Blogging as Therapy, Dialog, or Disclosure?

I don't know much about the blogging community, but it seems that the members thereof claim a difference between blogging and online journaling. I started keeping this blog as a place to just do some writing, and maybe have some friends comment on it. I am careful about what I disclose, because I am aware that people out there are reading. My husband is a private person; you probably can't figure out who he is from my Blog. I keep my childrens' names out of the blog because they are individuals who have a right to some privacy. I try not to swear in my blog because I don't want to offend people who are offended by swearing.

Other people are far more open about their lives in their blogs. A prostitute keeps a blog, and she describes her tricks in them. A fellow who posts very rarely on The Folk of the Fringe also has a very open blog; at least, so I surmise from some of his posts. If his blog is the one I think it is, one must have a password to read it. At the other end of the disclosure spectrum, after reading Dave's blog for over a month, all I know about him is that he lives in the SF Bay area, and that he is or was LDS. Dave writes about ideas and subjects of interest to him, rather than about himself. (edited to add: He has an "about me" link that is pretty comprehensive. I know much more about Dave now than I did 15 minutes ago.)

Dave has a link to my blog on his blog, which is how a blog's audience grows, I hope. It was such a rush to be linked! It made me yearn for a bigger audience, and the book deals earned by the writers of pound, belle du jour (the prostitute named above), and even Wil Wheaton. Yet when I click on By Common Consent aka Rameupton aka Adam-God Theory, and see 25 comments on a single post, I think maybe I don't want THAT much of a bigger audience.

I've added a counter to my template, that shows who the last 100 visitors are to my site (but only to me). This way, I know how many times Randy accesses my page from work, and from home. Ditto Brenda. Not so sure about Miranda. And I think I know when Dave has accessed, but I can't be sure about him, either. It would also be fun (though probably not doable easily using Blogger) to add radio buttons that allow users to select specific comments, which are then mailed to me. I would have choices like:

Intense clarity

Inspired use of the "F" word

superb grammar and spelling

deep, man, really deep

wuh?

My blogger friend Brenda was having a rough morning. One of her concerns is that people don't comment on her blog. I enjoy comments, too. But it made me wonder why we are doing this. I read on Dave's site: Because we can. But what do we want back? Comments, please.