It's only the internet . . . WTF?

[Amelia G]

It really bothers me when people go out of their way to have an unpleasant interaction and then tell the people they have been unpleasant to that it is only the internet.

News bulletin: We are living in a digital age when more and more people get a significant portion of their human interaction through the internet. Most people interact on the internet with other people, even other people they know in the physical world. If you can't communicate anything meaningful online, then you are pretty much going to be doomed to a superficial life because this is one of the main ways human beings interact today.

I prefer interacting with people in person to doing so online. I prefer interacting with people online to doing so on the phone. But can you imagine saying something wacky to someone on the telephone, like say mocking them for having someone close to them die, and then telling them that maybe they just needed to take the phone away from their ear because it's only the telephone.

[takes9months]

living up to your opinion is a far better fate than quietly screaming your distaste.

[killerkat]

did i miss something? ** ohh ,yes i did**



you are very true though,i have only recently actually embraced this whole internet thing for some of the wonders it's treated me to.

[Umbilical Lotus]

In the end, it's still people. No matter if in text or flesh.

[drewblood]

We are living in a digital age when more and more people get a significant portion of their human interaction through the internet. Most people interact on the internet with other people, even other people they know in the physical world. If you can't communicate anything meaningful online, then you are pretty much going to be doomed to a superficial life because this is one of the main ways human beings interact today.

exactly. It's hard not to sound like "dont chat online if you're not gonna take it serious".... but honestly, if you engage in discussing or provoking a serious conversation, it's a total bullshit pussy move to cop out with the ole 'eh it's just the internet' when things get too hot.

[Rockwulf]

I seem to have done the opposite of most people who "hide" online.

At some of the boards I was on earlier, I developed such a distaste for the retarded, juvinile antics of some of the members, that I started calling them on it. To a point where, on a couple of boards I started to become known as sort of the "no bullshit" guy and then gradually I became that way more and more in real life. No I call people on their shit to their face every day.

While everyone else is gossiping behind someones back, if I have a problem, I say it straight to their face. Sure, I try to say it in a funny way, with a grin on my face, but I still say it.

[Evilbink]

Personally, I find far too many people being "fake" online. And it just seems to me that because of the form of the online world, it just makes it to easy for asses to be asses, with few to no consequences.

13 year old kids talking shit about kicking someones ass online. 60 year old men pretending to be 16 year old girls to get themselves off.
People do what they feel they have to do to get through their days, however they can. And their "online" life can be whatever they want, who's to know, and they dont care.

People Suck

[MistressJennifer]

I know, people are so strange and mean on the internet!!! I was on Imdb-Pro and they got SO mad at me because I said that Greta Garbo wore false eyelashes, they got really OFFENDED about false eyelashes!!!

Some people are just really bored and angry and frustrated...

[Pull~My~Hair]

there is still a real person (people) on the other side of the internet...I mean once the information gets to the reciever it doesn't mean it turns into a plastic fairy tale or something..it came from somewhere right?

[MistressJennifer]

I like that! A Plastic Fairy Tale... Like when us store mannikens come to life and pretend to be human for one night!!!!

[Rocktacula]

I like that! A Plastic Fairy Tale... Like when us store mannikens come to life and pretend to be human for one night!!!!

Dammit...see what you made me do....


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093493/posters

Although, I heartedly agree....I can't possibly be more tired of some 14 year old kid not understanding that spelling things like "plz" and "wht r u doin" will ultimately doom him/her from having any sort of actual education or productive job in a society that I have to live in and rely on, only to get a response like"but IRL I no how to spell, this is just for 1337 online". Ugh.

[Pull~My~Hair]

I like that! A Plastic Fairy Tale... Like when us store mannikens come to life and pretend to be human for one night!!!!

lol exactly!

[MistressJennifer]

Dammit...see what you made me do....


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093493/posters

Although, I heartedly agree....I can't possibly be more tired of some 14 year old kid not understanding that spelling things like "plz" and "wht r u doin" will ultimately doom him/her from having any sort of actual education or productive job in a society that I have to live in and rely on, only to get a response like"but IRL I no how to spell, this is just for 1337 online". Ugh.

Oh my god!!! I really LIKED that movie, and I even liked the sequel, Manniken II!!! Also, there is a Twilight Zone episode where the store manniken comes to life and thinks that she is REAL!!

That's about me!! That is the story of my life.... I THINK I am real, but I really have to go back to the store now and pose. Good night everyone!

[sheramil]

It really bothers me when people go out of their way to have an unpleasant interaction and then tell the people they have been unpleasant to that it is only the internet.

have you noticed how differently people behave when they're behind the wheel? the difference between people posting messages using their real name, and posting as "anonymous"?

if they think they aren't going to be held accountable for their actions or opinions, people will display a remarkable degree of assholism. and you can start a fire very quickly by rubbing two assholes together.

uh, i didn't mean that literally. oh, great. another image i can't get out of my head. time for 50mg of Doxylamine Succinate!

[sunkarma]

I virtually got my guts ripped out from this dude that did not even know me on the internet...a photographer...on another board. I am well aware of the way the internet can affect people and how cruel and kind they can be. I am honestly sick of the people that hide behind these little screens, and dole out their seeming 'justice' in the form of pathetic pitied words and curses...
To those that love to dole out their form of 'justice' and pain to others...check yourself. Find a better hobby. Karma comes around and bites you on the ass...people are not always right. Truth is truth...find it, and don't make judgements based on status or rank. The worlds best person can be the worlds biggest asshole-it just depends on who you are talking to....
To those of us that use the internet as a form of communication and treat each other fairly...keep on.

[inox]

But can you imagine saying something wacky to someone on the telephone, like say mocking them for having someone close to them die, and then telling them that maybe they just needed to take the phone away from their ear because it's only the telephone.

People like to use the Internet to act out because there's usually little threat of immediate repercussions. Even via IM, people can just look away or minimize the window...it's not the same as someone screaming back at you on the phone, or perhaps throwing a punch in person.

It's the perfect time for the gammas out there to unleash all the hostility and mean-spritedness they have to keep under control in day to day life...lest smitings occur.

However, even though they're aware of what they're doing (at least on some level), they sure hate being called on it. So, to avoid feeling justified shame, they advance the bullshit notion that the net is somehow an inherently blame-free environment that anyone would be a fool to take seriously.

If you're communicating with other human beings, you're communicating. It doesn't matter whether it's in person, on the phone, online, or via morse code. I don't accept assertions to the contrary, merely because some people want the freedom to be childish or hurtful without consequences.

[sheramil]

It's the perfect time for the gammas out there to unleash all the hostility and mean-spritedness they have to keep under control in day to day life...lest smitings occur.

i'm glad i'm a Beta.

Alphas work too hard.

[pagan]

I like it when I get along with people online. It seems almost like meeting someone at a party or bar. Of course you don't really know each other but, you have traded ideas/words with another person.

On the otherhand when someone is really rude to me I blow if off as "just the internet, not real people."

So I guess I go both ways.

[Buster Friendly]

obviously I like coming on the internet, and saying a bunch of silly stuff...

...but I've been part of 'serious' online communities, and have gotten in such heated discussions with folks that I've posted my location so we could 'settle things'... like a dumbass...

I have to agree with the 'gamma meanspiritedness' comment. I talk alot of shit on the internet... and as outrageous as it can get it's generally nothing I wouldn't say in person (folks who know me IRL can attest to my supernatural lack of tact, and bizzare conversational style...)

generally the only time I say things I wouldn't have said in person is when things have already gotten way beyond the point where I would have just walked away, or would have started swinging...

...the amazing thing to me isn't the ridiculous stuff I or other people say, or do online, it's the extent to which my offline life has been affected by the people I've met online... I've met some of the coolest people, and made longterm friends, had boiling hot feuds that still rage to this day, I've fallen in love, broken up, been broken up with... I was such a notorious asshole on one forum that their competitors sought me out, and eventually gave me a job (although I should have known better.) I've had addictive relationships with certain communities, given myself a world class education on archane topics... blah, blah...

I didn't even reflect on all this stuff as being due entirely to online activity until I read this thread... huh...

oh well...

be seeing you

[matthew2001]

I've been involed in the middle of alot of board fights. One was going to take it offline and battle with me legally, the other was just going to kill me. Both ended up retracting their requests after I in a rather unnerving emotionally state begged them to call it off. It seemed like a bitch move because I shouldn't have taken them seriously.

But when you threaten someone's life offline for whatever opinions they have about another person, it becomes time to withdrawl from the person or the forum completely. These two incidents nearly made me give up the computer for good. I was told I was being tracked and hunted down by P.I.'s, all kinds of crazy stuff.

Believe it or not, this does happen and has happened over the past few years were the courts are trying to take your conversations and make what you say as verbatium and hold you to it. I'm pretty sure this board hasn't been in the middle of that cause not alot of that goes on in here, I think.

[sunkarma]

Well, hello Matthew. Nice seeing you here.
For the record...somethings online cannot be held as proof in a court of law..but nothing prevents you from getting a protective order if someone threatens you online...If you know their url and have a WHOIS search, you can do it.
And plus, you shouldn't have let them get to you that way. Believe me, I have learned to take a LOT of things less seriously since that incident that both you and I know about...and I'm staying away from the drama...even though I was called a "drama queen" and "attention whore". Whatever. (eye roll).
Ignorance goes a long way...and my eyes are closed to that shit from now on. Certain people and atmosphere's are breeding grounds for that stuff...as we all know. It is best to stay away from those situations altogether.
Thus ends my rant.

[matthew2001]

Well, hello Matthew. Nice seeing you here.
For the record...somethings online cannot be held as proof in a court of law..but nothing prevents you from getting a protective order if someone threatens you online...If you know their url and have a WHOIS search, you can do it.

I could have done that, but I was scared out of my wits. I'm mean, the guy went from thinking I was a joke to thinking that I was a serious threat to his personal life (and all over stuff he posted on HIS OWN FORUM).

And plus, you shouldn't have let them get to you that way. Believe me, I have learned to take a LOT of things less seriously since that incident that both you and I know about...and I'm staying away from the drama...even though I was called a "drama queen" and "attention whore". Whatever. (eye roll).

Those folks are attention whores and drama kings and queen themsleves. When a forums' top topics are drama-related, that's about the size of their scope on what they care about. That's why as hard as that is for the both of us, making the effort to stay away from those forums is worth it.

[sunkarma]

<<<HUGS Matthew>>>
We'll get over it together, babe.

It doesn't take much effort to stay away from all that crap. Not much at all.
I'm a happier being for it, actually.

After all, I'm crazy, right? I simply play into people's concepts of how they think I am. That confuses them and throws them off at the same time...they feel as if they have accomplished something, then they stop acting like the assholes they really are...OR they continue...and even if they do, they hurt no one but themselves.
It is amazing how self absorbed people really are, isn't it?
Like little sponges in a sea of ignorance.