How could it not? Apart from being an introductory phase to the Internet and the rest of all that sentimental jazz, it's really a place — assuming the forums and the avatar have been prominent parts of the experience, which isn't very unlikely — where elements of self-reflection come together just like they do in a diary. You write when you're angry, sometimes; you write when you're euphoric, sometimes. Then life goes on and the parameters are shaken about a bit, and you come back to see the contrast (usually to your embarrassment) between past you and present you. It's been like that here, only Gaia is a public, interactive sort of experimental grounds rather than a book in a box under your bed; pretty much all your posts are archived, and most items remain near at hand. A lot of coagulated old memory gets stuck between the pages, so to speak.
And most importantly, on Gaia you meet — or at least come into some form of contact with —
others doing the very same thing. There's
another thread floating about right now about everyday idolatry in these parts. We look admiringly at others, pick and choose among their traits in the hopes of assimilating them and growing psychologically in the process. Sure we change in that kind of environment.
Or that's how I've come to interpret it anyhow. Take it for what it is.