This mask I wear

[Skanky Vamp]

So.. are you like or unlike the person behind your screen-name in real life? Do you speak and act differently since you have a screenname to protect you? or are you pretty much the same way IRL as on the board? I have two online personas, one that you see here, and one that you see on one-to-one conversation. Do you act and speak differently knowing the forum en masse will read it? how honest is the caricature of you to the actual you?

just some random questions that I have been pondering.

 

[Sweetescape]

hmmmm, i don't think I use my screen name to protect me its just the name i go by on the internet! I wouldn't want random's knowing my name unless i've told them. I'm pretty much the same but i'd be a bit shyer if you first met me,then i'd pretty much be me! weird and wonderful :tongue:.

But i'd say i'm pretty much the same but i tend to be more out spoken in the "real" world and abit cruder in my jokes.Although i do sometime's i do edit what i say becuase i haven't really gotten to know everyone and i don' think some people would get my jokes or get what i'm trying to be funny!

Actually now i think about it , i tend to enter into more conversations about Buffy and Angel and my thought son episodes and stuff, i don't really talk much in the episodes discussions i dunno why i ahve really heat debates with my brother! maybe its becuase i can just walk off from him! lol

But i'm not sure if i'm different in one on one conversations or in the irc...i guess people would have to tell me!

 

[StuckinTraffic]

I do temper my responses to the general board for the wider audience. But, mostly, what you see is what you get with me. I've never mastered the art of wearing a mask or having different personas for different situations or circumstances. Probably why I don't get the point of 'tactfulness' either. That being said, when I'm speaking to the board in general, I do tend to clean up my act a little (I cuss like a sailor IRL, LOL!) and try to make a point, rather than just ramble on like my normal tendency is.

I wonder if people see a different me in private conversations than they see when I'm talking to everyone....or no one....in general. What do you think? Now I'm curious, too, LOL!

 

[SpikedBuffy]

I swear a lot more in real life.... 🙂

But generally speaking the mask is off. I'm just me, and I speak my mind on here just like I do everywhere else!

 

[Blondie Bear]

I don't talk as much in real life, mostly because this medium gives me time to think out my responses and articulate everything I want to say without getting steamrolled by people who are more belligerent and louder than I am. Most of the time, I don't bother to get into arguments, because people get so passionate about stuff that they just start screaming, and I'm not extroverted enough to scream back. Same thing tends to happen when just discussing things, too; I guess I have really Type-A friends, cause they get to talk a lot more than I do. I know a lot of it is because I let them and don't steamroll back over them, but I find it rude to interrupt and I guess they don't. Whatever.

I also cuss a lot more in person. 😀

 

[Crazy Flakes]

I'm a bit cruder in real life and I'm far more talkative online, but overall, I'm pretty much the same.

 

[white avenger]

I try to avoid profanity more here than I do in the real world, but beyond that I haven't tried to be anything here other than the same charming, witty, brave, loyal, generous, sensitive, devastatingly handsome person here that I am in the real world.

 

[Washburne]

So.. are you like or unlike the person behind your screen-name in real life?

Like. Definitely. But the exact same? Nope.

Do you speak and act differently since you have a screenname to protect you?

I speak swedish irl. :tongue: So that changes the way I talk a little to begin with. Do I act differently? Yes. I try not too. But it still happens. As seen by my first answer it´s not like I´m a completely different person but the screen does give a safer feeling. Not that it makes me this macho man (which should be clear to most people by now) but talking on it´s own gets easier not being face to face. For some reason it seems that the people on bb don´t see me as the very shy person that I really am. 😉

Do you act and speak differently knowing the forum en masse will read it?

Do I speak differently while posting compared to msn? Yes. In what way depends on the person I´m talking to and the subject. Just as irl. The chat did make me more unlike me than I was used to though. :tongue:

how honest is the caricature of you to the actual you?

As honest as I can make it. I don´t like to pretend. I take pride in being honest in general. I don´t like to lie. Which don´t mean I´m always 100% truthful. I do like to joke and sometimes a lie is necessarry. But I´d rather keep quiet than lie if I have the choice. Or angle it so it might look like something I didn´t actually mean. And the "problem" with sarcasm is that it´s hard to know if there´s any truth in it or not.

Have I babbled enough now? Too shorten it. I try to be as true to myself as I can even though I sometimes fail and if I don´t seem shy online so yay! But trust me I am. And insecure with low self-esteem and all that goes with it if that hasn´t shine through. See? Some more honesty for you. 😉 And the short version didn´t get that short...

 

[Skanky Vamp]

For everyone that mentioned cursing- doesnt that mean though there are still aspects that you are not showing of yourself? why do you refrain from cursing as much? Is it just to seem more 'polite' or is it to make a better appearance? In either instance could it not be considered a mask, because you are still not showing your true self? And Bear, do you think you are more vocal online because OFFline you want to and cannot be? Is it empowering or fulfilling for you to be more vocal online?

 

[JenniferAlice]

I know you all think I'm an annoying asshole, haha, AND in real life, I am an annoying asshole, Bluebird can back this up. 🙂


BUT, sometimes I get really shy, and scared and worried, and I have to back off for a while.. I think even in real life I have made myself into a bit of a character, I think I always have. I really don't know who I am, I don't think I can answer these questions.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

As honest as I can make it. I don´t like to pretend.

I did not mean honest as in truthful, but honest to your real self. Is there a difference between (sorry, dont know your name) and Kinslayer? Would you rather your real life be more like Kinslayer or vice versa? You mention IRL being shy but not so much on the forum; are you shy in chat as well (which is why you are never there) and you mentioned MSN. I would make a guess that (being one one one) you are very much like 'yourself' on MSN, would that be wrong?

Does the forum seem more or less personable? Does the fact that (for the most part) people are just letters on a screen make it easier for you to be more vocal and 'talkative?'

 

[Airam]

Well I don't hide at all behind my screen-name since my screen-name IS my real name. Before I joined up here it had been a little over a year since I'd done the whole forum thing, and on those I started with a screen-name and then eventually when I got really comfortable with everyone changed it to my real name... guess when i joined here I just skipped right to the real name, not sure why, maybe it was just easier than thinking up something all witty. I'm good with using my real name though, don't really have anything to hide... plus my name is so weird most of ya'll probably didn't even know it was my real name.

Personality wise, what you read is pretty much what you would get if you met me in person... except maybe add a tad more sarcasm and TONS more cursing... my f-bombs tend to get a little out of control. :biggrin:

EDIT:

why do you refrain from cursing as much? Is it just to seem more 'polite' or is it to make a better appearance? In either instance could it not be considered a mask, because you are still not showing your true self?

Well I refrain from cursing for the sole reason that its just not really allowed on the boards so rather than having a bunch of astericks in my post, I just find a different way to say what want to say.

 

[StuckinTraffic]

Nah, in my case, I just don't curse as much online because it's bad form. And in all honesty, I only curse a lot with people I feel very comfortable with....my friends. They know I have a potty mouth and love me anyway, so it's all good, LOL! I don't see that as wearing a mask, really....I guess you could call it that, but to me, people who are totally different online than they are in RL, like for example.....online they put themselves forward as something they're not....famous, or model-type good looking, etc.....and when you meet them, if you happen to...they turn out to be the opposite. THAT, imo, is wearing a mask. The difference in how I talk in RL and how I write on the boards is just a matter of being polite.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

I think even in real life I have made myself into a bit of a character, I think I always have.

So you think your Spoons persona has overpowered Jen? Is that because you say that sometimes you (as Jen) are sometimes shy, scared and worried yet you (even in real life) as Spoons do not have to be?
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And in all honesty, I only curse a lot with people I feel very comfortable with....my friends.

So (hehehe hahaha oh I have to go here.. you know I do! you know I do) seeing how you say you only curse a lot with people you feel comfortable with, and how you dont curse here.. why arent you comfortable? hahaha SORRY!! But come on, you set me up for that perfectly.. you knew I would analyze that sentence!

I think its more natural to curse IRL than online because it comes out effortlessly.. by the time I typee motherfu I think twice about adding the last letters..

 

[Blondie Bear]

For everyone that mentioned cursing- doesnt that mean though there are still aspects that you are not showing of yourself? why do you refrain from cursing as much? Is it just to seem more 'polite' or is it to make a better appearance? In either instance could it not be considered a mask, because you are still not showing your true self? And Bear, do you think you are more vocal online because OFFline you want to and cannot be? Is it empowering or fulfilling for you to be more vocal online?

RE: Cursing - I don't here because it's not allowed. Just like I don't in my classroom because it wouldn't be professional. Among friends? F-bombs like crazy.

And, yes, I do feel more free here partly because it's easier to express myself without the threat of someone physically getting in my face and yelling at me. It's happened. I hate it. And it's harder for me to express myself spur-of-the-moment like that, so I verbally stumble all over myself and sound like an idiot if I try to have any kind of impassioned discussion IRL. It's much easier to get my point across here.

 

[bigmoneygrip]

My screen name really isn't an alias. I just took it from an old episode of "Sanford and Son", 'cause I thought it was a funny and original name. I use it for other places I post, too, like fark.com, etc. I'm pretty much like what I post . . . like a few others have said, I tend to use more colorful language in person than on the boards.

 

[JenniferAlice]

So you think your Spoons persona has overpowered Jen? Is that because you say that sometimes you (as Jen) are sometimes shy, scared and worried yet you (even in real life) as Spoons do not have to be?

The way I see it, I've always had a kind of spilt personality, rapid mood swings, I think I switch from crazy, to mellow quite alot.. Sometimes maybe people expect some comic relief? I'm happy to go along, like, good vibrations and all that, I'm at one with the universe.

Kind of off topic, but I think I might be an alcoholic, all the loud and crazy, and then to quiet and introverted, I don't know, it could be the meds.

And that's how I am as Jen, I need time, ask me again in 10 years, I'm sure I'll still be here.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

I speak swedish irl.

You have my condolences.. at least you did give the world ABBA

 

[Airam]

scobro agrees: do you do like yahoo, msn or any chat like that? do you curse as often there?

I don't sign on as often as i used to but I do have MSN and yes I do tend to curse there too pretty regularly. Its not like it something I need to be proud of or anything but the F word, in ALL of its variations and uses, is just part of my talking vocabulary, it just comes out before I even know its happening. So even on a chat service like MSN, where its more of a conversational format, the same thing, I type it and hit send before I even realize I did it.

 

[white avenger]

For everyone that mentioned cursing- doesnt that mean though there are still aspects that you are not showing of yourself? why do you refrain from cursing as much? Is it just to seem more 'polite' or is it to make a better appearance? In either instance could it not be considered a mask, because you are still not showing your true self?

Perhaps not as much a mask as a desire not to not say or do anything that might be considered inappropriate in a group that contains readers barely into their teens. I don't see how the desire to avoid unnecessarily offending or insulting another person could be in any way considered a mask.