Zwuh
One thing you can always count on is that people online lie. A lot. :roll:

YOU LIE!

well i'm not lieing i really do talk about death, destruction, chaos alot.

i really do wear a hoodie in the heat and drink at home.

Comic artists typically do have "piss poor" social skills. At least stereotypically. Therefore it stands to reason that people who are amature comic artists would have even less social skills.

We're like a subculture of piss poor socialites. If there was no such thing as the Internet, we wouldn't know others existed, and we'd be forced to develope social skills.

Someone should write a very esoteric book on how the Internet relates to the formation of subcultures that didn't exist in a pre-technologically saturated world.

well my lack of social skills comes from AS actually it's more of a hates to be around much of anyone.

also i hate light, well any form of light i perfer darkness.

ccs1989
Someone should write a very esoteric book on how the Internet relates to the formation of subcultures that didn't exist in a pre-technologically saturated world.

Very, very true. The internet has made the world infinitely smaller, and has brought people together in ways never previously thought possible.

~IJ

It could be called "The World Is Small, Flat, and Filled With Porn".

This reminds me of one little experiment where I "returned" to one of the forums as a completely different person, basically me being truely honest. The result wasn't so pleasing. I manage to kill one sprite comic which really deserve to be killed.

I first complained about having only one crap-assed comic in a thread that goes as long as 3 pages filled with sprite bullshit and here's what I get.

Electrosquare (Me)
Three absolutely wasted pages, you mean? I'm sorry. But that's just plain sad..

Here's the first response. I expected nothing less from this bastard.

Tarantula1711
Oh boy, another Dan.

Then I made the following reply.

Electrosquare (Me)
Oh boy, the person who has inspired Dan. You gonna inspire me, too?

I don't even cuss and here's what I get.

Tarantula1711
You're just asking for a flame war, dude.

Skip a couple of whatever's and I make another reply, using 0.1% of my hostility.

Electrosquare (Me)
I'm not asking for flame war. I'm asking you to leave my comments alone. I heard that you like to shoot your mouth off on any comments that doesn't say "lol this comic is teh awsome!"

I broke one of the very basic steps of creating the flame war; flaming first. Now, don't consider "I heard that you like to shoot your mouth off on any comments that doesn't say 'lol this comic is teh awsome!'" a flame since this is a very true statement. Do you see any fuck you's anywhere? I try not to say that line since that makes me look very stupid.
This is probably one of the nicest comments anyone has ever given to me.

Vasilij
ElectroSquare, cut the bullshit! We dont want any flamers here!
If you like to flame and spam and make people pissed of, then leave
and search after another forum. Or if you continue this an admin or mod
will take care of you by banning you, sounds tasty right? So cut the shit out!
And i mean it!

Ooh, I'm scared. He doesn't even have any mod powers and yet he means it. He gets a golden No Shit, Sherlock! Trophy.
He now refuses to take ANY of my suggestions. Talk about discrimination.

Well, that's the end of my experiment. I still hang around, posting my works no one gives a shit about. I still gather some information on it, so one day I'd be able to kill the entire forum. Yes, I hate the forum that much. Why? Does "Sprite Wars" mean anything to you? This place has one of the worst communities ever.

Yes, I lie a whole lot about my true feelings online. Honesty and online were never a good combination.

ccs1989
It could be called "The World Is Small, Flat, and Filled With Porn".

A-men.

i hide my true self for a reason, well on anywhere but wrongplanet because no one chews you out for being a little depressed or having different or obsessive intrests, believe me i know several people on that site that got ripped up and thrown out.

edit: typos

Imma loser in the forums AND a loser in real life, too!!! Imma monkey! :D

I open up way way way too easily online, and way way way too honestly. Like, to a ridiculous fault. I thought it used to have to do with the relative anonymity of the internet, but I now I realize it's just because of that buffer of typing, because I open up more readily to my real life friends when I'm online, anyway. It's a matter of rehearsing and revising what I say before I say it, because I tend to bumble a lot when I talk in real life. Thinking back, all of my "good friends" are close to me because we got each other's screen names and bonded typographically.

suzi
I open up way way way too easily online, and way way way too honestly.

I'm the exact opposite of that, actually. I've been on DD for a couple of years (before the whole crash) and I pretty much encouraged people to think I was a guy. You just never know what's out there on the internet.

But if I meet someone face to face, I open up nearly instantaneously. It's almost creepy, since people say I tend to act like you're my best friend even if I have no idea who you are. Maybe people are intimidated by it. I just like to think of myself as really outgoing.

equinox
...try being the big guy with long hair and a bright purple shirt who doesn't talk to anyone. Everyone thought I was gonna columbine the fucking school or something.

when you first put that picture up, I actually did kinda think you looked like you would....not necessarily columbine up the fucking school but maybe something less extreme.

It's not that you're big or that your hair is particularly long or anything though, I think it's more the lack of a smile and your eyes are sort of dark. Er, you look like you haven't slept much.

I'm sure if you looked like like me they'd just assume you were some stereotypically timid/quiet asian chick....which is what I get a lot for not talking to anyone.

Zwuh
One thing you can always count on is that people online lie. A lot. :roll:

O RLY

ozoneocean
Are people's online personas a good representation of how they are in real life?

When I was doing my post-grad work in interactive multimedia, the Professor of communications theory at my uni seemed to think that it was. That�s interesting, because it would suggest that whatever identity you create, no matter how silly, venal, hilarious, or whatever, is just another aspect of who you really are. So Marine, really is Princess Jen. Not that he�s necessarily female, a drug addict, or homeless, (those details are largely irrelevant), it�s the personality and the attitude that carries across.

maybe.

Maybe one's online persona could be something like a repressed persona. Like its hidden underneath upon layers and layers of plasticity. Its like you are someone else in the real world while online, you are something else.

Like this guy I know who is nice and all... but when he gets online, he likes to troll message boards and post obscenities, racism, and all that shit in order to get attention, annoy people, and get banned.

In a way I suppose you could say that when you talk on the internet you're talking through your soul. You're not limited by anything except your own conscience. That says a lot about someone.

Well, let's see...

It is obvious from my posts that I'm an emotionally detached, socially isolated loner?

And if so, is that all that I am?

If not, then what am I like? Am I the loner, or the kid here?

Great. Now I'm questioning myself.

ccs1989
The internet adds a lot of invulnerablility to one's personality. No one knows, from voice inflection or any other clues, the kind of ego or problems physically someone has by their posts or avatar. The only way to really know what they're like is by reading their posts. However that's not even fullproof.

In many ways the internet shows what people would be like if people all physically looked the same. Talking on the net is like socializing in a communist country.

...Sorta.

This is certainly a valid point- that nobody knows how you truly look, or tends to have mental representations of your appearance from your avatar or what you have previously described yourself as. And yes, just like in any aspect of life and socialising, you do get to peek at someone's personality from their posts.

However, I doubt it that talking on the net is some sort of talking on 'equal terms' just as I doubt it that there was 'equality of citizens' in a communist country. Like in Animal Farm, everyone is equal, but some are more equal that others. What I mean is, that thereare standards (and I am not talking about politeness or etiquette per se) to be met on the net and you are expected to meet them and abide by them from the moment you actually begin to interact- or pretty soon afterwards.

It may not be physical appearance, but even that carries over to the net through many indirect ways (not only the avatars you pick, but also what you say- nobody will openly say 'Next to me, Quasimodo is a beauty queen', even if that is what they believe about themselves). I would not therefore consider it a forum of equality. I would though, consider it a forum of meritocracy- if you got it, you make it. And that alone is saying a lot, since it is not the rule in society in general.

...and I apologise for being long winded. It is just an exciting topic... and I get carried away (which is entirely accurate in my everyday, face to face persona as well ;) )

Tantz Aerine
It may not be physical appearance, but even that carries over to the net through many indirect ways (not only the avatars you pick, but also what you say- nobody will openly say 'Next to me, Quasimodo is a beauty queen', even if that is what they believe about themselves). I would not therefore consider it a forum of equality. I would though, consider it a forum of meritocracy- if you got it, you make it. And that alone is saying a lot, since it is not the rule in society in general.

...and I apologise for being long winded. It is just an exciting topic... and I get carried away (which is entirely accurate in my everyday, face to face persona as well ;) )

That's not long winded... You should have read the reams that Mykill and Finbar would write to each other! So anyway...

The physical appearance thing is always worth revisiting. The net is a bit of a leveler in that regard: 'Beauty' isn't an advantage, 'ugliness' isn't a disadvantage. For that reason I dismissed it as a factor in online personalities, but I was wrong about that. The way we appear can very much affect how we act if we're normally used to people reacting to us based on how we look. It's like Blackby said earlier: people who rely on their looks will find some other way of getting the same form attention during their online interaction. But then I suppose that just goes back to my original contention that offline and online 'selves' are essentially the same.

Again, from my own experience, I look quite distinct and I'm used to people reacting to me in certain ways. It can be disconcerting or even disappointing not to get the same reactions online! :)

But to address you Tantz, I find that meritocracy is always more of a myth, the reality is that things are usually always a popularity contest. You can gain popularity through merit, true, but you can just as easily achieve it through notoriety. And the fact that you actually have popularity usually leads to more popularity regardless of how you achieved it in the first place.

-that was long winded! :)

The internet adds a lot of invulnerablility to one's personality. No one knows, from voice inflection or any other clues, the kind of ego or problems physically someone has by their posts or avatar

Ok lemme see... these might be stupid and inaccurate. just for kicks. lol.

Ozone looks like a potential school shooter. He likes guns and military shit. :)

Tantz likes her coffee. She likes starbucks and tim hortons. If "she" is really a dude, he needs to have his head examined.

Lizard Bite likes red spraypaint and spraying them on black walls... if anyone wants to paint the walls black.


CCS thinks nerds are cool. Whats with the glasses and spiky hair associated with main good guy anime characters?

kyupol
Ozone looks like a potential school shooter. He likes guns and military shit. :)

Yeah, and Ah'm about to hunt you down Kyupol! :p KPOW KPOW KPOW!

kyupol
CCS thinks nerds are cool. Whats with the glasses and spiky hair associated with main good guy anime characters?

No, I actually look like that. Really.

Except with a nose.

And my head isn't a colored ping-pong ball. And the glasses aren't quite that big. And my hair's not quite that spikey. But STILL, with that picture you might be able to recognize me walking down a street.

And I'm yellow, have no white in my eyes or nose. Also I can stab people with my hair.

OH NOES! MY WHOLE LIFE IS UNCOVERED!

ozoneocean
But to address you Tantz, I find that meritocracy is always more of a myth, the reality is that things are usually always a popularity contest. You can gain popularity through merit, true, but you can just as easily achieve it through notoriety. And the fact that you actually have popularity usually leads to more popularity regardless of how you achieved it in the first place.

-that was long winded! :)

That wasn't long winded, either- it was too interesting to read through. I agree with you- popularity is like money: money attracts more money and so on. However, where notoriety is concerned, how do you acquire that in the first place? On the net, at least, you have to have some starting point where you are unknown. How you gain your notoriety is more or less up to you... isn't it?

In any case, it boils down to the same conclusion- where people are involved, the very same patterns occur... and whether the aforementioned people are in the flesh or not is actually irrelevant.

Still, I think you may have a little more chance to achieve a certain level of popularity online. Perhaps not notoriety or a riotous mass of fans, but still... and as an afterthought, I can't help wondering how much you are to keep your popularity (when it's not founded on merit) online, where people are not too tracable and don't feel they will have consequences if they sign out of a 'fan club' or something. Just a thought :)

kyupol

The internet adds a lot of invulnerablility to one's personality. No one knows, from voice inflection or any other clues, the kind of ego or problems physically someone has by their posts or avatar

Ok lemme see... these might be stupid and inaccurate. just for kicks. lol.


Tantz likes her coffee. She likes starbucks and tim hortons. If "she" is really a dude, he needs to have his head examined.

I do not like my coffee. I worship it! I live on it! I thrive because of it! *mad cackle* And 'she' is really a 'she'... but I am intrigued as to why you would suspect me not being so ;)

Oh, and as a p.s.: there is no tim hortons in Greece. But I don't mind Starbucks, if they follow my order and add like 3 spoonfuls of coffee in that watery thing they call cappuccino... yeah.

but I am intrigued as to why you would suspect me not being so

I once used the nickname "mara-nina" with this avatar:



I was uber bored in university between periods and had loads of time masturbating my intelligence on internet forums... and yes I got uber-popular over the local internet forums. My favorite subjects were politics and counter-strike. My posts were riddled with ^.^ and all the other fucking girlie smilies... ^^ ^_^ DXDXDX, etc...


And one day, I was playing counter-strike... and some dude chatted me up and said he wanna have lunch with me. I played along... being the troll I was...

And then, after 30 mins of "flirting", I revealed I'm a guy and he's an idiot for believing I'm a gal.

I heard a scream from somewhere in the room and a furious slam. This was a computer-lan place in Manila, Philippines that has more than 100 computers packed into a large room. Hahaha. It still makes me laugh remembering that.


I liked playing a gal because of the attention it attracts (not cuz I'm gay or cross-dresser or any of that shit). Yeah I'm an ex-attention whore. (or maybe still am... I dont fucking kno)






And................ there's a million of you just like me who cuss like me... dont give a f*k like me... me me me... (*shuts up with the eminem shit*)

kyupol

but I am intrigued as to why you would suspect me not being so

And then, after 30 mins of "flirting", I revealed I'm a guy and he's an idiot for believing I'm a gal.

I heard a scream from somewhere in the room and a furious slam. This was a computer-lan place in Manila, Philippines that has more than 100 computers packed into a large room. Hahaha. It still makes me laugh remembering that.

*laughs* I wish I could have seen that... usually, you don't get to see the other person's reaction. Ah well. Sounds like fun.

On an off note, I didn't know there were smilies that are female and others that are male! ....

....the things one keeps on learning. :)

Well i act pretty much the same online as i do in real life.

But i know a ton of people who are shy as hell but see the keyboard as a way to act out without everyone looking at you so they are a little more comfortable with it.

I try and be myself as much as possible online. But I can say I often will say things I might not say to someones face. ( although it does depend)
If you think about it, nobody really knows who you are or how you look online. So, it kind of sets up as a theater in some ways, allowing many if not all to change themselves to be a person they never could be. ( for one reason or another) So if you're shy because you're not confident about say...your weight or something, online you can see yourself as intimidating, beautiful ext.
Although I kind of see it in a lot of diffrent lights. Not everybody acts the same way and makes the same jokes around certain friends/group of friends. ( I know that's true for me) Same goes for someone you just meet. You aren't going to go up to someone you hardly know and start telling them things about what a brother/sister did or said to you that you found funny. ( poor example I know) But it may be the same basic idea online. For whatever the reason people act diffrenty with diffrent friends, family, moods, where they happen to be physically and mentally at that current point of time. ext.
the same could probobily apply to people who are just overly rude/critical online. They may have a bad home life and have always (for example) been someones lapdog cause they didn't have the nerve to stand up to that person/s. Or just really don't feel too good about themselves in reak life. ( again, an example) So they come off online as a cruel, critical person as a way to feel that they themselves have power too.

Juliechan
the same could probobily apply to people who are just overly rude/critical online. They may have a bad home life

Does this sound like someone you all know???