"When you log into an online service, you use new tools for an ancient activity. Even with all the screens and wires and chips and lines it still comes down to people talking to each other. The immense potential of this partnership of computer technology and human language is in this blending of the old and the new. […] The great equalizing factor, of course, is that nobody can see each other online. So, the ideas are what really matter. You can't discern age, race, complexion, body shape, vocal tone or any of the other attributes that we all incorporate into our impressions of people. This, of course, will change as audio and video become common along with the written word. But even then a lot of people will play their sounds and show their video, but they won't ever show themselves." —John Coate, “Cyberspace Innkeeping” (1993)