BobBry, I have the exact same problem! I do read through all the posts, and off and on have the intention to respond to one--then I'm out of time or energy, or that subject is 10 pages back already and my little comment would be stale before I even post it. Plus, if I keep reading, there's often new info on the topic or someone else has already put in a much better answer than I would have come up with. In which case I'm grateful I didn't jump in immediately.
LOL! LOL! I think it's come to mean a little something different than what it actually stands for. I mean, how often is actual Laughing Out Loud literally occurring, for either the writer or the reader? (Sometimes, I admit, it does for me when I am reading the Michigan thread!) Often I think LOL is more a signal that "hey I am not entirely serious here"--because getting across the exact tone of your words is so much harder in print than in person. I think maybe we need yet another acronym to get that across. WG (weak grin)? SAS (small apologetic smile)? Because, of course, what we reallly need is more sets of letters to throw around and confuse people with. WG!