Insanity is just a state of mind!
If I Fart In Cyberspace, Can You Hear It?
Published on August 19, 2006 By Nadeon In Blogging
Good googly moogly Martha! I go away from J/U for awhile and there's a total break with reality. I just skimmed over various articles and their related replies and I'm just shaking my head in disblief. Perhaps it's my impression of a blog; kind of a quasi newspaper/magazine article diary sort of thing with a "Letters To The Editor" thrown in.
I used to work for AOL as a Remote Tech in their old Tech Live area (back when your phone bill was billed for your on line time...hey any way you can get a free account to avoid $400.00 surprises works for me!). Because we were a small community we got close (as close as you can get in cyberdom anyway) and eventually arranged for a "Tech Live" get together. What an eye opener that was. Your impressions of the majority of the folks you chat with are usually way off. The best example of that I can give would be to read a popular book and then go to see the movie version. Not quite what your mind's eye translated the written word into. Somtimes pleasantly surprising, most times not. How many of you actually envisioned Harry Potter the way he was cast in the very first movie (now that you read the books with the movie character in mind)? Reality at the Tech Live get together showed that most folks were older/younger, taller/shorter, thinner/fatter and on and on, than you imagined them being. One gentleman I chatted with on line for a long time was in a wheelchair and on oxygen. He never mentioned it on line. I was pleased he showed up. Most of our personalities however were quite different than our on line ones. Outspoken folks on line, seemed more reserved and introverted for example. The ones that oozed sex and inuendo on line were not in real life what they protrayed in cyberdom.
When you read a newspaper article, it's ok to feel passionately about the topic and take issue with the opinions of the writer and/or editor. It is not ok to be so boorish as to call down all manner of curses and bad juju on that person for having an opinion. Nor is it ok to go around slandering that person's good name in public and in private because their opinion is not yours. Writing an article in a newspaper, or on J/U for that matter does not make you a public person, open to the ferocious attacks on you family and lifestyle that invites. Jimmy Carter was a democrat, his policies were'nt always the best. But you know what? Despite my politics or yours, Habitat For Humanity is a pretty damn nice thing.
To continually slam a blogger on J/U and cast aspirations on their personal life or character because of some inference you detected is smarmy and small minded. Get a grip. People who post here are what they want to be, and what they want you to take them as. Precious few are brave, or stupid enough to be 100% candid about whom they really are. Face it, you don't really know them at all beyond their opinion on a particular topic or comment they have made. If you do know them personally, and you're exchanging gossip on J/U, get a clue YOU NEED TO SPEND MORE QUALITY TIME TOGETHER...IN PERSON! If you don't like some one's on line handle, get over it. People choose their on line names for various reasons and you couldn't possibly in a million years know what that reason was. To criticize it is petty beyond belief. To put them in a position of having to defend it is deplorable and down right sub human of you. My name for instance, offended someone here because they assumed the Nad portion was a refference to the slang name used for testicles. In point of fact, my name is DAN. NAD is DAN backwards. EON you can figure out on your own. I would have given my right arm to see the face of the person whom chopped me off at the knees over NAD when they found out what it really meant!
The point of all is this; Kids heres a tip for you: THIS AIN'T REALITY! It's diversion. Sometimes very cerebral diversion. But reality is that great kid that would really like to spend time with you instead of wating for you to finish a new cutting edge posting for J/U. Reality is getting together with some like minded people and discussing what you can do in the real world about some of the issues discussed on here. Reality is not the soft glow of a flat panel monitor. Reality is a gorgeous sunset in late summer shared with someone you love. Remember it's a tough life out there for everybody in many different ways. Don't bring your egocentric garbage in here. Like the old sign at the public pool used to say: We don't swim in your toilet, so don't pee in our pool!
Have a good evening and remember, it's ok to disagree. It is not ok to hate.

Comments (Page 1)
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on Aug 19, 2006
wow! you said a mouthful! thank you!
on Aug 19, 2006
Kind of an all-over-the-place rant, but I think you're right about people NOT being exactly as they seem online.

Sometimes people intentionally mislead others so that they can be who they'd LIKE to be, but most of the time I think we just create a character in our mind based on what a given person writes, and the reality is quite different.

It used to annoy me when I noticed discrepancies or saw someone "behaving" online in a way that seemed like a departure from their normal persona, but I've gotten to where for the most part I just don't care.

There are folks on JU that I like and respect and who I know somewhat outside of JU, and then there are plenty others who I banter with online that I just am not all that curious about in any real or meaningful way.
on Aug 19, 2006
TW I know it was all over the place. Couldn't be helped. I was beside myself after doing some catch up reading.
on Aug 19, 2006
mouthful!


Did I drool?
on Aug 19, 2006
I was beside myself after doing some catch up reading.


Hehe. Now I'm curious which things you were reading.
on Aug 19, 2006
Not to nitpick, but with all your considerable experience, somewhere along the line you forgot how to use paragraph breaks, and I nearly went blind trying to read your article. Give us old farts a break!


I'll edit it. Confidentially I had to pull my glasses down my nose to see the letters on the keyboard while typing it!
on Aug 19, 2006
Hehe. Now I'm curious which things you were reading.


Now now TW, if I were to kiss and tell as it were, I'd be invalidating my own rant!
on Aug 19, 2006
Now now TW, if I were to kiss and tell as it were, I'd be invalidating my own rant!


I figured as much.
on Aug 19, 2006
I agree and disagree some.

Here is my take.

I think the INTERNET and places like JU are fairly new to our society. Before the net all you really had were real life relationships. So then this technology develops and some of us find we are forming relationships on line.

The problem? There seems to be two diverse schools of thought about on line relationships.

1. They aren't real. It's only cyber space.

2. They are real, but a new version of reality with no set rules yet.

I tend to lean toward the second.

Now I don't think someone I only talk with on line as my "best friend." But I do consider my interaction with them a relationship. Why? Because to me a significant part of a relationship is about getting to know someone, and doing that by talking or writing to each other.

Granted, they could be lying and I could have a relationship with a fictional character. But I don't need the net for that. I dated a few guys many years ago who were not at all what they represented. heh. And that was in 3D.

This version of reality is still virgin territory. I think lots of people are embarrassed they care about people on JU. Like maybe people will think they have no real life connections.

I care about people on JU (or as you may think, their personas). I don't care if the person doesn't look like I think they should, or say what I think they should, I'm flexible.

When you meet someone in real life how do you decide if you want to get to know them?

I usually decide by how they present themselves, and by what they say. The only thing missing in cyber space is physical attributes. I am as unlikely in real life to know if a stranger is lying to me, as I am on the net.

So yes, it is real. There are real people (though some may be liars) behind every screen and keyboard. And while I would never encourage net relationships to replace real life ones, they certainly make a very nice addition.

That's my take....out!
on Aug 19, 2006
BTW, I have met in RL two people I've met online (one of whom was a JU), and I wasn't disappointed either time. But I feel like I am fairly good at identifying a fraud.
on Aug 20, 2006
oh, they're real alright, but I enjoy the distance a computer screen gives.  that's mostly due to my own social anxiety problems, I suppose.  i don't know that i'm like the words I write, i like to play around with points of view and things...dunno if that makes me guilty of trying to be who I wish I were or if that's me being uncensored.  mostly it's a cure for boredom when I can't sleep.
on Aug 20, 2006
oh, they're real alright, but I enjoy the distance a computer screen gives. that's mostly due to my own social anxiety problems, I suppose


hear hear, I am an awkward person to get along with (noooooo hey??????) in the real world. So thought I would give this a bash, so far I been knocked on the head once! But then I deserved it! *see serentity and others nodding their heads*

My physical body language in the real world comes across as bombastic, bossy, aggresssive and generally dislikeable, hence I am difficult to get along with! You will see this occassionally in my writing ( I blame my hormones and mood swings). I do try to keep this side of my personality to a minimum in cyberspace - I use peotry as an outlet.

In the real world I am not seen as a very nice person because of my bossy ways and the tone of my voice ( which has got me slapped a few times!) really is the biggest culprit. Least here I can speak without sounding nasty, I can add a smiley if it appears harsh to imply a softer tone.

For me cyber space is my new home! SAD case are't I! Like I really care! ROFL *trying very hard to get back on my chuckle wagon*, but since being on JU I have fallen off my chuckle wagon so many times! The humor and a good laugh - very good for me!

yes to cyber space - keeping it as close to real as we can,
on Aug 20, 2006
psssst just have to add - I wish I knew a bit more about computers though! Also (thick as she shounds) what is BTW ? I have seen this in a number of blogs and just coant figure it out!

BTW = by the way?
BTW = ?????????????
on Aug 20, 2006
BTW = by the way?


You have a winner!!!


Nadeon, good blog. Yeah, paragraphs would be good!!


Cyber space is not reality, however, there are some honest people out there who do deserve the benefit of the doubt. I guess it would be up to the individual to try to 'see' whose who and who they definately will keep at a distance.

As a community, and it is a community, JU is one of the best out there that I do know of. I've visited a few other sites and how they are leaves a lot to be desired.


I agree with most of what you had to say though.
on Aug 20, 2006
Cyber space is not reality, however, there are some honest people out there who do deserve the benefit of the doubt. I guess it would be up to the individual to try to 'see' whose who and who they definately will keep at a distance.


Serenity, I don't know as that I've ever disagreed with you, yet I do today. I believe cyberspace is reality. I"m real, I really went fishing today, really had a subway sandwich and a DQ later, and am sharing that info with all of you now and will be proud to share the photos when they're developed. Although due to a camera malfunction the date will say 1994!! ...sometimes the date has to be set every single time I use that camera!!

Guys that are predators are real and they really stalk young girls and boys online. Granted someone can and many do lie about the who and what they are, yet they are still really humans.

To me, this is just as valid as having a penpal, like I did in 5th grade, Marie Harper from Lansing, Michigan. And it's eaven easier to arrange to meet, as many bloggers live in the same state.

Perhaps my perception of cyberspace and blogging is skewed...that's just my outlook on it
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