How does your persona change on the forum?

Nitefly

Nitefly

Nitefly

Man of Honour
Joined
24 Sep 2005
Posts
37,437
As in, do you come across differently on the forum to any degree than you do in real life?

I would like to say 'no, of course not!' but I feel that isn't entirely true. I'm remarkably silly in real life so on the forum I guess I come across more formal, but then again I'm addressing a bunch of complete strangers and I imagine most people tone down the more eccentric parts of their personality when meeting new people.

I think a lot of members are far more provocative, dismissive and negative than I bet they dare to be in real life due to internet anonymity.

What do you think? Do you come across differently on-line?
 
I'm a lot arder behind my monitor (c) every forum on internet

In answer to your question, yea i am but only because the rules prevent me from being my true self :o
 
A LOT more 'devils advocate' on the forum.

A LOT less caring what people think of me.

Will talk about things like politics and religion here...

I find on here (and the internet generally) people are amazingly cynical. If someone posted 'Pulled a bikini model, here are pictures of me and her' no matter how beautiful she was, people here would tear her apart 'looks like a dumb blonde to me' or 'OMG she's wearing pink, she gay then' or 'She looks like she charges by the hour' etc etc .. basically anything to try and diss the OP or PRESUME the guy was lying or the photos were photoshopped I'm looking at you, Tefal!. I think it's a cross between serious jealousy and the anonymity of t'net, as I can't believe anyone would behave like that IRL .. but on here .. many people do in fact back each other up with 'LOL' and 'Thats what I thought' and 'QUOTE --> THIS'. All very sad, but then that's net anonymity for you ...

The funniest thing is when people are really horrible on thread #1, then on thread #2 have big 'Why don't girls like me? I have no friends' wall o'texts! LOL?
 
Last edited:
I think a lot of members are far more provocative, dismissive and negative than I bet they dare to be in real life due to internet anonymity.
Click to expand...

This is completely true for me. I am nowhere near as argumentative, dismissive or critical as I am on the forums.
 
Nitefly said:
As in, do you come across differently on the forum to any degree than you do in real life?

I would like to say 'no, of course not!' but I feel that isn't entirely true. I'm remarkably silly in real life so on the forum I guess I come across more formal, but then again I'm addressing a bunch of complete strangers and I imagine most people tone down the more eccentric parts of their personality when meeting new people.

I think a lot of members are far more provocative, dismissive and negative than I bet they dare to be in real life due to internet anonymity.

What do you think? Do you come across differently on-line?
Click to expand...

If anything I am a little more divisive and argumentative on the forum than I am in real life. I will ( iam sure many on here know) argue the opposite simply because I can, not because I agree with my arguement. I don't know why I do, but I do nonetheless.

It is difficult to know the true intention or demenour of who your arguing with so it is easier (for me anyway) to misunderstand or be insulting and condescending when in real life I would not be.

Also when discussing thing in reality you know the relative age and ability of who you are debating with and can adjust your argument or tone accordingly, on a forum you cannot.

All in all, I would say I was a nicer person offline than I am online, and for that I truely am ashamed although I cannot seem to be nicer and more understanding even if I do try on occasion.
 
britboy4321 said:
I find on here (and the internet generally) people are amazingly cynical. If someone posted 'Pulled a bikini model, here are pictures of me and her' no matter how beautiful she was, people here would tear her apart 'looks like a dumb blonde to me' or 'OMG she's wearing pink, she gay then' or 'She looks like she charges by the hour' etc etc .. basically anything to try and diss the OP or PRESUME the guy was lying or the photos were photoshopped I'm looking at you, Tefal!. I think it's a cross between serious jealousy and the anonymity of t'net, as I can't believe anyone would behave like that IRL .. but on here .. many people do in fact back each other up with 'LOL' and 'Thats what I thought' and 'QUOTE --> THIS'. All very sad, but then that's net anonymity for you ...
Click to expand...
To expand on my first post, I find that people must change themselves a lot on here as I refuse to believe that members would put down strangers so bluntly in real life. A lot of it is in jest and there is some very good banter that goes on here, very good indeed, but I find snarky or flat out rude posts rather unnecessary and a bit sad.
 
I'd say pretty much the same but a bit more honest. ie if someone I didn't know particularly well came and showed me there new car and told me how much they paid for it etc even if they had got a terrible deal and the car was a lemon I'd still be ''ooh, nice car. enjoy'' - in a forum I'd state exactly what I thought of the car and deal.

It's not because once I'm behind a computer screen I grow some balls and start being a *****. It's just generally being polite when conversing with strangers or people you don't know well in person. On a forum on the other hand there's a degree of honesty which is wanted from the person posting there new purchase. They want some proper feedback and not ''nice car'', ''nice car'', ''excellent choice'' etc
 
KNiVES said:
This is completely true for me. I am nowhere near as argumentative, dismissive or critical as I am on the forums.
Click to expand...

Thank christ :p

Though, i have noted you've been far, far, far less argumentative as of late.


As for me, i'm more aggressive when i'm online, but why the **** do you care?
 
Nitefly said:
I think a lot of members are far more provocative, dismissive and negative than I bet they dare to be in real life due to internet anonymity.

What do you think? Do you come across differently on-line?
Click to expand...

After a long think, I don't think I come across any different. I also don't think I'm in any way anonymous, if people wanted to find out exactly who I am it's really not difficult.
 
TS7 said:
I'd say pretty much the same but a bit more honest. ie if someone I didn't know particularly well came and showed me there new car and told me how much they paid for it etc even if they had got a terrible deal and the car was a lemon I'd still be ''ooh, nice car. enjoy'' - in a forum I'd state exactly what I thought of the car and deal.

It's not because once I'm behind a computer screen I grow some balls and start being a *****. It's just generally being polite when conversing with strangers or people you don't know well in person. On a forum on the other hand there's a degree of honesty which is wanted from the person posting there new purchase. They want some proper feedback and not ''nice car'', ''nice car'', ''excellent choice'' etc
Click to expand...

Exctly why 'hotornot.com' is such a success I guess.

Girls (and guys) sometimes actually want to know if they are actually considered fit/nice looking. All their friends/family /anyone IRL will only EVER EVER EVER say nice stuff, you know this, they know this, you never actually have the question seriously answered honestly. wasta'time ... The internet exposes the blimin' harsh truth to you nice or nasty! Which sometimes is interesting ..
 
Burnsy2023 said:
After a long think, I don't think I come across any different. I also don't think I'm in any way anonymous, if people wanted to find out exactly who I am it's really not difficult.
Click to expand...

This is probably true of me too, i may be slightly more obvious with my feelings on here but i'd argue that that's because i get more time to think through replies, ultimately it's a pretty close reflection.

I too put no effort into hiding my 'real' self from the internet.
 
TS7 said:
I'd say pretty much the same but a bit more honest. ie if someone I didn't know particularly well came and showed me there new car and told me how much they paid for it etc even if they had got a terrible deal and the car was a lemon I'd still be ''ooh, nice car. enjoy'' - in a forum I'd state exactly what I thought of the car and deal.
Click to expand...

I came into this thread expecting to see this scenario :p
 
In real life I get on with everybody and don't give anyone an excuse to dislike me but on here (and other forums) I have this 'telling stories mode' that winds a lot of people up.
All stories are 100% true but if I acted in the pub like I do on here then I would be sitting on my own.
It never fails to amaze me that certain posters take it all seriously.
 
I'm probably slightly more argumentative/forward than in real life, mostly because it's far easier to just click another thread if you get bored of the argument whereas in real life it's slightly harder to get away from something like that (I'm really not into arguments, I get bored of them...). In real life I'd probably phrase the comments slightly differently and maybe miss out the more provocative words/phrases.

Other than that I'd suggest I'm pretty much the same on and off line.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom