She began participating in discussions on a Web site called “Democracy and Freedom,” which is often at odds with the government. By 2001, she opened her own site, much of it dedicated to literature, but she also published some articles calling for more freedom. As cyberspace became her home, she began to defend what the Chinese call netcitizens.

Fellow SF fan and netizen Liu Di and I have a lot in common. We write about our interests in science fiction (she’s more interested in books, I’m currently more interested in television and movies). She writes about politics and dabbles in parody and satire; I mostly quote articles that I either agree with, or strongly disagree with, and natter on in a mostly ranty mode.

She went to prison for a while, and sometimes there are guards outside her door now that she’s back home. Apparently, what she writes is dangerous in China. Bloggers in China had problems connecting to their own websites for a time, because the Chinese government feared the power of the published word.

When I bitch and moan and post about a whole lotta nothing, I don’t have to worry about the thought police or the political cadres battering down the door (or more realistically, pulling the plug on our big, wide pipe here).

I’ll try to remember that.