I don't mean to ruin the party atmosphere of this forum, but I'd like to have an actual discussion. The question is :

Is the Org part of "real life" or is it a separate world?

it's a haven.

Since it is not only amusing me, but also bothering some people in my life. It is part of real life. As far as life is real...

it's a little of both: we're pretty much talkin/postin in real time, and yet we act a bit more hedonistically 'round here as well.

best of both worlds

there are times when it offers escape from the B.S. of the 'real world'

But then we talk about serious stuff too.

I have met people here whom I would consider friends if I were to ever meet them in the 'real world'

It's as 'real' as anything, I guess.

Nikster said:

exactly...
CO-SIGN
btw nik, i LOVE your sig... "can't sleep, fams will eat me"

Aerogram said:

easy. the ORG IS the world

XxAxX said:

Akk :O calling Neo, quick somebody is still stuck in the Matrix :LOL:

It's a part of my real world. My friends/family know what it is, and I bring up people and info from here in conversation. Lots of people my age have online relationships; my best friend spends lots of time on a Tori Amos board, my little sister lives on AIM, and some of my relationships with longtime friends are carried out mostly through email due to time and distance issues. It's really no biggie.

The only way in which it is seperate is that my org peeps and my non-org peeps don't mix; none of my friends use the org and the people I mostly converse with on the org don't live near me (and if they did, it wouldn't be weird to me to hang out with them). But that's actually fairly true for my non-org friends as well. I've met them in different places under different circumstances and most of them don't know each other.

Everyone missed the obvious difference :

You cannot edit yourself in the "real world".

It's an interesting difference, but I still believe the Org is part of real life like having a conversation is part of life. On the other hand, you have far more control over how you appear and communicate online than you have in real life. You can edit yourself, carefully word your replies, find a nice emoticon or image, etc. It's more manmade than real life but real connections are nonetheless made.

i use the edit button on here a lot. sometimes i'm cranky and type something really sarcastic. then later i erase it because it's too forceful. doesn't mean i changed my mind, just means i think the words are too negative. i don't see a day when i'll NEVER say anything sarcastic or critical, that would be equally skewed imo

i wonder if it could be said that the ORG message boards serve as the 'backyard fence' of old, where neighbors traded bits of information.

maybe the ORG is an upgraded continuance of the tradition of oral culture/folk lore

Aerogram said:

Oh, that's very true. I rarely edit my own content, though. I mostly edit for spelling/grammar mistakes.

I do like that I have time to think about what I really want to say and how I want to say it, especially in a discussion where people are getting a little cranky.

All the answers to life can be found here.

Like JK Rowling says on the Harry Potter DVD, you write something down and all the answers come back at you.It's spooky.

The org takes me away from everything I should be doing.

It is my escape per say. As for if it is real or not...

it is but it isnt... I consider people on here that I have

never even met "friends", I care about others opinions that

I really shouldnt care about... I am here in real time

but its my escape from what is real! Does that make sense?

Aerogram said:

But does being able to "edit" yourself make what you say and do any less "real"??...Some could say that by having the ability to edit and attach things like emoticons to our words, that we are better able to convey what we're truly thinking and feelings...

The Org, to me, is a hangout--one of literally thousands of hangouts that we real humans have provided for ourselves in the real world...nothing more, nothing less...

It's a separate world.

My real-life friends/family do not know about this.

It's like my dirty little secret.






[This message was edited Fri Apr 18 12:25:27 PDT 2003 by Natsume]

Natsume said:

What? It's not like it's PORN or anything :p


Well...ok...maybe it IS...sometimes

Nikster said:

lol

It's just kind of embarrassing.

"I spend hours and hours of my time everyday posting on a discussion board about Prince that doesn't even really have anything to do with Prince with people I have never met!"

Nobody I know would understand.

Oh, and I am really afraid of people I know coming on here and checking out what I say. That would be too weird. I would feel so restricted.

Natsume said:

leave the child, they will never understand you as we do...
ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!

hee hee... my org family/cult

Natsume said:

We check out what you say

cborgman said:

I remember one time I had to come out with it. It was when I was dating my last boyfriend. It was very surreal.

"William... I am addicted to these message boards online that are about Prince."

Awful, awful experience!

wellbeyond said:

It can be an instrument of truth and precision, or a way to conceal your flaws and appear like something you are not.

I remember one time I had to come out with it. It was when I was dating my last boyfriend. It was very surreal.

"William... I am addicted to these message boards online that are about Prince."

Awful, awful experience!

[/quote]

i just totally had this made for tv lifetime movie vision starring Meredith Baxter-Birney and some male soap star of this moment.
[This message was edited Fri Apr 18 13:12:13 PDT 2003 by cborgman]

Natsume said:

boardS?

There's more than one?

:OMG: Princefams! You go there, don't you???

No, I don't think it is a seperate world, not for me, anyhow. I really enjoy expressing myself here, and enjoy reading others doing the same.

I think that it is underrated how people can exchange with each other on line. To say that I am unaffected by other people just because 'it is a website' is doing myself out of my OWN experiences.

I do think though, that I come here to NOT engage with things that are not here... ie, feelings that I'd rather not experience. I have recently thought that I'd like to spend more time exchanging with people face - face, my friends. Also, to engage with my own creative process more in the form of making things etc. Yet, I still would choose to come here to enjoy my creative process here. It is important for me because it allows me to take my time to express myself; something that while growing up, I could not do for various reasons, so, by having the space to do so here, I have really gained something valuable as learning to do so here, has allowed me to do it away from the screen.

Yes, it's fairly seperate, since I'm the only connection between the rest of my life and this forum (you can argue about that, but it's how I feel it).

And it's different, because in the rest of my life, there's a physical aspect in every relationship. And because I take more time to thinkhere, before I say something. And it's in *(*%#^@ English, which makes it harder to connect.

Though I like the people I find here very much! And I love this whole way of communicating and I'm very surprised about things that do resemble my normal life.

It's really weird, for instance how similar group dynamics are to real life group dynamics. And how I seem to be filling in my usual role... So no, I don't think you can pretend you're different from who you really are here!
.
[This message was edited Sat Apr 19 0:12:06 PDT 2003 by LillianLaughs]