Editing Affair (section)

==Online affair==
The appearance of [[computer-mediated communication]] introduces a new type of communication and consequently a new type of "affair". There are various kinds of computer-mediated communication that differ in some significant aspects: one-to-one or group communication formats, interrelating with anonymous or identified people and communicating in synchronous or asynchronous formats.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ze'ev|title=Flirting On and Offline|journal=International Journal of Research in to New Media Technologies|year=2004|volume=10|issue=24|url=http://con.sagepub.com/content/10/1/24.full.pdf}}</ref> Online affairs combine features of close and remote relationships.

Ben Ze'ef argues that an online affair is a unique kind of affair—termed "detached attachment", or just "detachment"—that includes opposing features whose presence in a face-to-face affair would be paradoxical. Like direct, face-to-face affairs, online affairs can be spontaneous and casual and show intensive personal involvement. However, online affairs can also be more of a planned discourse than spontaneous talk; like written letters, online messages can be stored and thus have a permanent presence, which is absent from face-to-face affairs.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lea & Spears|title=Love at first Byte|journal=Understudied Relationships|year=1995|page=211}}</ref>

People participating in online affairs may be strangers to each other in the sense that they have never actually met each other. However, they are also close to each other since they share intimate information. In online affairs, people try to enjoy the benefits of both close and remote affairs, while avoiding their flaws. People enjoy the highly valued products of close affairs while paying the low cost of remote affairs. As one woman wrote: 'He constantly told me that he can not provide me with what I would want and I would always respond with: "I'm not asking anything from you, but simply enjoy your company"'.<ref>{{cite website |url=http://www.cyberlove101.com |title=Story 39 {{!}} An Enchanting Belgian gentleman}}</ref>