How do you behave both online and in reality?

[shazza]

I adjust my online persona accordingly; here at TPM is likely the most accurate representation of myself, pleasant and upbeat, and decidedly eager to please. I suppose this is in part because I've been around here for so long that I no longer feel a need to try and be anything I'm not; not one of the hip upbeat folk nor the rebellious misfit. Just another average Joe.

As I would in real life, for other places I adjust my personality as the situation requires. On a Titans forum I'm less personable and something of an informed wiseass, while at a Nintendo forum where I'm pretty much a nobody I just go about being as inoffensive as possible. There were other forums where I'd play the role of the jerk; not bullying people but laying down my opinions, harsh as they may have been, without sugar-coating it. I always had fun doing this, because I didn't generally feel any kind of attachment to these places so if I ended up making an idiot of myself I could sod off without any consequence.

Speaking from personal experience, vastly adjusting your personallity felt like I did not know who I truly was. Which one was the true me? Do you feel this way? It is extremely relevant to personal insecurirites by attempting to fit in/please the specific social group; either online or real life.

Whether you agree or not is entirely upto you.

In regards to TPM, I've had an interesting experience of different "personas" during my eight years of activity. My early years (2000-2002) here I was incredibly naive, nice and insecure. I'd attempt to please everyone on this forum, suck up and yeah. Then from about 2003-2006 I purposely trolled and had probably broken every rule mentioned above.

Now I'm just being myself. I'm not out to please anyone. I'm not out to purposely troll. The same in real life. I'm not the nicest person around but I treat people with respect and friendly and expect the same in return. I'm simply myself.

However just like everyone else, obviously there is more or less differences with the way you act online in comparision to real life. They are completely two different social interactions. However I'm still me online as I am in real life.

If anything, I curse way more than I do in real life than I would online.

[Drago]

Speaking from personal experience, vastly adjusting your personallity felt like I did not know who I truly was. Which one was the true me? Do you feel this way? It is extremely relevant to personal insecurirites by attempting to fit in/please the specific social group; either online or real life.

I suppose I always felt as though all of the personalities were me, just exaggerated versions. I never really said or did anything that I wasn't genuinely feeling, but I suppose in the 'jerk forums' I was more inclined to respond to a comment I disagreed with with anger, simply because that option to shut them down was open - here at TPM, I like to maintain a level of respectability - even if someone really badly needs to have the verbal smackdown laid on them, I'm not going to go that far. Just calmly state my piece and move on.

If I were up for an adventure I'd create an entirely different persona altogether; offer opinions I might not necessarily agree with, create an entirely false history and personality... The anonymity of the Internet is a wonderfully frightening thing. Wasn't there a TPM member called Kasumi or something of that nature who turned out to be a guy after years of masquerading as a female? It's just funny how anyone, as long as they're observant and consistent enough, can become a completely different person with a few simple keystrokes. I also seem to recall hearing of a blog written by a teenage lesbian, which turned out to be the fictional works of a 40-year-old man... But I digress.