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Originally Posted by ngdawg
How many of your real-life friends started out as 'only internet entities'?
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That was an added bonus of this. I came here solely to read some posts and type some responses. The fact that some friendships came out of it is great, but not expected. I have many friends that aren't from the internet too. Anytime you are anywhere long enough, bonds are bound to form...love or hate or indifference.
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Originally Posted by ngdawg
Anyone that goes anywhere, whether internet or in real life, expects respect. Saying you don't go someplace expecting respect is one of two things-a lie or a sense of unworthiness. No one goes someplace real or otherwise to be cut to pieces.
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Respect is a feeling that someone approves or disapproves. There are places where I go that I don't care if I'm respected or not. In fact I'm tired of even talking about respect. Because honestly, I'm not crying myself to sleep because people that don't know me has lost respect because they didn't know me.
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Originally Posted by ngdawg
Weren't you pretty miserable in a place where lack of respect was commonplace?
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But that was at the workplace where repsect is expected. Not on a message board where it really doesn't matter at the end of the day.
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Originally Posted by ngdawg
We all have friends that support us and we love and respect them for it. It's the strangers that choose to support us that really earn respect and admiration.
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I differ with you on this point. Strangers aren't going to bring me soup when I'm sick. Strangers aren't going to offer money when I'm broke. Strangers aren't going to let me cry on their shoulder when I have a family problem. Strangers aren't going to answer the phone if I have to call at 3am to talk. If I see a stranger doing something nice, I get a passing 'that's cool of them' and then it's dismissed, not remembered. I'm not out to win over the world and make everyone happy. That's impossible.
If I have one regret it's the fact that I got so into this forum. As others are seeing 'true colors' of various members, I'm seeing the true colors of this forum a lot clearer than before. At one point, I really did enjoy this board and thought it was a wonderful place where everyone contributed and did their thing. I felt a community bond and while there have always been people I don't agree with, it was easy to overlook it. Lately though, it seems there is more judging going on than usual. Maybe it's because some people are feeling constrained by the 'let's rally around everyone and not hurt any feelings' sentiment.
I know that some people say that they are the same everywhere and that they would never act any different. Ok, you know I might have thought the same thing about myself. But I'm not 2-D. I'm not serious all the time. I'm not sweet all the time. I do have feelings and there are people that I don't like. It's who I am. I did not 'invent' a new personality for anarchy. I am not fake and I've never pretended to be anything I'm not. However, that is a social experiment over there and I, for one, have learned some things about myself too. I've learned that even after all these years of working on not being a pleaser, I still am to an extent. If I have any regrets, it's the fact that I have been hanging on to the pleaser-side of my personality here. I should have stated things as I saw them and not worried so much if someone would be upset or pissed. I didn't not say those things to maintain or gain respect though, I did it because I was going along with the majority here and didn't want to deal with the shitstorm that would have hit me if I stated my opinions on different things I've witnessed in this forum.
This social experiment has been liberating for me. I'm not talking about the freedom to name-call or belittle people, but the freedom to speak my opinions. I am not denying that through this mini-journey I dropped some names and hit below the belt, but not any more than others over there because as mentioned many times there are no innocents. However, even if it's ugly, I'd rather be honest than to pretend I'm so 2-D that I have no negative personality traits or opinions of others.