So apparently y'all are not real.

[Kara]

Hey, what's this open can of worms doing here?

This is a subject near and dear to my heart. Prepare yourselves, this is probably going to be a bit long-winded.

Let's start with situation. Can you consider people someone you've never met in person, someone you only know online, a "friend." Oh, how many things are wrong with this? Yes. Yes you can. That's the simple answer. My ex did this to me all the time. It started here. I would talk about people (mainly GK, since he was the first one I really ever started PMing and emailing with). And I would say, "my friend on cs said..." and get the bit about how I couldn't call them friends, I didn't know anything about them and they could be anyone, and they didn't know the truth about me, so I was being deceptive to them and that wasn't fair either (more on that later). So we went back and forth on this several times. Eventually she found a forum of her own. She was pregnant and found a community for pregnant women with the due date in the same month. Now that she had "friends" online, she understood and it was no longer an argument.

What gives anyone the right to tell you who you can and can't consider your friends? They can't. You define for yourself who you consider to be a friend. Period. And just because someone says, "you can't consider them a friend," does that change anything to you? Do you say, "Oh. Yeah, I see your point They are not friends." Of course not.

Now for the more interesting part. Without being a smartass, yes, we exist (It's okay, be, I'm not a figment of your imagination). I think what is meant by this statement goes back to what my ex tried to argue. I can see the point of this argument. Online, anyone can be anything they want. There is anonymity here. But I think common sense can tell you who you can and can't trust, especially when you've known people for awhile. While I wouldn't go out for drinks with someone posting a message on Craigslist or 4chan, I think it's safe to assume that, say, Lupo, isn't baking the ground up remains of her victims into cinnamon rolls and feeding them to her unsuspecting boyfriend. So while the potential for deception is there, most people's bullshit radars can detect a lot of it. And over time, when it's no longer fun to play that game, the liars will move on to other things. I've seen it happen before, in other places.

And now, onto one of my favorite points. My ex's accusations that I was deceiving people online the way that my alleged "friends" could be doing to me and others. I first got online when I was 17. Used my money from my job to get an account set up with the local provider, since my parents weren't interested in it (56k dialup, w00t). It didn't take long at all for me to see the potential of the internet. Like I said, I was 17. I'd only been living with the truth I kept hidden, knowing what it was and what I was, for about 2 years. Never thinking I'd ever be able to show that side of me. And I created my first screen name for some random IRC chat room, Kara17.

I found a different kind of freedom. I hid my true nature from the world, but online, it was the opposite. I could express every opinion, every thought, every whim that I withheld from the world outside. The internet wasn't a place for me to deceive, to be someone I wasn't. It was my place to finally be real for the first time. The internet was Kara's world, completely. It took a virtual realm to allow me to be my true self. I never once thought I was lying about who I am (well, I did, but that was thanks to my ex pounding that idea into my brain). The Kara that signed up on this site and started telling stories about her insane dealings with customers for a cell phone provider's customer service line? That girl with unique way of expressing her pent-up frustrations and had a colorful classification system of customers as various forms of "assbeasts? That girl who just wanted to bitch about her job and somehow became some kind of internet celebrity on a website for bitching about work (much to her surprise, still to this day)? She was real. She was more real here than she could ever hope to be to the outside world. Here she was the person she only dreamed she could be. And now, finally, after 13 years of truly existing in a virtual world, she's finally being that person in her real life. And this site, her friends here, contributed to that.

So you can have online friends, and they are real friends. I'm a friend. I exist. My ass exists. Anyone who doesn't like that can kiss it.

[Dragon_Dreamer]

I've been told that many times. Even once got accused by a shrink of being schizo because I was "making up all these "online" friends." 9.9

Some of the best friends I've ever had, I made online. Anyone who says differently can KMTGA.

[RootedPhoenix]

Too many people say that online friends aren't real. My royal red toes they're not!

My best friends ever are a bunch of people that met mostly because of a band that no longer exists. We've been talking about everything and nothing for over a decade. I think I'd notice whether or not some of us were fake by now. There's even pictures of us.

People who say that make me wonder. Do they not get that real people are on the other side of those words? Are they the mad ones? (Probably.)

[Racket_Man]

Kara--- I cont add much more to what you posted.

but you mean that CS and a few other places I have been around for the last 10 years is all a drug induced, Matrix, Total Recall NOT REALITY exsistance??????

"I think, therefore I AM" --- (or in Latin Cogito ergo sum) : is a philosophical Latin statement proposed by René Descartes.

Yeah I know it is not the ulitmate proof of reality of the body but of the mind BUT DAMNIT if am real enough. I am not a Touring test computer. I wonder how a Touring machine would handle SCs, EWs, and non=brain functioning managers????

[draggar]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I live in a dark, damp corner of your mind and whisper to you in that foggy land between waking and sleeping. Mostly I just tell you to eat more cake, though.

Cake is good...

Wait...if WE'RE not real, then how do we know YOU'RE real? After all, you're on the internet too!

Wait, what? OH NO!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcncPpQ8loA

Does that mean that my family is also a figment of your imagination too? Would you please imagine me with less pain? thanks so much!

Maybe it'll work with you, it doesn't matter with my wife since she is here?

Hey, what's this open can of worms doing here?

Gummi worms?

(56k dialup, w00t).

When I started it was 300 baud. No, not 300K, 300. I still have that modem.

You brought up an interesting point. I've been at the beginning of "the internet" (back in the days when it was telnet and you had to go to a UNIX dumb terminal and type in "TELNET (address) (port)" to go places. Back then, you COULD trust people because most of the people who used the "net" were mature and like minded people (computer geeks mostly, now you know why MUDs (and the others) were so popular back then).

I could post my real name, real address, and real phone number on a public forum and the only people who would use it were those who it was intended for. Try doing that today. It was great and I met a lot of great people back then. I even remember introducing people in my college to it. How to Telnet, how to use Gopher, and now to use PINE (funny name, BTW, but that's a different story). We even got into MUDding.

But then companies like CompuServ came out and while it remained still mostly mature it paved the way for the worst (or best?) thing to ever happen to the internet - AOL. In the beginning it wasn't flooded. Most of the people still remained true to who they were but when AOL released their "unlimited" service all hell broke loose. Mature people did come but we were the minority. It didn't take long before people realized they could have multiple AOL accounts and had anonymity. Now, anyone who wants it has internet access and the honesty / mature levels are at the lowest ever.

[Jester]

I always knew that I was not real, I just didn't know how long it would take the rest of you to catch on.

Not only am I a figment of your imagination, I am a lying figment of your imagination. While you have been led to believe that I am a magician and bartender living in the tropics, I am actually an 82-year-old accountant named Irving who lives with 38 cats in a dreary brick house in Kennebunkport, Maine, who wears 3 piece suits and reads the Wall Street Journal daily. But I don't pay for the paper, as I am, as has been stated, merely a figment of your imagination.

It's the whole myth--because of a sick few--that people always lie on the internet.

Your wife is just accepting an outdated viewpoint.

I am going to disagree with this slightly. There ARE still plenty of people that do use the internet for nefarious and dishonest purposes. And, sadly, it's more than just a few.

That is not to say that no one on the internet is telling the truth. Merely that you have to apply your intelligence towards figuring out who you can and cannot believe. And quite often, you'll get it right. But just like in real life, there are always going to be liars, deceivers, and manipulators. And sometimes, no matter how bright you are, you will still get taken. That doesn't mean you should stop trusting anyone and everyone.

Just like in "real" life.

I live in a dark, damp corner of your mind and whisper to you in that foggy land between waking and sleeping. Mostly I just tell you to eat more cake, though.

Wait, that message all this time has been to eat more cake? Why was I getting the message to drink more beer?

Not that I mind, of course.....

For some, who find it hard to leave the house for whatever reason, this is a real community of friends and lovers. I hope she can see that.

Not just for those who have trouble leaving the house. I myself am a very outgoing person who often is out and about making friends, meeting people, and being social as all hell. That does not make this community any less real for me.

What gives anyone the right to tell you who you can and can't consider your friends?

Nothing. It's no different than when people tell me that my friends' daughters are not my "real" nieces. Just because they are not my biological nieces does not make my relationship any less real. Just ask any adopted child if their parents that raised them are not their "real" parents.

[CaroPhoenix]

You are a legend worldwide.

I wonder if my wife forgot how she and I met? On ICQ!!!

OoO! I wonder if Mr. Rum knows I'm a legend worldwide! Maybe he'll buy me more chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing from Wegmans more often.

As for Telnet! Oi! Got introduced to that in college circa 1994-1995. The places I'd telnet to was The Vineyard and The Resort. Vineyard is no longer up and running though The Resort is. Fun times there. I knew the maintainers/runners of The Vineyard. I even met one of my best friends on The Vineyard. We've been friends since April, 1995. When my maternal grandparents and paternal grandma died (all different years), he was there for me, even though he was in Scotland. He called me on the days I'd return from the funerals just to make sure I was doing okay.

*sighs*

Those were happy times.

[Food Lady]

Jester, you actually ended up agreeing with me; I said it's a myth that all people lie on the internet. I know there are those who do. And yes, if you pay attention, you can tell who's being pretty honest. I do believe you're an accountant, though.

[Cazzi]

w00 I always knew I was a figment of my own imagination

For some, who find it hard to leave the house for whatever reason, this is a real community of friends and lovers.

Also QFT. My daughter would be a very lonely hermit without the internet. She has much trouble relating to "real live" people, but put 2 monitors and a modem inbetween and she is fine. She's even been known to use a microphone occasionally!

For myself, the friends I ever made locally have always been the "fairweather" kind. I've met much better ones online and subsequently in real life, that I know like me for me & will be there for me if I ever need them. After this month, I may rarely get to see my best friend in person (), but he's still going to be there for me.

***This is a statement, not for a Fratching discussion please***
I don't work for various reasons and unfortunately depend on benefits and I have been told by more than one person that I shouldn't have a PC or be on the internet because I am. I spoke to my benefits advisor about it & he was horrified & said that in my & my daughters situations, it was one of the best tools we could have both for socialising and information seeking. I Ignore those people now.

I love meeting new people online, it really opens the world up for me

[Kanalah]

I think Kara and Jester really summed up a lot for me too.

I was painfully shy growing up. I used to get slapped in public for daring to talk to people (wonderful parents, there). So when I was finally able to get on the computer? Oh my gosh, I had friends, and people who actually wanted to spend time with me. I was in heaven. Of course after 10 years that group turned really sour really fast, but I've found this wonderful supportive community here.

I also think that having so many supportive friends online has helped me IRL as well. I've become more outgoing, and been able to do a lot of things I was scared to do before. Of course hubby has helped a lot with that, but I can't tell you how awesome it is to be able to use a drive thru or speak to a waiter/waitress or cashier without having a panic attack.

You guys cannot understand the torture it was to want to sew and you can't talk to the nice lady to get your fabric cut without having a panic attack.

[Food Lady]

I'm the same wherever I go, online or off. Well, the only exception is I can hide the fact that my brain-to-mouth filter is defective by editing my posts. I'm moderately open to people either place. I'm more open with people I'm closer to, online or off. The way I talk and write aren't really different. So why be online? My stories can be posted and either people read or don't, which is fine. But if I tell my "real life" friends, they end up being a captive audience. There are times when I just have too many complaints. And a lot of my friends don't work retail.

[Seshat]

I am not a Touring test computer. I wonder how a Touring machine would handle SCs, EWs, and non=brain functioning managers????

Turing Test Extra Credit:
Convince the examiner that he is a machine.

I don't work for various reasons and unfortunately depend on benefits and I have been told by more than one person that I shouldn't have a PC or be on the internet because I am. I spoke to my benefits advisor about it & he was horrified & said that in my & my daughters situations, it was one of the best tools we could have both for socialising and information seeking. I Ignore those people now.

My mental health nurse would like to see me go out physically and meet people more, but given my assorted conditions, 'net-based socialising is an excellent second choice.

[Geek King]

Of course we're not real, why else do we refer to ourselves with i?

[lordlundar]

I wish I could use that excuse. It would stop them from asking me to help them.

[Jester]

Jester... I do believe you're an accountant, though.

And there are some people who believe I'm a god.

Chances are good that the truth lies somewhere in between the two.