Real Life Personality Vs On-Line Persona

Fanny Cradock

I was looking at the post "Could Boards influence peoples opinion of you in the real world?" and I was wondering how close a reflection your on-line persona is is to your real life self? Personally speaking, I'm at least 30% more assholeish here then day-to-day life. I'm also far more outspoken and opinionated.

A few examples of questions to consider:

*Do you spout vile and disturbing beliefs that you wouldn't dare utter to someone's face?

*Does the anonymity of the internet enbiggen you with a confidence to throw your virtual weight around in a way you couldn't possibly manage in real life?

*Can you express a positive outlook here (or any other fora) that you are unable to muster otherwise?

*Are you funnier in the flesh?

*Are you less intelligent in the big bad word then you "believe" you appear here? e.g. you copy and paste other "learned" people's ideas and post them in the politics forum? Or, for that matter, keep putting inappropriate words in "inverted commas"?

And so on...

The floor is yours, people.

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End Transmission

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Rhyme

I'd like to think that the internets anonymity changes nothing about my 'persona' while sitting here typing but i'm sure there are things i might do or not do while safe behind concrete walls and a dime-a-dozen firewall.

My internet 'persona' is basically me relaxed among friends, casually throwing out whatever crosses my mind with only a minor check system preventing me from saying something really stupid... then again, i speak faster than i type so i have a little more time to consider points on the internet so you might say that me on the internet would be more reserved than in real life (weird huh?).

More or less the same, no big changes between the two.

Smellyirishman

I try to keep it real (yo), but I am sure there are discrepancies.

Flukey

We all behave differently in different situations. Our online personas are of course different, but we have more than one offline persona too. You behave differently depending on who you are with or where you are. Friends, family, other relations, colleagues, strangers etc. all bring out different sides of you. There are overlaps of course and some fundamentals that remain the same in all situations.

When it comes to being online, it is a very different dynamic than face to face communication. Someone who would be very shy face to face will find it easier to express themselves online for example. You have the luxury here of thinking of what you are going to say and do before typing up a post or reply in a chat room or whatever. Face to face conversation does not give you that opportunity. I've met a lot of online friends and most of them were very different in person than online and they have found me different than expected too. There is only a certain amount of your personality that you can get across in text onscreen. There is a lot more to all of us than that. Even people that do know you personally offline will not know everything about you.

monkeyfudge

I tend not to post if I'm in one of my 'black' moods.... so my online personality is probably better... although I don't think my psycho-sexual fixation with monkeys is as strong in real life.

(which is probably good news for Dublin Zoo)

Bard

Flukey wrote:

Our online personas are of course different, but we have more than one offline persona too.

Who's behalf are you speaking on, exactly? Not mine.

I say very little or nothing online that I wouldn't say offline. I feel no more anonymity on boards.ie than I would in a crowded room where I know few, some, most or none of the people there. The fact that I'm not, in fact, face-to-face with the people I'm in discussion with removes some of my natural shyness or quietness, I suppose, but it doesn't change my nature, my belief in what I say, or what I would be likely to say in response to a query or someones point of view, from what it would be in the 'real world'.

Ruu_Old

I'm probably not far off my online persona, more chatty here because of course I can hide behind my computer. No major differences in offline v online.

Sangre

Believe it or not I'm even funnier in real life. I'm less modest too.

biko

Same same, but different.
I would be more chatty IRL because I'm a lazy typer.

Red Hand

Not sure. Probably not. Would have to meet someone off the internet and have them judge.

InFront

Either this is deja vu at its eeriest, or (more probably) this thread was here recently? I'm not complaining, just wondering if I'm slowly... going mad...

Red Hand

InFront wrote:

Either this is deja vu at its eeriest, or (more probably) this thread was here recently? I'm not complaining, just wondering if I'm slowly... going mad...

Yep, a few months ago, methinks.

Ruu_Old

Old thread was back 'ere.

Rabies

Pretty much the same, but I don't have rabies in real life anymore. Doctors cured me of that last week.

InFront

How weird I would have thought it was just last week... and it was last August:eek:
As I usually say, time flies when you're... on the internet?

Well I am the same person I think, but it wouldn't really be for me to say. I'm probably more rounded on boards. In real life (what's that again?) you tend to only talk about light hearted stuff to you jokey friends, maths to your maths friends, and literature to your arts friends. Here you can talk about whatever you want. Well almost... It's free speech, right?

KerranJast

This thread reminds me of this classic Red vs Blue special .

Lust4Life

Yup! This thread has been done before.

I am much like my on line personna. Only in Real Life, actually get to see what I look like when they talk to me! Heh!

BlitzKrieg

I would argue that it is inaccurate to ask someone to describe the differences between their online/real life persona because most wont notice any major changes.

hence why I leave it to the people who have met me to point out the differences because I dont know them...Or what I think are the differences are usually completely wrong.

monkeyfudge

BlitzKrieg wrote:

hence why I leave it to the people who have met me to point out the differences because I dont know them...Or what I think are the differences are usually completely wrong.

You seem far more excitable in real life. A lot of planning and thought seems to go into some of your more detailed posts... so in real life you don't seem quite as collected.

It's not a bad thing... just a contrast.

BlitzKrieg

I could point out you sound more posh (might not be the right word...) in your posting and when in person you sound like a bog standard irishman...very chatty.

EDIT: Wait I got it! you seem to have a more expanded vocabulary online then in person...there thats right.

You seem far more excitable in real life. A lot of planning and thought seems to go into some of your more detailed posts... so in real life you don't seem quite as collected.

the beauty of edit and the fact online time in a debate slows down so you can take a moment to format your argument.

monkeyfudge

BlitzKrieg wrote:

I could point out you sound more posh (might not be the right word...) in your posting and when in person you sound like a bog standard irishman...very chatty.

Well I could hardly speak like I type or I'd never have survived growing up in Coolock. That and I can't pronounce half the words I use because I only really read them in books.

BlitzKrieg

ahh but your much more charming in person then online...well its easier to understand the monkey fetish in person then it is when your online.

User45701

i am almost the exact same except in real life i would use those things what are they called "personal jokes" the things that only you and a few of your close mates will get? i use those in real life but don't bother here because you would not understand them and they would be pointless posts

Heyes

Im pretty much the same person, what you see is what you get. However probable at first meet you d probable think im a little shy, but once i get to know you then there s no shutting me up

Rb

More or less the same, though I don't know how I come across these days on Boards.

The Hill Billy

I'm pretty much the same on- or off-line.

However, I'd probably be a bit more tolerant of fools on here than I would be in the flesh. (The fear of putting incriminating thoughts in writing I suppose.)

I'd also like to think that I have a cheerier personality in the real world.

Edit: As a matter of fact I actually changed my avatar to the current smiley one from the scowly/angry "Yosemite Sam" one because I think too many people here thought I was a right narky bastard. I've since found that some responses to my posts aren't as aggressive as they would have been previously.

Mrs_Doyle

I am a bit more confident in myself, my opinions, my debating skills, and my personality in real life.
It can be a little bit frustrating when someone casts judgement on you based on your posting style, without ever having met you, but I guess that's just the nature of the beast.
Like RB_IE, I have no idea how people interpret me these days.
Boards, and the Internet in general, could never let you get your 'whole self' across.

KTRIC

I'm a little different in real for some reason I'm more sarcastic, temperamental and aggressive. Probably because my alter ego "ktric" has been taken down a peg or three by some of the mod's here.

oh and Ktric has more hair than me, the bastard !!

Pighead

Big big difference, some would say gigantic difference. Pighead guesses people see him as some sort of huge fearless handsome tank of a man who goes around bullying people and stealing their girlfriends.

Truth is i'm a skinny fcuker whos only ever been in one fight* in my life and who once grew a sunflower which he was immensely proud of.
The handsome part is true though.

(Tried to break up a fight and got a thump in the face for my troubles, wasn't bad apart from the fact I was dragged out of the nightclub by two girls. Macho Points for that Evening=0)

Black Swan

Spot on sometimes... Other times? Well, when I am not acting, I'm acting out. Who was it that said, "The whole world's a stage...?" Hey, we all have our roles that we play, online and off. Our costumes, our scripts, our props, some of us with makeup, others trying to meet up with one-liners in pubs, clubs, and sometimes these boards.

Sleepy

Sleepy is Eoin run through a 50w amplifier.

I'm louder, more confrontational, more inclined to 'speak' about personal things and through the fact I stop to phrase what I'm typing moreso than I do when I'm talking to someone a little more eloquent (though still far from always making my point correctly or concisely).

The opinions I have on-line and IRL are pretty much the same but on-line they tend to be more focused by the nature of conversing in threads that have set topics so whilst I might go off on a rant about something on here, IRL it might not bother me so much.

Crucifix

I'm more talkative and assholeish in real life. On here I only actually post about 20% of the posts I start. So if you think what I post is bad, imagine what gets abandoned!

Marksie

About the same actually. I may be slightly quieter in real life or when in a group i dont know, but yeah i can back up what i spout about

layke

I would preceive myself as totally different.

I find on boards that I tend to think more before I post a message. For example in an argument here I would be more intelectual about it (pointing flaws in logic) etc. Where as in real life i'd break you in two with a verbal assult that would leave you running to mummy.

That said i'm a lot more fun IRL and dispite all the computery crap I come out with here it would never be topic of conversation due to sheer boredom.

Crucifix wrote:

On here I only actually post about 20% of the posts I start

Know the feeling, I do this as well. Type up a huge response and then something says 'No dson't post that'.

The Hill Billy

Pighead wrote:

Pighead guesses people see him as some sort of huge fearless handsome tank of a man who goes around bullying people and stealing their girlfriends.

Is Pighead as deluded in real life as he is here?

layke

Hill Billy wrote:

Is Pighead as deluded in real life as he is here?

The real question is Piggeh, would we be dissapointed?

FlutterinBantam

Totally different... here I'm easygoing and tolerant

In real life I'm probably a noobish assh0le, who talks before he thinks and gets up peoples noses.

John Mason

well, i am much nicer here then in the real world ............i have cyber friends here

scojones

I'm witness to monkeyfudge's monkey fetish... but damn his monkey is the cutest thing in the world and I don't blame him one bit - I would have kidnapped it if I didn't know it would probably break his heart.
Hope yer coming to the next #boards beers monkeyfudge, we can have another kopperberg drinkathon!

5starpool

I'm mostly the same, and since I know most of the regular posters on the poker forum where I mostly post in the flesh it's hard to be too different. I've had to tone down my sarcasm on there somewhat since being 'modified' though, which is a pity.

Rb

Crucifix wrote:

I'm more talkative and assholeish in real life. On here I only actually post about 20% of the posts I start. So if you think what I post is bad, imagine what gets abandoned!

Lol, as do I. If I posted half of what I was going to, but subsequently changed my mind, I'd be long banned by now.

Flukey

Bard wrote:

Who's behalf are you speaking on, exactly? Not mine.

I say very little or nothing online that I wouldn't say offline. I feel no more anonymity on boards.ie than I would in a crowded room where I know few, some, most or none of the people there. The fact that I'm not, in fact, face-to-face with the people I'm in discussion with removes some of my natural shyness or quietness, I suppose, but it doesn't change my nature, my belief in what I say, or what I would be likely to say in response to a query or someones point of view, from what it would be in the 'real world'.

I agree that we still have the same opinions, nature, etc., but even as you said yourself, here may remove someone's shyness. As I said in my earlier post, we are still ourselves no matter what situation we are in, but nevertheless we do behave a little differently in different scenarios or with different people. Different people see different aspects of you. People you work with would not know you like the people you live with. If you are visiting you aunty you will probably behave differently than if you were visiting your best mate. You are still you in all those situations, but you will be different in them too.

The office party is the classic example. You see a complete different side to someone that you work with all the time, but have never seen in any other setting. They may sit quietly in the office all day, but when they are out socialising they are very different. Because you have only ever seen them at work, it is a big shock to you, whereas their friends see them like that all the time and could not imagine them sitting quietly in an office all day.

nesf

I'm as much, if not more, of an argumentative, condescending and opinionated bastard in real life. The only real difference is that I appear taller online.