I've been away for almost 6 years - for exactly the reasons you feared people are disappearing. Too much time worrying about scoring and getting my degree. I think you have to understand that that is part of the unwritten contract with any online community. People have real and virtual lives. Real life develops in league with causality, virtual lives do not, and this is, for many people, the attraction. Let's be honest, we came here and find it helpful largely because we are NOT each others friends - otherwise I'd never have found this place 'cos the support would already have been there.