Personality Changes on the Internet

[ThEclipse]

Yeah when i'm posting i'll try to use correct grammar and punctuation but on AIM all I care about is spelling correctly.

[JesusWaffle]

Wow. Lots of replies. I tend to agree with the people who use proper grammar. For the rest of you, I suggest a solution: make little macros to turn g2g into Got to go, lol into That's funny, and so on.

Or you could just use proper english. It's not like out language needs any more abuse than it already gets, especially from intelligent people like you.

[flypie743]

I suggest a solution: make little macros to turn g2g into Got to go, lol into That's funny, and so on.

But why? What is the point if the person you are talking to uses them, too? It is not like they care and they are like I am never talking to you again because you said "lol" instead of "Wow that was funny."

[Nonexistent_One]

I agree with those who type properly to display intelligence on boards. When I'm on AIM or Yahoo!, I try my best to sound intelligent as well, unless the person I am chatting with is a friend that doesn't care. My friends at home know that I am intelligent; they don't need proof online, they only want to chat.

~NEO

[JesusWaffle]

I suggest a solution: make little macros to turn g2g into Got to go, lol into That's funny, and so on.

But why? What is the point if the person you are talking to uses them, too? It is not like they care and they are like I am never talking to you again because you said "lol" instead of "Wow that was funny."

You have a point. I suppose there isn't much of a point in debating this anyway, as it is a matter of personal preference. I'm not really in the mood to strive for my causes (such as grammar), anyway.

[Arch0wl]

There's things about the internet and the way people act that determines how I present myself.

I don't like being bossed around, especially with something I consider as "easy" as the internet. There is no consequence. I see the internet like a video game. When you keep losing on a video game, you keep trying untill you do it, right? I never see any reason to quit arguments when they don't even require near as much of your concentration as a video game. Hence why I am an opinionated, royal asshole + prick to things I find stupid. By stupid, I don't just mean unintelligent stupid, I mean stuff you would say "..." at as well. I always see so many people making mistakes left and right and often I don't even feel like I'm being mean to them, moreso correcting them or teaching them a lesson that will help them later on.

That part about me, I would say is the only thing about me that is different from my persona IRL to my persona online. I try to convey my IRL personality as good as I can online. Oh, and I talk fast and read fast, so that's why it pisses me off when a lot of people don't read through posts, and why my posts are generally not short.

[Kilgamayan]

I don't use the shift and period keys because A. nobody else does, B. nobody else cares

I'm a lot more outgoing on the internet than IRL. I've been a loner for a long time, and it's always worked for me so I've never seen a reason to change myself. However, in the end it doesn't matter what other people on the internet think, so why not go for it?

[alextrebek]

I'd just like to say how very old this theory is. Anonymity (as in, what the internet gives you) causes there to be fewer and/or less severe consequences for your actions. People get a little power crazy and act louder, more brashly, etc. I've said things to people on the web I'd never say to people in real life.

[AniamL]

I'm a grammar/spelling nazi all the time in real life, but when typing on AIM I feel that there's no point in capitalization or correct punctuation (although grammar is certainly a testament to one's intellect... when one says something like "omg this one time i was like running thru the woods and i sawed a kid and he was runing thru the woods to and so we wer runing thru the woods toogether!" you know that he or she is a dolt... and it's torture to read). I've found that, to be honest, puns and such just don't have the same kick when they're capitalized and punctuated correctly. And who cares if I look intelligent? I don't come off as an intellectual in real life until you have a serious conversation with me; likewise I don't come off as an intellectual online unless I feel like making a pun or engaging in a serious conversation. I've also found that (at least in the first-person shooter genre) people who bother to use perfect capitalization etc. are flamed and looked down upon.

Also, people who are nice guys in real life can be real assholes ("e-thugs") online - but that's probably a self-confidence issue. Anonymity is a powerful thing.

[TACODUDE]

[Moogy]

I don't use the shift and period keys because A. nobody else does, B. nobody else cares

I don't use the shift and period keys because A. nobody else does EXCEPT KILGA, B. nobody else cares

[The_Q]

The point of communication is to quickly and easily convey information from one person to another. On the internet where the main method of information transfer is typing, shorthand has evolved. Why should we use shorthand? It make English more efficient AS LONG AS the other person knows what you're saying. I could close everything I write with "mtfbwy,a" and you'd never know what I meant. You'd ask and I'd explain it means "may the force be with you always". Since you didn't know, you asked, which slowed down the flow of communication, thus making it less efficient. Making shorthand of a phrase nobody knows makes the point of shorthand moot.

Unfortunatly, someone has to come up with more shorthand sooner or later and someone has to figure out what it means before it becomes widespread. For it to be widespread it has to go through a lot of inefficiency. Every other word in every other language goes through the same thing when a child learns it for the first time or when it's invented. From the moment it's widespread on, though, it becomes quite efficient to use.

Q

[sapphirescimitar]

I try to type with as much perfect grammar and spelling as possible because it's kind of like reading a book. You wouldn't write a book like this: i went 2 teh stoer 2 by a cc[Coca Cola].

I understand that people want to communicate quickly, but I feel that people should be able to do so just as well if they at least attempted to type well.

Even though I, personally, type like this, I don't get on other people's cases about how they type as long as it isn't in an annoying way such as 133^ 5|>34|<[leet speak] or LiKe ThIs because not only is that aggrivating to translate, it would take nearly as much time to type normally. A missing period or two and no capitalization is no problem for me to read.

Anyway, this was about personality shifts, right? My appologies for getting off topic a bit, but it was a little on topic, after all.

Well, people who type like utter morons online may be the kind of people that actually speak intelligently in real life. It may be just the fact that online life isn't real life, so they really needn't bother how they type, or sometimes what they say. Most things normal people do online wouldn't harm them in real life (unless they're doing something illegal), so some people may think it wouldn't matter if they acted different online than offline.

But that's what I think, soooo. Yep.

[jewpinthethird]

WHen I am around my friends, I am like I am on boards, but when I am around other people, I don't talk.

That's the same with me. Sometimes I am more conservative in the things I say on the forums though.

[staroceanfreakx]

I am much more outgoing online than in real life. I will talk to almost anyone, as long as they aren't annoying me and obviously trying to piss me off. In real life however, I am much less likely to talk to someone for an extended period of time unless I find a common ground with them. In real life I hate talking with people I can't relate to, but online I don't care. Also, online I always practice good grammar and spelling on forums, except on gamefaq's, where I go to when I need to act like a jackass. On AIM, I try to do the same, but if I make a mistake and realize it before hitting enter, I usually won't fix it unless it is completely illegible. I have typed ;p; instead of lol and inf instead of omg, because my fingers aren't where I thought they were on the keyboard, usually i will hit enter, and then I will immediately write lol* or omg* or something like that.