it would be worth paying $10-$15 per month to type at other people. This is a great way to find out. Link to more info on the special deal Discuss