Do you "know" the people you talk to on the internet?

[Lizra]

AE told me we don't really "know" each other. I think I know him somewhat, and he knows me a little too. Heck, I thought we were "friends" ! :) . Assuming they're telling the truth, (truth has to be the basis of any relationship), do you feel like you "know" some of the people you communicate with on the internet?

[BeardofPants]

I thought so, but it turns out I'm not that great a judge of character. ;) With some people, I thought I could second-guess their motivations, but then I thought about how much I give out to people, and how much I don't, and then I sorta came to the conclusion that I probably don't know them half as well as I thought I did, because they were probably keeping stuff to themselves as well. Nothing sinister of course (well, I hope not), but just little things that drive us - they're probably not things that we'd normally broadcast to other people online, even via email or PM.

[Lizra]

Well, If I were to meet you on the street BoP, we'd have lot's to talk about, questions to ask, feelings to exchange, etc. I could/would never do this with a stranger, so I know you (casually of course). A woman was telling me last week of the problems her daughter's fiance was having getting a visa to come to the US from Australia, besides the new restrictions, an official told her that 80% of the applications they recieve nowdays are from people that are meeting on the internet. I guess it's happening to some extent! :)

[Spock]

NOPE. Not in the biblical or the everyday sense.

Cyber friends are an entirely different category no matter how long or what you think you know. Heck, it could be a Warg you're talking too!

[afro-elf]

Heck, it could be a Warg you're talking too!

Or a Ninja! :p ;) :D

[Lizra]

I guess I'm too "for real"! I'll try to be more skeptical. :)

[Diaxion]

Well I either know them as in met them, lets say if they were relatives or friends form school. But if they were people that I just met on-line then i would only know their ideas.:cool:

[Artanis]

Originally posted by Lizra
AE told me we don't really "know" each other. I think I know him somewhat, and he knows me a little too. Heck, I thought we were "friends" ! :) .
IMO, being friends and not know each other all too well is not contradictory. :)
Assuming they're telling the truth, (truth has to be the basis of any relationship), do you feel like you "know" some of the people you communicate with on the internet?
I feel I know their internet personality, which could be entirely different from their 'real-life' personality.

[Renille]

I feel I know their internet personality, which could be entirely different from their 'real-life' personality.

Same here! If I was walking down the street and saw any of you, I probably wouldn't even know it WAS any of you.
I don't know anyone here enough to tell any of my real personal problems to. I do know people well enough to be nice to them and talkabout not extra-extra-personal stuff.:p That's about it,really.

[eowyn144]

*ahem*

*steps up onto small stage*

"I don't know half of you half as well as i should like; and i like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

i think that pretty much sums up what i think:)

[Wayfarer]

Some of them...

[Laurelyn]

I know whatever you guys tell me.

[Sween]

Intresting question. This kinda relates to an earlier thread about do people lie on the net. Ill admit i do talk top some people on this that i have never met. How well do we know them not well, but i do find you can have a good convo with them.

One of the main parts of knowing someone in my opinion is observing them. you cannot do this on the net. how they interact with you and others.

i think ive a fair grasp of some of the people i talk to on the nets likes and dislikes and if they are moody etc. But is there ever a subsitute for getting to know someone in real life? No.

[Lizra]

Hmmm, do any of you spend time thinking about the people you've typed to :) on the internet? I feel that if I've had communications with someone for period of over a month or so, and they've told me things about themselves (once again, assuming they tell the truth) and I've done the same, and they are in my mind sometimes, that is knowing them casually, even though I've never seen them. Sween, I can't understand why you'd "pose" as a woman in a chat room. Don't you have something better to do? :)

[Ben]

Well I actually do "know" some Entmooters. I've met a bunch of you in real life, either in individual meetings or in the Entmoot 2001 "convention." In most cases this was after many months of internet chatting, so I felt that I did really know the people. It turns out they were who they said they were. I've met:

HOBBIT and gdl96 (obviously)
Darth Tater & family
anduin & husband
Nolendil & family
IronParrot & family
jerseydevil

Luckily there were no axe murderers in the bunch. When I met with Tater, IP, and Nolendil, all teens, we met with our entire families, so there was no real danger of abduction or any of that other awful stuff you hear about from internet meetings.

Until you meet the person in real life, I think it's difficult to be absolutely sure you know the person.

[Rána Eressëa]

Oh yeah. I'm 50 year old pedophile. :rolleyes:

Hmmm ... I don't even think I spelt that right.

Well, I'm more shy and reserved in real life, but that's just because it's easier to be yourself online. I tell more truth online that I would in real life I guess. Like for instance, if I had met BoP, AE, Arathorn, or Cirdan in real life, I'd be calling them "ma'am" and "sir" and crap like that because of the age thing. But on here it's just everyone's equal. I like that.

I don't know if I can say I truly know them. I just know whatever they tell me.

[BeardofPants]

I'm not old! :eek:

And it's paedophile. :::shifty look:::

Oh, and JD IS an axe murderer -- he told me. :p


Edit: No it isn't. YES! I don't know how to spell pedophile!! :D

[Starr Polish]

My speech is a bit more eloquent online, because I prefer writing to speaking. I've told online friends things I'd never tell my 'real' friends (though some of it I wish I had kept secret).

I probably come off as a little bit more confident online than I really am, and after I met someone I'd known only online it would take awhile for me to be like I am online.

I thought it was pedophile...

[Menelvagor]

*glares suspiciously about room*

Naw, I trust most of you. I'd never agree to meet any of you in a dark alley, but it'd probably be hard to hide all of your personality to a person you've know for the better part of a year, even if it is only online. One of my best friends only knows her boyfriend through a message board. *shrug*

[Elvet]

When I post on forums, I don't really feel like I'm conversing. Most of the time I'm just responding to a comment. Many of you do converse back and forth regarding a topic. Through these 'conversations', I can get a glimpse of what you might be like - your sense of humor, maturity level, age, tolerance, education, etc. A few of you - BoP, Pailin, A-E - seem to make more of an impression on me than others.
Lizra is an exception, I consider her my friend. We've been E-mailing and snail mailing for a while now.

[Lizra]

Hi Elvet :) Watch your mailbox! Eowyn144, I think the Bilbo quote works very well here, good call! It's odd, seeing someone's picture makes you feel you "know" them more. I guess you then know what they look like, but nothing new about who they are inside! Looks can be deceiving. How can you only know your boyfriend through the internet! Those two need to meet! Boyfriends were meant to be veiwed, touched, tasted, smelled, and heard. :)

[Elfmaster XK]

Originally posted by BeardofPants

And it's paedophile. :::shifty look:::

Edit: No it isn't. YES! I don't know how to spell pedophile!! :D

You can spell it either way BoP. So that makes you super educated! :D

I think you can know some people. That is my simple opinion. :D

[Earniel]

I don't think a messageboard is a place you really get to know people. Oh, I know a few things about a few of the frequent posters but I don't actually know any of you. I always felt that one of the best ways to get to know some one well is mindless chatter. You don't get that on a messageboard (unless PM) but you learn a great deal about the other person that way. It also helps being a very open, social person (which I'm not)

But I think you really can get to know some people via the internet. It just takes a little more effort and more private mailing. You just have to dare to take a step to contact some one.

[Sween]

message boards aint such a bad place to meet somone. a place like this it dont have any perverts really. Perverts and liking tolkien doesnt seem right somehow. We all have a shared intrest (winding up JD :D ).

I allways feel when im in a chat room most of the people are there painting a picture of themselves when me and mates go on as a woman to laugh at sickos if there****** size is as big as everyone makes out im a little ashamed of mine :eek:

[BeardofPants]

Originally posted by Sween
(winding up JD :D ).


:D Too true, man.


I've actually met most of my "friends" on forums, and then gone on to IM them. I don't go anywhere near chatrooms. I've been there, done that. It's full of columbian drug lords (or avon reps), and pervy old men. Same reason I gave up ICQ actually.

[Sween]

i only ever talk to people over MSN these days

[BeardofPants]

MSN bites. AIM is better.

[Rána Eressëa]

Usually I like striking up friendships with people I meet on the board that have AIM. The other halfwits dragged me into its evilness, anyway. :D

I have quite a few of you on my list.

[Brokehorn4000]

Sicirus and I know each other. On and off the internet!:p

[Lady Legolas]

I just use my IM, and I know the people I talk to. And I don't think a message board is a bad place to meet people.


¤Lady Legolas¤

[afro-elf]

I met girl on-line and we really hit it off until she found out I was Black

[Sween]

Originally posted by afro-elf
I met girl on-line and we really hit it off until she found out I was Black

All the women i know love black men. My best mate louise allways says once you have black you never go back.

[Artanis]

Originally posted by afro-elf
I met girl on-line and we really hit it off until she found out I was Black
She turned you down because you were black?? :mad: What a loser. :rolleyes:

[BeardofPants]

Yeah, what they said.

[Lizra]

Originally posted by Sween


All the women i know love black men. My best mate louise allways says once you have black you never go back.

Geez....give me a break! Got any more "Words of Wisdom"?

[Sween]

no thats about it. But honestally my mate louise wont even look at a white man anymore.

[Lizra]

Here's one for you Sween! "The blacker the berry, the sweeter the bush".

Maybe that's reversible, doh!

[Sween]

hmmmmmm there may be kids reading this :p i myself am an 8th black so i have all the benifits

[Tanoliel]

Well, besides the people that I know outside of the moot (most of whom I got ON the moot)...hmm. Interesting question. I feel like I know some of you pretty well...I guess I have somewhat nebulous impressions of most of you, and I may be far wrong, but that impression is what I think of when I read your posts, and I think, "oh, it's so-and-so," just as I would if I was talking to somebody. I "know" some of you better than others, simply because of the threads I post on, and some of you I consider friends, though it certainly is a different sort of friendship than those that I have with people I know in "real life."
Then when I go to other message boards (ie Undying Lands, Crossroads, the Inn, etc, and I see people from the Moot, I recognize them there in the same way I'd recognize, say, a friend from school that I saw on the first day of a drama class somewhere else. It's a sort of "oh, I know that person, they're here, too" thing.
Did that post make ANY sense? No....I don't think so.

(EG's father is convinced that anybody on here is a 50 year old stalker...it's quite funny. :) But if everyone is a stalker, who's here to stalk? I'M a stalker, even...hmm..this could create problems...;))
-tano

[Earniel]

Did that post make ANY sense?
I think I got the mean idea. ;)

[Elfmaster XK]

Originally posted by Tanoliel

Did that post make ANY sense? No....I don't think so.

(EG's father is convinced that anybody on here is a 50 year old stalker...it's quite funny. :) But if everyone is a stalker, who's here to stalk? I'M a stalker, even...hmm..this could create problems...;))
-tano

Yeah, i hink i got it too! But ur the stalker!!!:eek: ;)

[Sween]

Originally posted by Elfmaster XK


Yeah, i hink i got it too! But ur the stalker!!!:eek: ;)

Im too lazy to stalk anyone off the internet its much easier in real life.

[Elfmaster XK]

Originally posted by Sween


Im too lazy to stalk anyone off the internet its much easier in real life.

Hey! Stay away from manchester! :D ;)

[Sween]

Originally posted by Elfmaster XK


Hey! Stay away from manchester! :D ;)

soz my sis goes to uni there so im often down there is no way on earth your keeping me away from the curry mile.

[Elfmaster XK]

:eek: :eek:
I'm hiding then! :D Anyway, eck! Curry.

[Elbereth]

I know the people I talk to on the internet, but I don't know them very well. Maybe 'cause I'm new. It would be cool to e-mail someone from the board for a long time, like Elvet and Lizra did.

[Elenka]

Most of my online friends I have never met. The two people I have met go to my school. I never saw them once of the summer but we exchanged Ims twice daily.
As for the rest of them? I trust em. Maybe not with my life, but it'll never come to that. I have lots of penpals, now email friends, that I've had for a long time. I don't "know" them. I couldn't spot em in a crowd cuz I've never seen em. But they are my friends, just the same. :)

[Erawyn]

Not people on here so much i guess cuz i just joined, but some people on a horse forum i think i do know pretty well, we tell each other things i might not neccesarily tell some of my close friends!

[Celandine]

some of them

[Duddun]

ya some of them but theres a lot that you don't know at all.

[Rána Eressëa]

I feel like kidnapping someone. Hmph. Reminds me of that Elijah/Frodo incident way back in the past . . . :D

[Laurelyn]

Originally posted by Rána Eressëa
I feel like kidnapping someone. Hmph. Reminds me of that Elijah/Frodo incident way back in the past . . . :D

RE: Are you referring to WWYD? :)

My parents were leery of this site for a while . . . then I showed 'em around . . . they like you now.

Elenka, you know me!

[smokeymcpot]

[Edit]

[Rána Eressëa]

Originally posted by Laurelyn
RE: Are you referring to WWYD? :)

Yes. I dreadfully miss it. Maybe one day we shall make a sequel with mostly new characters, since a good deal of the originals don't come around much any more.