Internet Identities

[Guest Viewmaster]

I've been reading the various posts about Internet grammmar, spelling, etiquette, etc., and have found them interesting. At first it prompted me to wonder "Who are these people", but then it made me think of a couple of other things.

 

Internet communications create on line personalities Do you think the resulting personalities are

 

A. A reflection of who people really are, and on line is a safe place to reveal that persoanality

B. A creation of who people want to be, but probably never will be

 

I know there are other variations, and the answer may be a combination of both, but if you had to just lay it down and say "I think it's 55% A, and 45% B", what would you say?

[Guest Viewmaster]

I've been reading the various posts about Internet grammmar, spelling, etiquette, etc., and have found them interesting. At first it prompted me to wonder "Who are these people", but then it made me think of a couple of other things.

 

Internet communications create on line personalities Do you think the resulting personalities are

 

A. A reflection of who people really are, and on line is a safe place to reveal that persoanality

B. A creation of who people want to be, but probably never will be

 

I know there are other variations, and the answer may be a combination of both, but if you had to just lay it down and say "I think it's 55% A, and 45% B", what would you say?

[Guest Tampa Yankee]

I think people are pretty much themselves... some who continue to embrace the practice of social etiquette and others who are quick to drop such trappings or are completely unfettered by them in this anonymous environment.

 

Those B types that assume a completely different personality are the few, probably numbering way under 10%. (I suspect they are very disappointed with their lives and probably their personalities, though the converse does not follow.) My hunch... that's all.

[Guest Tampa Yankee]

I think people are pretty much themselves... some who continue to embrace the practice of social etiquette and others who are quick to drop such trappings or are completely unfettered by them in this anonymous environment.

 

Those B types that assume a completely different personality are the few, probably numbering way under 10%. (I suspect they are very disappointed with their lives and probably their personalities, though the converse does not follow.) My hunch... that's all.

[Guest WetDream]

Most of the time, I think I fall under category A. The only exception is for a character I created to chat with an absolutely stunning boy who used to appear on one of those jack-off-for-the-camera sites. He was such a hunk and I suspected that he was only marginally bi. The next time in logged in I used the name "Tina" and it worked! An intense cyber-relationship developed with lots of heavy sex chat. Other posters (presumably male) would complain about the attention I was getting or write: Tina, ask him to (fill in the blank).

 

I was quite a babe. A trim 5'3", short black curls, two perky tits, had a boyfriend that was interested in a three-way. I sent him a black leather cockring with studs that he wore for me on camera. We had a private e-mail correspondence which made me a bit nervous since he wanted to visit me on his next trip to San Francisco.

 

I took a month-long vacation and, when I returned, it was with a mixture of disappointment and relief that I discovered that he was no longer on the site. It was fun while it lasted but it is not easy being a girl.

[Guest WetDream]

Most of the time, I think I fall under category A. The only exception is for a character I created to chat with an absolutely stunning boy who used to appear on one of those jack-off-for-the-camera sites. He was such a hunk and I suspected that he was only marginally bi. The next time in logged in I used the name "Tina" and it worked! An intense cyber-relationship developed with lots of heavy sex chat. Other posters (presumably male) would complain about the attention I was getting or write: Tina, ask him to (fill in the blank).

 

I was quite a babe. A trim 5'3", short black curls, two perky tits, had a boyfriend that was interested in a three-way. I sent him a black leather cockring with studs that he wore for me on camera. We had a private e-mail correspondence which made me a bit nervous since he wanted to visit me on his next trip to San Francisco.

 

I took a month-long vacation and, when I returned, it was with a mixture of disappointment and relief that I discovered that he was no longer on the site. It was fun while it lasted but it is not easy being a girl.

[Guest DCescortBOY]

my friends know that i'll correct glaring errors in person as well.

[Guest DCescortBOY]

my friends know that i'll correct glaring errors in person as well.

[Guest biga]

I agree with what TY says although i also believe that the anonimity that a place like this and the internet in general to a large degree has helps people to say things and express opinions that they would not do in public or to someone face to face

I feel i am the same person when on the net either e mailing friends or colleagues or posting here as i am in real life ,people i e mail regularly say that when they read mails that i have sent they can visualise me talking as they read it as i tend to write as i speak (which makes for long rambling mails that dont make much sense )

As TY says in his post the vast majority of people are themselves but i believe to create an "on line personality"would be difficult to do and even more difficult to maintain as time went on.Cheers Andy

[Guest biga]

I agree with what TY says although i also believe that the anonimity that a place like this and the internet in general to a large degree has helps people to say things and express opinions that they would not do in public or to someone face to face

I feel i am the same person when on the net either e mailing friends or colleagues or posting here as i am in real life ,people i e mail regularly say that when they read mails that i have sent they can visualise me talking as they read it as i tend to write as i speak (which makes for long rambling mails that dont make much sense )

As TY says in his post the vast majority of people are themselves but i believe to create an "on line personality"would be difficult to do and even more difficult to maintain as time went on.Cheers Andy

[Will]

Then there's Option C. No matter how "natural" or "artificial" we think we're being -- and we all construct a persona whether we're aware of it or not -- in cyberspace the personality behind the words is largely the creation of the reader not the writer. That is particularly so here. If you read the posts with the intention of finding biographical information, you'll notice how elusive most of us are. Even when someone proffers factual information about himself, there isn't any guarantee that it's accurate. For example, however off-the-cuff, take-it-or-leave-it some of the apparently hip contributors to this board may want to seem, how do I know that that suave thirty-something who claims to be a tall, handsome, smart, well-educated, horse-hung Wall Street lawyer isn't really just a reeking troll with a dick no bigger than a wart? How do I know that while he tells us he's high on Ecstacy he is really chowing down on a handful of bugs in his cave in Transylvania?

 

As someone who eschews deliberately misrepresenting himself for reasons of psychological health as well as morality, I am sometimes frustrated because I want to know others for who they are, just as I want them to know me for who I am. Indeed, when I post here, I know that I am who I am: a friend could easily recognize the tone of my on-line voice. But is that so of others? One wonders. And there's no way for you to know that I'm telling the truth myself, come to that. There's an apposite line from "The King and I": It's a puzzlement.

[Will]

Then there's Option C. No matter how "natural" or "artificial" we think we're being -- and we all construct a persona whether we're aware of it or not -- in cyberspace the personality behind the words is largely the creation of the reader not the writer. That is particularly so here. If you read the posts with the intention of finding biographical information, you'll notice how elusive most of us are. Even when someone proffers factual information about himself, there isn't any guarantee that it's accurate. For example, however off-the-cuff, take-it-or-leave-it some of the apparently hip contributors to this board may want to seem, how do I know that that suave thirty-something who claims to be a tall, handsome, smart, well-educated, horse-hung Wall Street lawyer isn't really just a reeking troll with a dick no bigger than a wart? How do I know that while he tells us he's high on Ecstacy he is really chowing down on a handful of bugs in his cave in Transylvania?

 

As someone who eschews deliberately misrepresenting himself for reasons of psychological health as well as morality, I am sometimes frustrated because I want to know others for who they are, just as I want them to know me for who I am. Indeed, when I post here, I know that I am who I am: a friend could easily recognize the tone of my on-line voice. But is that so of others? One wonders. And there's no way for you to know that I'm telling the truth myself, come to that. There's an apposite line from "The King and I": It's a puzzlement.

[Traveller]

>For example, however off-the-cuff, take-it-or-leave-it

>some of the apparently hip

>contributors to this board may

>want to seem, how do

>I know that that suave

>thirty-something who claims to be

>a tall, handsome, smart, well-educated,

>horse-hung Wall Street lawyer isn't

>really just a reeking troll

>with a dick no bigger

>than a wart? How

>do I know that while

>he tells us he's high

>on Ecstacy he is really

>chowing down on a handful

>of bugs in his cave

>in Transylvania?

 

Damn, you found me out.

 

Later.

 

PS. For the first part, ask anyone I've reviewed here or Matty in BC or Talvin or Cory or Tony Cummings.... As for the partying, I don't think it's too cool for me to list those guys.

 

PPS. But you did get one part right, most people do call me a vampire.

[Traveller]

>For example, however off-the-cuff, take-it-or-leave-it

>some of the apparently hip

>contributors to this board may

>want to seem, how do

>I know that that suave

>thirty-something who claims to be

>a tall, handsome, smart, well-educated,

>horse-hung Wall Street lawyer isn't

>really just a reeking troll

>with a dick no bigger

>than a wart? How

>do I know that while

>he tells us he's high

>on Ecstacy he is really

>chowing down on a handful

>of bugs in his cave

>in Transylvania?

 

Damn, you found me out.

 

Later.

 

PS. For the first part, ask anyone I've reviewed here or Matty in BC or Talvin or Cory or Tony Cummings.... As for the partying, I don't think it's too cool for me to list those guys.

 

PPS. But you did get one part right, most people do call me a vampire.

[Guest BenDover]

I cannot suppress my personality nor my identity in these posts. I am who I am, and aspects of it become clearer with each post I write. I have discovered this in others' post also: there are the snide, the thoughtful, the precocious, the hilarious, the nasty, the good and nasty, the mean-spirited, the silly. And, frankly, I love them all.

It seems a difficult task for any one contributor who posts regularly to maintain a persona other than his true identity. Maybe I'm naive, but over time, the real you comes out.

[Guest BenDover]

I cannot suppress my personality nor my identity in these posts. I am who I am, and aspects of it become clearer with each post I write. I have discovered this in others' post also: there are the snide, the thoughtful, the precocious, the hilarious, the nasty, the good and nasty, the mean-spirited, the silly. And, frankly, I love them all.

It seems a difficult task for any one contributor who posts regularly to maintain a persona other than his true identity. Maybe I'm naive, but over time, the real you comes out.

[Guest Viewmaster]

Well, this isn't much to go on, but so far what I'm seeing is that basically you guys are saying "I am who I am - what you see(read)is what you get". That's encouraging. What's scarry, however, is all the hostility that I've seen from some posters. I hope they are just kind of acting out and letting loose, and that they are a little more civil out in the real world. Frankly, that anger kept me out of here for some time, not because it could actually hurt me, but because I just don't like coming in contact with any more negativity than necessary.

[Guest Viewmaster]

Well, this isn't much to go on, but so far what I'm seeing is that basically you guys are saying "I am who I am - what you see(read)is what you get". That's encouraging. What's scarry, however, is all the hostility that I've seen from some posters. I hope they are just kind of acting out and letting loose, and that they are a little more civil out in the real world. Frankly, that anger kept me out of here for some time, not because it could actually hurt me, but because I just don't like coming in contact with any more negativity than necessary.

[Will]

WEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLL, Traveler, somebody finally sniffed you out! The thirty-something type I described was mostly from my imagination, but perhaps I'm better at reading between the lines than I thought.

 

Vampires usually feed through a puncture to the neck. Don't tell me, please, that you get your blood by puncturing other parts of the body. Am I right in supposing that, thanks to you, there are lots of immortal escorts out there?

[Will]

WEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLL, Traveler, somebody finally sniffed you out! The thirty-something type I described was mostly from my imagination, but perhaps I'm better at reading between the lines than I thought.

 

Vampires usually feed through a puncture to the neck. Don't tell me, please, that you get your blood by puncturing other parts of the body. Am I right in supposing that, thanks to you, there are lots of immortal escorts out there?

[Will]

>And, frankly, I love them all.

 

ME TOO!

[Will]

>And, frankly, I love them all.

 

ME TOO!

[Traveller]

> Am I right in

>supposing that, thanks to you,

>there are lots of immortal

>escorts out there?

 

Willy,

 

Fuck that. They're aging faster than Dorian Gray upon becoming moral. I'm the one staying young.

 

Later.

[Traveller]

> Am I right in

>supposing that, thanks to you,

>there are lots of immortal

>escorts out there?

 

Willy,

 

Fuck that. They're aging faster than Dorian Gray upon becoming moral. I'm the one staying young.

 

Later.

[Guest DCescortBOY]

you took the movie American Psycho a bit too much to heart, didn't you? :-)

at least you changed careers & sexual orientation.