After some early hesitant inquiries, the new member quickly realizes that these people are serious about helping and accepts help without encumbrance. It doesn't take long for the new member to feel comfortable enough to open up and share his own personal experience. It is at this point when the support group provides the most benefit to the ex-smoker. Offering a hand to a fellow quitter has a healing quality that is experienced by both parties involved. It is through acts of kindness, by helping each other, that we truly help ourselves.
Online support is somewhat of a paradox in today's world.
The Internet is vast in scope, often carrying a rather impersonal stigma perpetuated by the anonymity available to anyone surfing it. It is exactly this anonymity, this safety net that makes it possible for addicts to ask for the help they might otherwise reject. Newly created identities can be adopted to mask the often-perceived weakness addicts experience when asking for help. What matters is the exchange of compassion and support between total strangers who share the common goal of fighting this powerful addiction. Support groups as a whole are the essence of humanity.