I was thinking more in a Blog metaphysical sense rather than a deep philosophical thing beceause in philosophical terms there is no reason why I am here at all nor does there have to be however much I or others may want there to be.

I had a conversation with someone a little while back which caused me to re-assess the last 11 months as to what have I been doing and why and whether it has changed from the original objective?

I have said before that originally I came here to write, that was actually the only objective, there was nothing else I didn’t know that anything else was possible I just knew you could write and I wanted to do so. After setting up the blog here I got quickly interested in the other things that one could do like browsing and leaving comments, someone had even left me a comment on my header, a kind of early days Pimme if you like!

I think I discovered Bob Red first, the reason I think it was me who discovered him is that I think it is more likely that I was the one searching for blogs with the string ‘red’ for obvious reasons!

The real discussion that interested me was that of course whilst there is a degree of intimacy exchanged between people here there is also an element of trust that the information given is correct. People feel there is a block of anonimity which perhaps makes them more inclined to be open and honest.

The reason I say this is because the person I was chatting to had met someone that didn’t appear the same in real life as they had done online. That is not to say there was any deception involved per se, I didn’t get that impression. Of course online we are in a repressed state of sensory awareness, we often do not know physical appearance and mannerisms, tone of voice, facial expressions, smell, all these things that in the real world would help us make a judgement. So when I was envisaging that the online world was in a way better precisely because it removed the snap visual judgement that people made, one in which I generally did not come off too well, it may not be such a good thing that the fact that the overal judgement from online means is not as informed as it otherwise might be in the real world.

So what is the situation on meeting people that you have met in the blogosphere? I thought that I was relatively for it in many ways but there are naturally parametres -if I still lived where my children did then I would be far less inclined to meet people and I would certainly never give out my address. That being said if I had a fulfilling social life and a few decent friends in the outside world would I have got so involved in the online world? Probably not, at least not as regularly. As now a single person with an almost non-existent group of friends I have little to lose by risking things. I cannot deny tho’ that blogging and the online community have been of benefit to me because of regulating my writing and enabling me to chat to a small group of people from all over the place. I have enjoyed that and perhaps this is why the distinction between online friends and real friends has blurred somewhat. Whilst I may not anticipate meeting most people particularly those overseas, the glass ceiling of specifically not meeting some people if someone has expressed that viewpoint just seems a disappointment. One of those illogical things where you don’t necessarily implicitly want something until someone tells you that you absolutely can’t have it and then it becomes of vital importance!

It was the fact that the person I was talking to had said that they would not meet anyone from the blogosphere again that had for a few moments taken the wind out of my sails, (perhaps the principle raw nerve it touched was that their description of the person in real life was one I might have good reason to fear might be applied to me) there was no special reason for that other than that of the people I knew from the blogosphere and of the smaller group I might feel I knew enough to be interested in meeting I would have thought it more likely that I would have met this person than almost anyone else. The fact that this person did not feel the same way about their vision of their online acquaintances wasn’t so much an ego deflater as it highlighted the fact that whilst I often make the assumption that many of the people I talk to have a lot in common, which they do, sometimes eerily so, there are many others and in the blogosphere as a whole probably the vast majority who do not share the same sort of views on this as I do. I know it isn’t exactly revelationary but had you really sat down and thought about it? Maybe you had, ok, no-one likes a smart arse! I hadn’t and once again it was a lesson to learn. Interesting tho’ not without a hint of sadness that perhaps my innocent asumption was a rose-tinted view of a world that doesn’t exist.

Song Of The Day – Scarlet Fantastic – No Memories

Original Comments:


MrDan made this comment,
I’d like nothing more than to meet certain members of my online community, but I suspect you already knew that 😉
MrDan

Visit me @ http://alien.blog-city.com

comment added :: {ts ‘2005-06-02 03:17:22’} GMT+01

A visitor made this comment,
I fully intend to meet you when I finally cross the Pond, so you’d best get right with the idea, my friend.
I have met several people from online, and I haven’t a single regret. I will meet more before the summer is out, and am looking forward to it. The internet has been a boon to me, socially, to be honest. I use it to keep in touch with friends in town as well as out.

Kristie

comment added :: {ts ‘2005-06-02 06:14:36’} GMT+01

Rina made this comment,
Baron-Baby, I’d meet you if I could afford it! And when I’m in England you’re very, very high on my list of people to me. Second, maybe.
Visit me @ http://sugarbowl.blog-city.com

comment added :: {ts ‘2005-06-02 22:28:38’} GMT+01