i always respond - eventually at least. especially if it's someone i "know". even if it's just to say nope. depends on the situation. i believe in direct engagement, old-school correspondent style. i believe in real emails and letters and text messages (i send them - or used to anyway - all the time) and i think part of the apparatus which separates people and capitalized on fear is directly linked to forcing people to stay silent or "away" from one another. it's how you get to know someone's patterns. plus, in a validator mirroring situation, if someone is emailing you as a landing pad, and making assumptions about you in crosswords - their "testimony" sticks. it's tricky - but i err on the side of direct and literal. it's also frustrating to the mirror. which is just a bonus. 😁 if the only emails we receive are gross bounty attempts, no one will communicate anymore. which: is sort of the reality now. anyway: i am a writer by trade and an english major, so i don't mind holding space for people figuring it out and/or walking into their own destiny (positive or negative). what i refuse to own is someone's game overlain on my real life. meandering is a lost art...