OT Poll How much are you like your forum persona?

[Renegade 13]

Ok, so the title could be a little better phrased, but hey I'm sick and tired so cut me a little slack

The question is; is your real-life personality similar to your online forum personality, and how close is the similarity? I've put this in a poll so I'd get more responses...it seems people like the anonymity of a poll, since so many more people vote as opposed to posting!

Feel free to elaborate in a post if you have something more to add. And if you don't feel like adding more info, please at least vote!

[Fyron]

"forum persona?" Interesting...

[Renegade 13]

Imperator Fyron said:
"forum persona?" Interesting...

In what way?

[Randallw]

Apart from common sense security I act just like me. For example I don't even bother with a forum name except my own. I'm simply not the sort of person who feels it necessary to make up a nickname.

[Slynky]

I marked the next to last option because people should have a good idea of what I'm like (personality-wise) if they read all my posts. That means they have an idea what kind of music, girls, movies, and games I like. The would know I've always like model railroading, am a Serenity "freak", work in IT for a living, tinker around with photography and digital imagery, and like SE4 more than any other game I've played (except chess). They would know I appreciate good humo(u)r and clever puns. I'm competitive. I don't get upset easy and am a fairly mild-mannered reporter, errrr, person. And they'd know I'm married and have a daughter.

So, without boring everyone to death, I'd say what you have read that I've posted is a good representation of what I'm like.

[Alneyan]

I went for 50/50, but I'm not sure how high the proportion should be. What I say varies depending on the context: speaking French around certain users (say, other university students) is bound to be different from writing English on a forum with different users. Either way, it will only reflect a part of what I am, and never the whole: these 3,000 posts contain some information, a lot of it repeated very often, but they can't contain the whole (just like after a few hours of conversation).

I also don't post all the time, whereas I *am* all the time, so some of my moodiness is unlikely to show. And I suppose there's always that dark corner of the self.

[Thermodyne]

It�s more or less all the same person here. Main difference is that in the real world I can talk faster than I type, so I tend to say more.

[Puke]

Imperator Fyron said:
"forum persona?" Interesting...

from the snippets of Fyron's real life that show through on #SpaceEmpires from time to time, i'd have to say that his online personality is a strong affectation - and that this is him trying to play coy.

I answered 50/50. but i dont try to hide my real personality - i have a strange relationship with my online persona. i try to type in a casual fashion, the same way i talk. i espouse the same opinions that i have in real life, and leverage sarcasm just as often. sometimes its hard to pick up on, online. sometimes im just not as funny as i think i am.

i certainly dont speak in monologues, but the format of a web forum encourages that kind of typing. im not always as loud or as obnoxious as my internet persona. i tend to use characterizations to poke fun at people, and to poke fun at myself. hopefully no one takes it too seriously.

i dont make up nicknames for myself; as with all real nicknames, theyre given to you by other people. this one was stuck on me about 20 years ago by some people making fun of my real name. some of my friends still call me "puke" in real life. it's embossed on a piece of my luggage.

online, i present something of a characterization. but i present similar characterizations in real life. the vast majority of people i have met in the world model themselves into some sort of image. some character they present to the world and themselves. they sculpt the way they talk, dress, and act.

sure, you could say "thats just who we are, youre not fakeing it if thats the real you." and maybe thats so. but how much of the real us is just an affectation?

I think this is a really insightfull poll, and deserves to be thought about. or maybe im just an overly analytical drunk. or the characterization of one.

[Atrocities]

I really am a depressed overweight single white male who lives in isolation, in "compound" filled with computers, guns, quads, and the occational horse, cat, dog, and unidentified varment!

[Puke]

aren't the guns supposed to trump the varments? i mean, thats what a varmint rifle is FOR, right?