I've received so many comments from folks about a featured post about the Rain Forest Characters and a follow-up post  on additional characters that my husband, Dr. John wrote about some time ago, that I've asked him to begin a series elaborating on each character one at a time -- kind of a social psych-job on all of us. 

I've asked him to have more "fun" than clinical skullduggery with each of the characters.  He's agreed to  eventually cover them all, but I couldn't get him to commit to a firm schedule.  So here he goes with...

The Joiner Character- This character has to be a part of the action on popular blogs where lots of folks are commenting.  Sometimes he or she sees a key point that appears to be missing and wants to weigh in on the debate, and sometimes this character just wants to add his or her two cents (a penny at a time).

Motive: This character likes to be seen, but doesn't really care if he or she is read.  Sometimes it's pretty clear to an astute reader that the Joiner hasn't even read the entire blog.  There's really no need if the Joiner just wants to drop a penny or two and get on.  Ten cents a night is the budgeted amount.

Should you hang out with this person in the Rain Forest: The Joiner's not looking for companions, just attention - stay away.  You might as well ignore this character when it's apparent you're just being used as a coin drop.

Risk or Benefit: The real risk is getting short-changed; the benefit is this character drives traffic. 

Disclaimer:  I really like people, but online characters (not individuals) are almost always fair game.