Talking to strangers

In My Humble Opinion
1

I recently saw a thread here where a new poster got right into his personnal life on his very first post. Several dopers pointed out the inapproriate or oddness of this.

It got me to thinking about conversations I have had with strangers over the years that I never exchanged names with or would ever likley cross pathes with again.

I find myself slightly less inhibited and tend to lower my walls and weaken my boudaries. I tend to have tight boundaries with personnal friends I never cross or allow to be crossed. I find something refreshing about not being concerned about ones opinion or judgement. I don't rememeber ever walking away and thinking I wished I would not have said something.  Your experience??
2

I usually avoid talking with people I don’t know unless I have a reason to.

3

You’ve been around long enough to know this is a regular occurrence, and that some large number of such ultra-long, ultra-personal, wayTMI first posts are never followed by a second from that poster.

The cynical could wonder about these posters’ intent.

4

I’ve spent much of my adult life talking to strangers for a living, so it doesn’t bug me. But sometimes I’m astonished at what they’ll tell me.

5

I owned a carpet and drapery store for many years, I spent a lot of time in private homes mostly dealing with women. A least once a week I would walk out of the house shaking my head just amazed at what people will tell a stranger.

6

The cynical could also wonder if it’s just the same person many times.

7

Did you ever find out if the carpet matched the drapes?

But seriously, I bet you gained their trust by being an expert on something that was so important to them.