I'm Real

[R. S. Martin]

I heard say some people think internet people aren't real. Not sure where anybody gets that idea. I'm a real person. I get cold when it's freezing. I get tired. I get hungry. I even feel hurt depending what other internet people say in posts to me. And if what you're showing in your internet behaviour isn't your real self, you can bet on it I will think it is. Oh sure, when you get a personality-switching Pug on here I know he's not being real. But the average poster I assume is being real.

 

Just for the record. I say lots of stuff here that I never say in person in real life. Why? Because in real life the opportunity does not arise. I don't know any exChristians in real life who want to talk indepth about the things I talk about here. That, however, does not make me a "not real" person.

 

Hmmm. I'm reading what I just wrote. "Real life." I think the internet IS real life. It is a very real part of life for me. I don't think I am the only person who feels this way. I am, after all, real.

 

 

>Pinned 02_15_07 kFL<

[Amethyst]

Agreed.

 

People have a tendency to separate real life friends from internet life friends since it is generally assumed that one cannot possibly get to know someone over the internet as well as you can offline.

 

I would say to an extent that's true, but one can get to know people online reasonably well.

 

If words in print did not evoke emotions in people, nobody would buy books.

[♦ nivek ♦]

I'm not real at all...

 

I spend far too much time in meat.space on this fucker of a mind.sucker machine dealing with Legislators, Lawers, folks on staff of people whose thoughts I need to influence.

 

Stay too long in Kort business, helpin' others in their trip through the matri, err, System.

 

My opinions here at ExC are never colored by real.life experiences. Ever.. Really..

 

I've been told by an expert councillor who haunts the Boards, that even after explaining my work and efforts, that daFatman, kevinFuckingL, is a liar.

 

sOoooOOoooOO.. Even with restricting myself to saying in e.form what I'd say in meat.space, not using the miles of wire and the relative *safety* of the IntERnuTT, this poster is FOS and "not an enlightened sort".

 

That I can handle. Those who know me, in life, or over landline, PM and IM seem to like what is presented no matter how the experts opinion is..

 

Surreal Life.. the INteRNuTT.. WTF? I like it here, and seem to think I am "real".

 

Been There--Done That

 

kFL

[-Demona-]

The internet is just another facet of life itself. People and civilizations are changing and growing. Now, with the internet, we have access to information we didn't know existed and can talk to people miles away who we never would have known otherwise.

 

The fact that we communicate through typewritten word over a series of chips and wires does not make the emotions behind the words any less real. It just makes it a little easier to express that part of you which would otherwise not be explored in "real time" conversation.

 

Are people on the internet real? Hell, yes. I loved, loathed, made friends with people on the internet. People I would not have known otherwise. I've come face to face with some of these people and they are most assuredly real flesh and blood humans, not some unfeeling AI.

 

So it is with the denizens of this site. Just because the way we communicate to one another is through words on a webpage, does not mean we are the webpage and that all that we are can be contained in it. People who believe otherwise either don't know any better or refuse to acknowledge that reality.

[Fweethawt]

Oh, get real people...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gotcha!

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. - I know what y'all are sayin'. And I agree.

[Onyx]

I'm real, I'm almost exactly like this in my real life. Blunt, satirical, bold, brave, openly atheist, gay and etc. If you met me in real life, you might notice much hasn't changed. That's how much I put myself out in the Net. Yes, I love my Net friends equally as my life friends, I'm grateful for this opportunity to meet you all. One day, I want to meet you all in real life, wouldn't you all like that?

[Ex-COG]

Just for the record. I say lots of stuff here that I never say in person in real life. Why? Because in real life the opportunity does not arise. I don't know any exChristians in real life who want to talk indepth about the things I talk about here. That, however, does not make me a "not real" person.

I agree. In what you call "real life", it would be much harder to find a group of people advertising themselves as exChristians. If we were face to face I wouldn't be brave enough to talk about half the stuff I discuss here. And actually, I'm more on guard when talking to someone personally, largely due to my upbringing. The anonymity provided by the internet helps; if someone disapproves or criticizes you, so what? You don't personally know them. And we found each other here only because Webmaster Dave started this page up and we either stumbled across it or (like me) found it doing websearches.

[Amethyst]

I agree. In what you call "real life", it would be much harder to find a group of people advertising themselves as exChristians. If we were face to face I wouldn't be brave enough to talk about half the stuff I discuss here. And actually, I'm more on guard when talking to someone personally, largely due to my upbringing. The anonymity provided by the internet helps; if someone disapproves or criticizes you, so what? You don't personally know them. And we found each other here only because Webmaster Dave started this page up and we either stumbled across it or (like me) found it doing websearches.

 

Good point. I know I say things online that I wouldn't be brave enough to say otherwise. I'm very shy IRL.

[Skankboy]

With the Skankboy, what you see is basically what you get.

[Mikefight]

Yeah I am real. I am this nerdy in real life. Man this sucks. I am coming to a sad realization. Allow.

[Kelli]

Real as it gets. I think Last I checked. No, wait. Maybe not. I dunno. Still deciding if I believe I exist or not...

[godlessgrrl]

I know the 'net provides a less personal interface for people to interact. You're not actually sitting right in a room with a real, live person, breathing their same air, seeing their face, able to touch them if the situation allowed for it... but how anybody could think that somehow a person on the other end of a 'net connection (IM, forum, chat, what have you) isn't a real, live, person, well - that just boggles my mind.

 

I started using the 'net in '93 and I've never forgotten that there are actual people on the other end of whatever interface I'm using. They're real, live, breathing, human beings, with thoughts and feelings of their own, just like me. To think they aren't would be a delusion of the most sociopathic order.

 

I've also never forgotten that an impersonal interface like the 'net has pros and cons connected with its impersonality. Discussions can get more heated, because I'll admit, I do feel less inhibited when it comes to writing out a response to someone that I'll probably never actually meet for real. (It's easier to bitch at somebody if you know they can't reach out and punch you in the nose.) The potential for anonymity is great too, for a variety of reasons.

 

The drawbacks are that, without the added dimension of visual or aural communication (except in situations like video conferencing or VOIP), nuances and inflections of voice and body language are lost. So sometimes I read things into a response that may well not be there at all, and I'd understand they weren't there if I could actually see the person I'm talking to for real. But then, I cut people a lot of slack too, for that same reason.

 

But man, to reduce 'net people to mere imaginary lines on a screen strikes me as being... well, delusional at best, and sociopathic at worst. It certainly isn't connected to reality, that's for damn sure.

 

I dig meeting 'net friends in RL, btw. So yeah, I'd love to meet you, Onyx! And anybody else who ever makes it within 350 miles of Seattle.

[Mikefight]

I would up for meeting anyone here near Jacksonville, FL.

[R. S. Martin]

Yeah, Nivek, you're not real. Must have been the Hold Ghost talking to me on IM. Some neat Holy Ghost I connected with, I must say.

Gwenmead, I know a very brilliant lady who does not like email because, for her, it's just marks on a screen; it's flat. She's an extravert. Elsewhere on this site we've had a discussion on Myers-Briggs personality type. Someone suggested that most of us on here are probably introverts. I believe there is something to that. Possibly introverts with intuition. That allows us to visualize and reflect where extraverts might be more focused on what they can perceive directly with the senses--in the case of internet communication, marks on a screen.

 

Yep, Onyx, I'd like to meet you and shake your hand. Let me know if you get anywhere near Toronto and we'll see if we can arrange a meet-up. Same invitation is extended to all here.

 

So we've got one person in Florida, and another in Washington state. Lots of geography in between. But there is no doubt we're all as real as they get. Glad to see the good response to this thread. Maybe one day we'll actually meet someone.

[Former Follier]

I'm most definitely real. My fiancee and I have a joint Myspace... just search by my personal email address... ningold@cellular1.net. That's us.

 

If anyone is in or around East Central Illinois, hit us up. There are NO interesting people around here!

[Kelli]

So we've got one person in Florida, and another in Washington state. Lots of geography in between. But there is no doubt we're all as real as they get. Glad to see the good response to this thread. Maybe one day we'll actually meet someone.[/font]

 

I've met about a dozen people from message boards over the past six years, including webmaster Dave, who is a really cool guy, BTW.

 

RubySera is on my little list of people I'd like to meet in person, as are some others on this forum.

[R. S. Martin]

So we've got one person in Florida, and another in Washington state. Lots of geography in between. But there is no doubt we're all as real as they get. Glad to see the good response to this thread. Maybe one day we'll actually meet someone.[/font]

 

I've met about a dozen people from message boards over the past six years, including webmaster Dave, who is a really cool guy, BTW.

 

RubySera is on my little list of people I'd like to meet in person, as are some others on this forum.

 

Wellll, thanks, Celt Cat. I think I'm more interesting on the internet than in person. If you're good at striking up a deep conversation it might work.

[Lizard]

I've had those thoughts before. When I first found message boards, no one seemed "real" to me. Time went on, and I've made some wonderful friends..some face to face, some on the phone and some through IM..

 

Yep..I'm real too. Middleaged school cafeteria manager in Texas..well..that's not really who I am. That's what I do. The middle aged..yeah, that's right..

 

I'm a real person, with a real life and part of that life is here..on the net.

 

And, I do have conversations in person often like I do here..I guess I help it "come up"..of course, most people I know physically..well, they think I'm odd with my other thoughts, but most have come to accept that's who I am.

[R. S. Martin]

Yep..I'm real too. Middleaged school cafeteria manager in Texas..well..that's not really who I am. That's what I do. The middle aged..yeah, that's right..

 

I'm middle-aged, too, as are some other folks here. No need to apologize, in my opinion. And for a good five years I supervised an elementary lunchroom and playground--K-5 is what we had at the time. It was in the 80s, just before junior kindergarten got started. Those are pleasant memories.

 

I was there as an Old Order Mennonite and most of the kids were general society or not visible religious group. One day a little girl started chatting to me about something she saw on TV. Suddenly she stopped herself and asked, "Do you have TV?" I said, "No."

 

Then, as if her eyes opened for the first time, she asked, "Are you a Mennonite?"

 

I answered in the affirmative and asked, "What did you think I was?"

 

"Just a PERson," she replied, as though that were the most natural thing in the world.

 

That made me feel so GOOD. Sometimes I felt a bit out of place and I wondered how the kids saw me with my dark dress and black bonnet, but I loved the work. Knowing that this little lass saw me as just an ordinary person--well, maybe that was one time when I knew I was real.

[Mikefight]

I am on myspace too. Search for magic2c at gmail d0t com

[Purple]

I may be more real online than off. Offline, in meat world as Kevin so poetically puts it, I rarely discuss my poly relationship. I also rarely discuss my unbelief. I'm pretty quiet and just firmly believe in the MIB school of blend in. MIB?? Men in Black, yes the movie. Not my fave movie, but that is how I have always been, be invisable, and you get away with anything. How are you invisable? Be what people expect to see. Online thuogh, I tend to not hide as much.

[R. S. Martin]

I may be more real online than off. Offline, in meat world as Kevin so poetically puts it, I rarely discuss my poly relationship. I also rarely discuss my unbelief. I'm pretty quiet and just firmly believe in the MIB school of blend in. MIB?? Men in Black, yes the movie. Not my fave movie, but that is how I have always been, be invisable, and you get away with anything. How are you invisable? Be what people expect to see. Online thuogh, I tend to not hide as much.

 

Yep, I know you're real, Purple. If you said you are not shy I would have had second thoughts. I know avatars can be misleading but your's looks exactly like you describe yourself. Shy. Hiding. Invisible. But I'll bet you know your mind and won't let anyone walk over you, huh?

[Purple]

I may be more real online than off. Offline, in meat world as Kevin so poetically puts it, I rarely discuss my poly relationship. I also rarely discuss my unbelief. I'm pretty quiet and just firmly believe in the MIB school of blend in. MIB?? Men in Black, yes the movie. Not my fave movie, but that is how I have always been, be invisable, and you get away with anything. How are you invisable? Be what people expect to see. Online thuogh, I tend to not hide as much.

 

Yep, I know you're real, Purple. If you said you are not shy I would have had second thoughts. I know avatars can be misleading but your's looks exactly like you describe yourself. Shy. Hiding. Invisible. But I'll bet you know your mind and won't let anyone walk over you, huh?

 

 

I can if need be stand up for myself. I can also have a serious temper. When my oldest was three my husband threw up his arms looked at me after having a discussion about bed time with our daughter and said, great, now, I can't win an argument in this house with ANYONE, even if I know I'm right.

 

Oh and although thinner than me I think my avatar looks kind of like me.

 

 

[

[LadyFeline]

I'm real.

 

Real weird, that is

 

...but, yeah, I'm real, too.

[Piprus]

I'm not real. I'm actually just an anonymous proxy server executing a program written years ago by a long dead hacker who had a thing for H.L. Mencken.