Reading the Fine Print

IMO, communication is a give and take event. A social event, if you will. Online posting is not really a give and take thing, nor is it a true social event. Some of the inhibitors that occur in social giving and taking...hurting people's feelings and witnessing the impact visually, fearing an actual physical consequence or loss, and personal boundaries...are missing. Couple this with "thinking with our fingers" and you get some intense responses.

Then there is the image thing. I think we are all role-playing online. I think we role-play all the time, but we have boundaries with our "identities" in real life that are missing online. One or more of those boundaries is cultural. Consider the online "culture." It really is a weird one...composed of people from all over the world, of all ages, with few rules and no stable structure. (Even the online people/posters are not stable...now you see them, now you don't. And you may never see them again.) With all this chaos, it is really remarkable that our communication isn't worse than it is.

Well, I am off and running now, and my thinking is getting scattered, so I'll quit. I'm quite a bit off-topic as it is.

 

Sadly, that's not common. Most of the time, if someone is being polite and charming, is because is trying to hide.

not your case :hug:

i think :errf:

Why?
Off-topiying is a kind of tradition around here
Plus, i'm sure that most of people here enjoy this kind of conversations.

Btw, your post is completely right, imho.
The anonimity (sp?) that online posting grants, is a double edged weapon.
Someone can say "i love you" or "fuck off" at ease, having crossed just a few words with someone. I really doubt people do that in RL, precisely for the "visual impact".
In some cases it makes relationships more easier, as all the "social graces" are completely useless/avoided on on-line chat.
On the other hand, it makes harder to understand the meaning of some things, since you can't see the eyes, or a twisted smile, or a "i'm just kidding" tone in a sentence.

 

In spite of the fact that I am going to lose my 666 posts, I am going to go on. It would be cool, though, for people to say he posted 666 times and was never heard from again.

Compare these comments:

The DM was giving special treatment to his friend.

The DM was giving special treatment to his girlfriend.

The DM was giving special treatment to his boyfriend.

The DM was giving special treatment to her friend.

The DM was giving special treatment to her boyfriend.

The DM was giving special treatment to her girlfriend.

Notice how each statement about DM special treatment, is actually about a totally different topic each time.

Notice how each one makes you feel differently. And all but one is about sexual issues. No two of us will feel the same, or react the same.

So, if you "go there", brace yourself, you are opening a can of worms. You will be called various things, whether they are appropriate or not. You don't deserve the response. But, you triggered it. This is true of many social issues, not just sex.

Sometimes this is called marriage.

 

Me neither.
So i've decided a long time ago to stop being polite and charming. I didn't get me anywhere, but at least i enjoy the indignation faces when i "drop bombs" -as my friends say- in a middle of a conversation. "honest like a sword"

Another good point. language is sometimes a barrier, if there's no "visual feedback".

And there's also speech.
You probably say "fuck" ten times in a minute without thinking on it, but if you write the same way you talk, it is probably more...shocking. That's also a difference in posting.

 

hehe ...No worries there. Only time I ever used those things is when I played EQ2. And that was bad enough.

Excellent points. Have you ever studied Linguistic Anthropology? Anyway, I have a hard time with sarcasm sometimes - especially online. The emotes are what supposed to bring it across but they fail and sometimes people will not use them right or at all. The conversation I had with these people was one of the most awful I've ever had on an internet forum. It was like I was saying A and they were like "How dare you say B in here!" It bothered me in that their responses were so illogical. After the first couple of responses I was like :twitch:

Seriously, look into Linguistic Anthropology ...it seems like something you might be into if you aren't already.

Indeed. It's a virtual arena with no real consequences. Acting in such ways IRL might get your tires knifed or something.

And that is why I should have worded my OP differently. But, by the time I was trying to explain the intent of my OP, I had already stirred a hornets nest. And they were not about listening but stinging. :blegh:

 

Oh...I never, never ever say "fuck." :roll eyes:

What does HPC mean, anyway?

In regards to GA82's post, people often react to a discussion about sex with anger. Or they laugh. It's a subject that has so many "taboos" that it is difficult for most people to react any other way. I wouldn't expect to see this online, though. It's more of a face to face thing.

Have to take another break. Leno is on. I love his "headlines."

Edit: I really need to know how to do smilies.

 

I was wondering if you were going to comment on that. It surprised me too. :ninja:

You don't know how happy you've made me. :joy:

About this polite thing: I've been told, more than once over the years by fellow Angels, that when I'm polite to a "customer" who is out of control and going to have to be "serviced", that it is one of the most chilling things they have experienced. I, on the other hand, have found that inappropiate politeness often throws the other off balance enough that we don't have to resort to force.

Politeness is a tool for lubricating social interactions, but it can act as a wall to those who want be more "informal". You can be polite and friendly, or just polite, or polite and brutal (Diplomacy :twisted.

In addition, use of body language is actually part of GA training. Say, for example, smiling when you are outnumbered and they say they are going to kill you. :evilgrin:

 

From the few posts we've seen as responses to your post, i don't think that if you used different words you had better reactions.
None seemed to try to see your point, they just jumped at your throat.


It is a matter of..."tastes" i guess, to find a forum that suits you.
For example, i've seen a lot of ranting about the famous Codex...so i went there to take a look by myself, and well...for my "tastes", yeah, rants against them are completely right.

When posting, click the "more" option, under the smilies to your right. A window will pop up, where you have every smilie available, and the code to their right.

Aw, c'mon, that's provoking.
Admit it, you just simply like to fight and have the perfect excuse with the GA's

 

You'd hope it was provoking, but, unfortunately, it seems to be rather off-putting. We smile because we are bored and something is FINALLY happening. But no, our rep precedes us. None of them wants to be the one to start something. I think the body language that is so intimidating is that we are relaxed.

Actually, if we went around starting fights, the police would (correctly) arrest us. We really are a Safety Patrol.

More of us are injured in training than on patrol. Many trainees find patrolling is rather a let down.

Dammit. Successful Guardian Angel patrols are BORING!

@Skeletom

You pushed a button, some people went off on you. Their issues are not your fault. Don't take it personally.

 

OMG ROLF this thread is awesome