The Internet could be blamed for empowering armies of blowhards, chatterboxes and gas bags. While you probably have no shortage of these around you in the real world, you are just as likely to bump into them online, boasting, preaching, whining, ranting, blathering on about whatever has crossed their radars. With the promise of a massive audience, the Internet fosters such logorrhea

Of course, these types aren't new to the Net, but they have been evolving. First taking hold of newsgroups and bulletin board services, they expanded onto the Web, which gave them a more controlled and semipermanent vanity channel.

Spend some time around these loquacious types, though, and you might find some that are actually quite intelligent, informed, perceptive, witty and -- the crucial factor on the Web -- worth a few minutes of your precious time.