Working Out Sometimes Causes My Brain To Get Sudden Bursts Of Oxygen I Guess...

[SPKrazy]

Meh, so it's a little boring, it makes one feel better, right?

Anyway, I start thinking about all the things that I try to avoid thinking about most of the time, and they rattle around and clink and clank and so on...

Then I realized some things that puzzle me, or maybe not so much really... I was reading an article the other day about the internet, it was really an editorial in Discover magazine, and it talked about how the author thought that some of the "mean" or "nasty" things that people say to others on the internet may be the result of the history of how the internet was built and who the builders were. Here is the link:
http://discovermagazine.com/2007/mar/jarons-world-internet-and-the-war-on-drugs/?searchterm=jaron's%20world

I offer no snips from it, but feel free to read it and agree/disagree with my interpretation and thoughts generated by the article.

The idea being that the developers of the internet came from different areas, the defense department, academia, and silicon valley geeks who were fearful of the government because of drug use :rofl: okay that one got me laughing a bit. Anyway, the idea that did get me to thinking more about this is the recent Skinner thread about the lounge, and the perception that there is drama and there are problems, and things like that.

Some things in my personal life grafted themselves onto those thoughts and ideas and I realize that the internet, for better or worse, is in FACT A PART of my life. It isn't my life, but it is a part of it. So, is the person I portray on the internet really me? Or am I the d00d in real life that portrays a father, husband, worker, taxpayer, liberal, etc., or are all of these persona's the same? Or are they parts of one entity, me? (getting a little too heavy for a Saturday afternoon.)

So I think about some of my own personal drama... having someone that I didn't want to read my posts on DU reading my posts on DU for months and comparing the DU me, with her perceptions of the me she knows and wondering where the two diverge and re-merge since there appears to be some disparity between the two.

Are we more vicious online because of anonymity? Is viciousness at times an expression of what we really think? Do we express displeasure with our lives online because we need to see how it feels to have the opportunity to do that?
Why are we (me) comfortable with the idea that the anonymity (not true either) makes it "safe" to disclose things we wouldn't? Or are we trying (me again) to be "cool" or to fit in a realm that has no real rules for who we are or have to be.

I had a discussion of sorts with a friend about how she and someone she was involved with had both been on a message board together, at the invitation of one to join. The thing that was amazing was that she said that this person described themselves and interacted in such a way as to be completely different than the person that my friend knew. So even when there is known to be two people who are on a message board community together, the person who knew them outside saw a different persona online than they knew in real life.

So once again, is the persona online more accurate if it is different from the real life persona in terms of describing the hidden inner life that person has? Or do we judge who a person really is by their actions in real life. Is posting and interacting with others online also not a part of "real life".

These are all things that I'm busy stirring around in my head, and will probably not be so much after I post this because it is after all, the result of oxygen in the brain and by now I'm once again back to my near hypoxic state :P

So feel free to read, not read, reply, not reply, whatever... It is just some thoughts I've had today and I wonder if others think in such ways as to be what is probably no more than mental masturbation (had to get masturbation into the post somehow :evilgrin:)


:hi:


What do you think?

:shrug:

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[billyskank]

1. Dude, you ARE the lounge

Every post I see is either by you or datasuspect. :P

[SPKrazy]

2. No, I'm Not The Lounge

unless everyone here is in me or in my head...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyp5we2ySDo

[KitchenWitch]

31. *sniff*

[SPKrazy]

32. Yeah, You ARE THE LOUNGE!

geez

:rofl:

[KitchenWitch]

33. ...

:rofl:

And also with you!

:rofl:

[bridgit]

3. it's no less a RL component than buying stamps at the post office...

my question may/would be: how much more likely are some to utilize the internet in ways that others would not abide by face to face, simply in that to do so (utilize the internet in ways that others would not abide by face to face) from within a form of silicon immunity makes that brand of behavior easier to...publish?

swag posted an interesting article a while back regarding the internet and people's relationship to it, perhaps he'll drop it in for us; but it seems a clinical term has been developed :shrug:

i am not a 'loose' woman IRL, i'm just not...party yeah that's fine & dandy :toast: :party: :beer: :headbang:

but is it better for me to present myself as though i am on the internet? would i have more cyber-friends?

[SPKrazy]

5. I think that some use it that way

the seeming anonymity of the internet makes it easy to forget that you are talking to real people unless you have relationships with those people at some level. I think of Yahoo message boards and my gawdess they are so out of control that it is unbelievable. I've had my life literally threatened there because I posted something anti b*sh, it was not a direct threat, but a i'll run liberals off the road with my big assed suv threat. when i responded to it is when it became personal in the attacks. now i suspect that a person would not do that in real life. I've seen some things lately that were locked on du here that were akin to calling out, would a person do that in a large forum of real life people, like walk into a room and start screaming at them? some might, but most would do it privately.
then there are those that would tell someone something privately that was intimidating and then that person might share that with someone else and somehow before one knows it--it seems to have a life of it's own. That happens in real life and on the internets.

so i'm not a "loose" person either, i am a flirt in real life, although it is somehow with the icons and all more calculated here?

Do our online personas ever become our real life personas? Someone posted a while back that they thought that there experiences on DU had made them feel more "open" about their own sexuality... interesting notion.

:pals:

[bridgit]

9. oh sure, fun is fun, what young, or old fuddy duddy doesn't want to have fun...

so long as it is fun i suppose and without getting into one person's fun being another person's trauma event, trash/treasure and so forth...

it is likely to my greater advantage that i come here not for two things in particular, 1) existential validation, and 2) to express my sexuality; nor illicit it, nor scam for or on it, nor seek that others do so for my benefit, no...i still view DU as a liberal/progressive political site & message board but maybe i do maybe i have it all wrong

i, as i've mentioned previous, post at 3 other sites but they are trades, career, union based and so these games are simply not played...though i will mention that some people were banned over The Secret Santa Program

:wow: The Secret Santa Program!!!, yeah watch out for us we're a saucy bunch of cyber-desperadoes :rofl:

"it seems to have a life of it's own" are words to be cast in cyber-stone, my friend; though while you're chipping away chip these too,

'Players only love you when they're playing' :hi:

[SPKrazy]

10. okay ya lost me a little, but here goes:

having been through what is a cyber wringer in terms of having someone take some action totally out of context and then turn around and cyber threaten (or promise as they said) me, I do know that this is a medium that cannot be controlled, and that not everyone takes it as a forum that is first and foremost a place for like minded individuals (liberals and democrats) to go to to exchange ideas. Of course this is the lounge, and in the lounge apparently a lot of things take place. I've had things come through my PM that were unsolicited and surprising to say the least. Would the same thing happen in real life? Maybe? Maybe not? People feel they can post threads that are directed at someone in particular, and veil them enough that only the one(s) who are involved know what that's even about.

Don't think you have a monopoly or a knowledge of a monopoly on people taking your life and your thought and trashing them around. That happens everywhere, it happens to me. It has happened to me.

:hi:

it is true that players only love you when your playing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVuhWA8EVMo

and a life of it's own is an interesting thing because to have that life, there have to be nurturers that tend to those things :shrug:
(on edit)

[bridgit]

11. that's the one = when the rain washes you clean you'll know, darlin...

the inference there for me is that you will need to be standing out in it for that to even occur i.e. RL,

have you just referred to allegory here, "People feel they can post threads that are directed at someone in particular, and veil them enough that only the one(s) who are involved know what that's even about."

if so then i agree in that i'm always glad when there are allot of 'things' that aren't taking place in the lounge, always more thankful when the lounge is what i remember it to be even though i have been dragged about by my hair by people considered masters at the art of such things...that only seems now part of understanding 'the lingo', not that i do

"Don't think you have a monopoly or a knowledge of a monopoly on people taking your life and your thought and trashing them around."

me? a monopoly? no. but i know what i know, that info is mine, it is bought & paid for dearly with tears, broken bones, and in some case' blood; so that now...when it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, shits like a duck, and eats popcorn in the park like a duck i am more than prepared to stipulate that it it a duck ;)

the internet doesn't break people's hearts, people break people's hearts i hear you saying & agree

[SPKrazy]

26. No allegory there

that shit happens here...threads with a "message" for someone in particular.

veiled and shrouded in ways that only those involved know about it.

I've seen them and have known just enough or were informed by someone to check it out, and sure enough, there it was.

I agree you have to be out in the rain to get wet, and that means you have to live life, to really live it-and to be washed clean you have to be there too.

:hi:

[bridgit]

37. sure, i hear you...

i've seen them, seen them do a fly-by too when i don't "get them", many others seeking purposeful replies from specific folks (nothing wrong with that imo prolly nothing wrong with any of it till someone gets burnt, "Oooh, Baby, no-no!! Hot! Hot!")), know of some, clued in as to others...some...requiring specific knowledge & background to make an attempt to understand the sorrow the drama, etc...some with hurt laced all about,

and that is what i think is able to thread back into your questions:

"Are we more vicious online because of anonymity? Is viciousness at times an expression of what we really think? Do we express displeasure with our lives online because we need to see how it feels to have the opportunity to do that? Why are we comfortable with the idea that the anonymity (not true either) makes it "safe" to disclose things we wouldn't?"

you better believe it's possible, and i would suggest you to early experiments were it was found that the guy/gal next door would be more likely to electro-zap their neighbors if & when their faces were hidden, hooded, or their identities protected, sad but there is part of it imo: the downside to an anonymity in a state of moral drift, there was even a Simpson's episode on the subject as i recall

[SPKrazy]

40. Oh I agree that viciousness is not only possible, it happens with

regularity. The idea that people use anonymity to cloak their identity to express "true" feelings is one that is less clear.

I mean say I hate rabbits. But I don't express hatred for rabbits in real life because most people like the furry little critters. But then I get the chance online and post a message about how rabbits are taking over the world because they literally "screw like rabbits" and soon they will overtake all other animals on the planet due to restrictions on hunting and elimination of their natural predators.

Then someone replies with oh bullshit, rabbits are our friends too, just ask Bugs.

and the back and forth continues until someone is threatening the other.

There are some very dangerous things that have happened where people have been stalked, threatened, and harrassed because of their internet activities and writings. Bloggers for example have hordes of haters, and lovers of their writing.

Look at our wonderful Ava, she was reading the hate email she gets on a call in conference call and it was horrific to see how people treated this sweet young, energetic and idealistic lady!

Now the other part of the anonymity of the internets that is dangerous? or not? but at least opens up the door for expression of hatred and viciousness that was maybe not there before. That is e-mail, chatrooms, private messages, etc. Didn't Yahoo stop their chat function because of the problems they were having there? I may be wrong on that one.

At any rate, when threats go underground, become "private" so to speak, does that make them no longer "private"? In my mind it does. If someone sends me something that I deem is in some way threatening you can damned sure bet your bottom dollar that I will be sharing it with someone. I may ask for feedback from other members of a message board to see what they think, how they perceive it to be. I may notify administrators of this piece of information if it is more clearly a true physical threat.

anyway I think you and I agree on principle here and i understand where you are coming from better now.

:pals:

[bridgit]

43. Mr. Bunny says, "Yay!"

Level 42 - Lessons In Love

there was a time when i suffered both fools & threats, hoping they would just go away, i don't do that anymore...feel free as always to pm me whenever you may care to

:hug:

[SPKrazy]

44. ...

and the same goes for you!

:hug:

[bridgit]

48. very well, you wouldn't share them with a cadre of supporters...

that would just as soon see me under a bus, be honest, cause that happens too :rofl:

[SPKrazy]

49. I have my own

cadre of supporters friend

some of whom apparently would like to see pick axes buried in my car, or me even but that's water under the bridge

I have no one that i'd like to see harmed in any way shape or form. I'm basically a guy that might get mad, then get over it.

yes, the world, like the worm, has turned and we are supposed to find our place in it, or something.... :shrug:

[swag]

58. Disinhibition?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=6217760

Related to this, I met the co-author of "Send" the other day, "The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home." David Shipley is also the Op Ed page Editor for the New York Times. I asked him if he had that job when Joe Wilson's famous piece appeared. We had a fun, if brief discussion about that.

Thanks for mentioning my handle, bridgit.

[SPKrazy]

59. I would guess there is definitely an element of disinhibition

that occurs online.

the perceived lack of consequences, the dehumanizing of the party on the other end of the electron road, etc.

add to that posting while intoxicated and I bet most of the problems of the internet lie therein when it comes to bad behavior anyway.

[bridgit]

67. yes there it is & thank *you*, swag, for being so level-headed...

prescient & kind :hi:

[bicentennial_baby]

4. I'm the same 'me' here as I am anywhere else...

I mean sure, y'all don't get my deepest, darkest secrets, or even the very important details of my life (well, not anymore :eyes:). But me, I'm just who I am, no more, no less. Yeah, I'm sweet, I'm a bitch, I'm flirty, I'm evil, etc. etc....And that's just who I be. :)

[SPKrazy]

6. and that is likely true to a great degree

the interesting thing would be to meet you and see if the persona that you project (not the one you feel you project) is the same as the one you project in real life-- not just with you, but with anyone.

we all think we come across one way, but in real life our messages are often misunderstood, or people hear what they want to hear, so despite what we think we said, others heard what they in a sense wanted to hear us say or expected us to say.

online, that is an even more nebulous notion, isn't it?

:shrug:

[bicentennial_baby]

7. To a degree yes, but

I find I get myself across better via the written word more than the spoken, save for the occasional really perfect speech/lecture I can give to select persons. Most people find me to be the same in person... :shrug:

I'll have more thoughts later...going out for a bit. :)

:*

(toe wiggle to you!)

[SPKrazy]

8. i am also able

to express myself better via the written word often, although i'm not bad in the spoken word. i don't know i most people would find me the same in person as i don't now in person anyone from here... it would be interesting...

;)

[BarenakedLady]

12. That's a really interesting question.

I don't know if my internet persona is vastly different than my "in real life" persona. The biggest difference is that I'm very shy when first meeting someone. Here, there isn't that issue. You all (internet folk) get to meet the 'real' me (flirty, sarcastic, mildly humerous, and yes...depressed) far faster than you would if you met me in real life. In fact, you probably wouldn't get to know me at all. I tend to come across as 'unapproachable' when really I'm just a social phobic. The sad reality is, if I didn't have the internet, I would be very lonely indeed.

[SPKrazy]

15. Wow--That Is Unreal-- I Relate To That In A Way

that is like totally and truly "that's me". I am shy, a socially phobic person, and the internet allows for all of that to be background noise as opposed to being the things that are out there in front. I mean in your case, who wouldn't want to know a "barenaked lady", especially I suppose a d00d like me. :P, Seriously though, what you said makes sense to me in a way that it explains my own internet self, and involvement like I am not sure anyone else ever has. :hug:

Now the real me comes out with people I'm comfortable with: teasing, flirty, funny, and like you also depressed, and anxious.

People have said to me that they thought I was "stuck up", when in reality it was instead that I was fearful and phobic. Now that person is not gone, but less likely to be leading with the fear thing, but the internet persona isn't led by the fear thing at all!

I am totally excited about this.

:pals:

[BarenakedLady]

22. Social anxiety ain't fun

Sorry that you can relate. :pals:

[SPKrazy]

25. No, it isn't fun at all

and yes I relate all too well

I used to go grocery shopping late late at night because no one would be there

i am not nearly that dysfunctional in my life today, but that is still there as part of my charm i guess

sorry you relate too :pals:

[lildreamer316]

13. I kinda deal with this all the time at work.

I haven't been there in awhile,but someone the other night asked me...are you a totally different person at work?
I don't think I am. I emphasize parts of my personality, and am more of certain things than I am usually;but it is all ME. I can't NOT be me. I am usually honest if a customer asks me a direct question; but I use my judgement.
I like my work because it allows me to express parts of myself I usually rein in; but none of these things are bad or harmful; just .....brazen; outward.

So, it's all me. I use work as a tool for personal expression and growth. I guess you could see your internet personality as the same thing.

But, I'm not you. :7

[SPKrazy]

16. Hmmmm, I don't know...

wait, you're right, you aren't me :rofl:

Okay, I also do that in my work. I do different work than you do, but I will tell you that I certainly have a work persona that is able to be someone that is more of an expression of a different part of me, as the internet is I suppose.

I can be a "role" at work, people have an expectation there and I can easily do things in that role that are harder for me to do personally. Take for instance.. public speaking. I can speak and do presentations and express myself well more easily at work than I've been able to do speaking to large groups of people for other reasons. However, I see more congruity there in my life, than I did at one time.

Interesting thoughts lil dreamer!

thanks

:pals:

[S n o w b a l l]

14. I don't feel it's possible to know someone based on

their posts on a public message board. I sure hope someone wouldn't judge me based solely on the drivel I post here. We are way too complex to be judged that way but we all do it. If we think deeper though, I think we all know that what we're perceiving as whiney, bitchy, boring, flirty, trivial, etc. is only a small part of the person and may just be a reflection of their moods or stage in their life right now.

A year ago I wasn't sitting here on a Fri or Sat night drinking wine and posting on DU for social interaction. I've been in a personal slump bordering on depression and that's the part of me you're seeing. In no way does that define me in real life. I also work every day, have real life friends and family that know me and know this about me, but they see the good side too. So what you're seeing is a small glimpse of me...which I believe is true of everyone.

So I belive it's too simplistic to say...yes, I am the same here as in real life. Not that we're dishonest or trying to portray ourselves to be something we're not, but we're all way too complex to define ourselves & be defined by our interactions here.

That's all...:)


:hi:

[SPKrazy]

17. That's a good Response

and did you know you are THREE AWAY FROM 1000 POSTS! :woohoo:

Now to your post: indeed we are way more complex than our posting here can indicate. I'm thinking that we still do formulate ideas about people here that are likely to be wrong based on the fact that it is human nature to use our "judgment" to guide us. So we make judgments based on incomplete information as you have stated and that is something that happens in real life as well. On the internets it happens with a much less complete picture than people have in real life. There are also instances of people bonding on the internet and through it's associated communications forms that would never bond or be unlikely to bond in real life.

But you are right, we are all way too complex to be defined by our interactions here. We are also way too complex to be defined by our interactions in many situations yet here, and in those situations, we are.

amazing...

:hi:

:D

[S n o w b a l l]

19. ...

Wow, I'm gonna be a respected DU member! :rofl: Do you get fireworks at 1,000?

:)

[SPKrazy]

20. Sure, fireworks...

:eyes:

just look out your window when you hit 1000 and they will be there.

If not, email the admins.

:rofl:

[YellowRubberDuckie]

18. I always like reading your posts because you break them up and they're easy to read....

That said, how much did you smoke this weekend?! :evilgrin:

[SPKrazy]

21. None...

I am only halfway or a little more through the weekend though.

however i don't anticipate any weed smoking or any other such thing :shrug:


I am a tad overly existentially thinking at the moment, even after a nap, I find myself posing the "why" questions a lot today.

That in and of itself can be more confusing than weed. :silly: for me

[YellowRubberDuckie]

23. Yeah....I think weed might just make you normal.

[SPKrazy]

24. No, It Made Me

paranoid sometimes

but mostly it just made me thirsty

I liked it when I'd been drinking a lot, but by itself, not so much

:hi:

[zingaro]

27. I think I'm WYSISYG.

This fact is backed by all the people I've met online then irl.

I do know others for whom this doesn't hold true but they're few and far between. Even those who are shy or socially phobic usually seem like themselves to me. There have been a couple of real oddballs who were completely different but those were the ones who ended up to be so unstable that maintaining a friendship became impossible after a while.

But you? I bet you're the same. I bet I could sit down with you and have a conversation without a moment's awkwardness.

:hug:

Now, yes, I do think that some people use the internet like a cloak of invisibility and do and say not so nice things. However, I really do think (or maybe I just choose to believe) that those people are few and far between. :)

[SPKrazy]

28. And you...

I can see would also be someone to sit down and talk with and it would be like we knew each other already!

:hug:

thanks

[GoddessOfGuinness]

29. Without the benefit of body language and inflection,

it's impossible to honestly judge what a person's intent is.

[SPKrazy]

30. Even with those things

some people are pretty tricky...

an odd thing that i find, is that sometimes i can "feel" something about the trustworthiness of a person to a degree by their writing and something else that is undefinable by me on the internet.

maybe i'm delusional, but it seems that way.

:shrug:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

56. It stands to reason that we could eventually develop a sense

that would allow us to do that, just as we're able to read body language and inflection.

[SPKrazy]

57. But that would mean evolution

but possibly that ability already exists in us, or some of us, or maybe again, I'm just delusional :P

I agree with you.

Some are better at reading body language and inflection too.

:hi:

[crim son]

34. An interesting post.

I think what we are online is real, but it isn't our entire being and in fact may represent only a small fraction of the whole. When I read the posts of somebody I know in life, I can hear them talking and I recognize their personality in the written word. But I also notice a formality in speech and the presentation of ideas that isn't always there IRL. You can't edit IRL.

My personal belief is that despite some protestations, we present here what we want others to see, for whatever reason. Maybe sometimes we aren't even aware that we're doing it. But then, isn't that the way most human interactions are?

[SPKrazy]

35. I Agree That Aspects

of ourselves are not easily discarded no matter what we do, so therefore it would be impossible not to be presenting a persona online that is a part of who we are.

It is funny how a person's personality does carry over into their writing. there may be rules for proper grammar and writing, but style is everything.

good points

thanks

:hi:

[crim son]

36. Laughing.

Are you going to write a book?

:hug:

[SPKrazy]

38. not tonight

but sometime i will, at some point I will be compelled to write some tripe so that I can say that I wrote a book. It is the can/will you surpass your elders thing. Both of my parents have now written books, albeit not ones that are going to sell anywhere, but nonetheless books. Well my dad did write a textbook or maybe two in his life. Mostly the books that have been written are genealogy books on my family. :boring:

Even in those books, I imagine someone can hear my dad or my mother's voice. My mother wrote a book or the bare bones manuscript of it on her experiences living in the Czech Republic with my father during their trips there to teach English to the villagers of Rokytnice in Sudetenland in the Czech Republic. It is interesting, but probably not to someone that doesn't or rather didn't know my mother.

Maybe I'll write a book on these posts tonight. LOL

:pals:

[crim son]

39. That is really cool.

You are clearly able to write. I love your soccer game descriptions as well as most of the stuff you post, even when you're half-dead from exhaustion. You'll write it, I bet.

[SPKrazy]

41. With luck, work, inspiration, and a topic

I suspect that I will.

I don't have the confidence in my abilities that you seem to have, but I appreciate your approval. thanks :hug:

[Left Is Write]

42. I am the same person on the internet that I am in "real life."

I try to avoid be vicious at any time, online or not.

Sometimes I get irritated, and it shows in my posts. Sometimes I'm having a bad day, and it shows in my posts. But just as in real flesh-and-blood interactions, I mean what I say and I try to be polite. Just as in real life, I'm not always successful.

Just as in real life, some people online know me better than others. For example, Pacifist Patriot and I go back several years, prior to our joining DU. We've spoken on the phone, exchanged letters, and participated on other forums. I expect she knows me better than many other DUers, just as several here are friends "in real life" and interact offline.

I do think, though, that the anonymity of the internet may push people into confrontations or more brutal frankness than they might otherwise not allow themselves.

[bridgit]

45. i think it enables people to play with the emotions of other as well

the anonymity that is, and i don't like seeing that; people being played with like bugs :(

[SPKrazy]

51. Nope

that is cruel

and inhuman

and one of the dangers of this challenge that the internets bring us.

[bridgit]

54. if by "nope" you also mean 'not cool' then we agree...

this internet is at the present time open to the public, as we are able to see from reading the headlines of newspapers, however, 'the public' harbors contentious persona's,

contentious, usury, or predatory persona's are able to cyber-sidle on up beside folks just trying to be free, express themselves, or talk about the joys of this & that, a position, a candidate, giggle, laugh and WHAMMO!!

like my hubby says, "That's where the dumb meet the smart." or the cunning meet the innocent is what i say...

i've been stalked IRL and suffered heinous events thereby, i'm not about to run down the tick-list; but people that have seen me post about it in years gone past, like my Dear Sugar Smack (please come back, honey...please :cry:) might be able to confirm the following,

even a trap-door-spider has a stratagem, nobody wants to be caught on the wrong end of stupid...but some are working that angle routinely, and so they are just better at it,

as the internet offers us all an avenue to learn, it does so for they so inclined to harm as well sadly, or think that life is but a joke

[SPKrazy]

55. nope as in i don't like people playing with others like bugs or otherwise...

the cunning meet the innocent, the dumb meet the smart, the naive meet the streetwise, the sadly damaged meet the happy childhooded ones.

yes, the internet is no place for someone who isn't on their toes and many lessons, as in all life, are hard learned on the internet.

Guarding the heart is a good one. Never assume that you are anonymous. Never say things unless you have very good reasons to trust the other that you wouldn't want posted on the message board. Watch what you post if you are intoxicated. Remember that a relationship on the internet cannot be more than an introduction to a larger one and that to think that one can form a romantic involvement on the internet without other contact is not possible.

Many many others ... certainly don't give out personal information that you don't feel safe giving out. don't give out contact information unless you are at a point of trusting the person a LOT.

Finally, I agree, the internet offers us all avenues to learn, and even to learn to harm. It offers those who would harm avenues to do that as well. With free speech comes responsibility. On the internet we have to take the stand of being accountable to ourselves for free speech and the ensuing responsibility that goes with it.

Yes, we agree bridgit on your question. we probably agree on many things. i am not one of the people who come here to harm others. sometimes others are harmed in everyday life unintentionally as well as by those that are diabolical and use them for their own purposes. sometimes those diabolical ones may even use others to harm yet still others.

my lesson in all of this is simple. guard your heart. practice agape love first. be real and don't make promises you can't keep.

[cwydro]

60. I agree. People can

really be more predatory on the net. No visual cues to give them away.
I will say that I am getting more astute at recognizing certain types.

[SPKrazy]

61. Is that why you blocked me?

:rofl:


heya, I guess you didn't die from a heart attack eh?

:hi:

[cwydro]

62. Nah, it was so rough that

we stayed close in. Didn't go far at all. We just did rolls and stuff, practicing capsizing and getting back in. Had a lot of fun. Sunburned now though.

Been trying to change my damn avatar for an hour now. Why am I so inept?

[SPKrazy]

63. I don't know...

why are you so inept? :wtf:

as if...

what are you changing it to?

:shrug:

[cwydro]

64. it is just this pretty little gif

that I like.

[SPKrazy]

66. Well I can't help you there

if it ain't on the avvie list, I've never been able to upload it

[SPKrazy]

46. I think your last sentence is a truism

It's neat that you have friends here that are RL friends as well and I feel I do too.

I do agree that the anonymity is something that makes people feel less inhibited in confrontations. In fact there is almost a culture created by the media (all forms) to think that politics=confrontation and that the more nuanced things like backroom deals, and glad handing are much more often the way that political pressure is applied and things are done. Not much gets accomplished by yelling at your opponent except that the base is riled up and they may send money saying "yeah go get 'em tiger" which seems silly when tiger and lion are probably sitting over drinks laughing off their feaux rage and yelling at each other.

but that tirade, rage, and idea slinging carries over to the internet where people sometimes think that if I can overwhelm them with facts, links, or even ad hominem attacks, that I will change their mind.

Then you get the phenomenon of so called "paid posters" like you see on things like Yahoo where you get a gang mentality coming at you.

That is what happens often on the internets I think. The danger is that when we look at such things historically, we see that the country of Germany took very little time to become a fascist state and support the extermination of dissenters. What-- SPK that's a leap isn't it? Only in the sense that the internet is a great way to form mob mentalities. Look at that giant one on the website that cannot be named FR. I'm sure they say look at DU. There is that risk of group think that pervades any political idea site.

The hope is as I see it, that some form of civility will be enforced by our admins and mods, that we rise above our differences.

[Left Is Write]

47. Any political site will have its ideologues, extremists and group-thinkers.

I have been on at least a couple of forums that imploded in part due to perceptions of group think.

My hope is that we can all learn something from each other. I know that I personally have been able to shift my own perceptions and see things from someone else's angle here, and I have changed my mind on some issues because of that.

[SPKrazy]

50. Yes, You Do Agree With Me Now On Most Things...

of course my guess is that you did before. I just noticed reading some of your posts that "hey, LIW agrees with me, I must have influenced her without even having to try" :P

[Left Is Write]

52. You Svengali you.

[SPKrazy]

53. Yes, Mind control

that's me :evilgrin:

[billyskank]

65. I have never got the impression that you are irritated

You are the most level and even person I know on DU, I think.