Posted by sb417 on December 25, 2003, at 9:15:52
In reply to You know.., posted by NikkiT2 on December 25, 2003, at 6:39:04
> >>> Thats one good thing about the net.. I get to know the *real* person, and they get to know me, before they see me physicaly and start making judgements about my physical nature.
>>>>>>>>>>>Hi Nikki,
Regarding your comments about meeting people on the Internet. . .To some extent I agree with you, but I've had some bad experiences, so I'm trying to be more careful. Many people misrepresent themselves over the Internet. They have their "cyber-personalities," and then they have their real personalities. Sometimes it's obvious from their posts or e-mails that they are not who or what they claim to be. For example, one person I met online told me she was a medical/science writer, but her writing was the worst I'd ever seen. At first, I gave her the benefit of the doubt. I thought she might be typing quickly and not proofreading. After a while, however, it became clear that she didn't know the most basic biology. How could a medical/science writer not know facts from introductory biology? I don't think she misrepresented herself maliciously. I think her cyber-personality was the person she wanted to be. Whatever the case, it's awfully difficult to have a friendship with someone who lies to themselves and to others. I've met quite a few people on message boards and newsgroups who claim to be professionals or experts in their fields, but they spend hundreds of hours a week posting messages on the Internet. How is it possible for real physicians, scientists or other professionals to spend most of their waking hours on message boards? I wouldn't feel confident in my doctors if I knew they were hanging out on message boards all day long. You have to be very careful with Internet relationships. If the pieces don't fit together on the Internet, you can be sure they aren't going to fit together in real life.
poster:sb417
thread:293158
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20031217/msgs/293301.html