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Journal rdewald's Journal: Poll: Do you "out" your bit mask? 20

Journal by rdewald

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This comment led me to an interesting notion about which I wanted to poll my now astonishingly long list of Fans (thanks to all of you).

This question is particularly for people who post JE's, but I'm interested in everyone's answer. Do those people in your "3D life" know of your Slashdot persona?

I've had an online persona for a long time. I played distrbuted text D&D games on an ancient VAX at UT during the late 70's, I was very active in USENET back when there was a much higher signal-to-noise ratio in newsgroups. I even got fired from a job once becase of something I said on a completely unrelated listserv, I had a BBS on Fidonet (1:382/70) from 1988 to 1993, I've had a web presence since 1998, and I've been active on slashdot for about 18 months. Everywhere I've gone, I've been rdewald.

The kind of people who find me interesting in the online world are completely different from those that associate with me in 3D life. The kind of people I find interesting online are frequently quite different from those that I associate with in 3D.

So, for me, the paths rarely cross. I count count on one hand the number of people who have been associated with me in both realms. I mean, I e-mail a bunch of people I know in 3d, but that mode of communication augments the 3d experience, it is not a separate mode or manner of relation.

Similarly, I'll tell you all right now anytime any of you are in NYC I'll buy you a beer somewhere. I never pass up a chance to meet an online friend in 3d. But, it's almost always just a brief flip into that mode, and then everything reverts back to the online context.

I have two friends for whom our online and 3d relationships run in paralell, but separate contexts. It's wierd and wonderful.

Other than those two, all my relationships fall solidly into one category or the other, even if they mix modes from time to time.

But, I'm not sure that I would be uncomfortable if all my 3d friends knew me at slashdot (well, maybe not my co-workers and employees), but I might be. I'm fairly certain from perusing the FortKnox Photo Contest that many of those who engage me here would keep the proverbial 20 foot pole between us in 3d (as might I, in some cases).

What do you people (of obviously good online taste) think?

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Poll: Do you "out" your bit mask? More

Poll: Do you "out" your bit mask?

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  • I have to get something out of the way first: I think that the description "3D life" is nothing short of horrible. Pfui! Not that I can think of a better one, but even the standard online vs. "reality" is better than that.

    Now that I have said that I can concentrate on your rather interesting JE. Yes, my closest friends know about my Slashdot personality and journal. No, I don't think they really follow it. They used it to great effect when trying to find out what to get for my birthday, but other than that

    • "I have to get something out of the way first: I think that the description "3D life" is nothing short of horrible. Pfui! Not that I can think of a better one, but even the standard online vs. "reality" is better than that."

      Geez, Louise. Ok. I didn't intend for the moniker to be poetic, just descriptive.

      Your post here is a really interesting essay about the mix between the blog and life. It's funny, you obviously consider the blog really public, I consider it sort of anonymous, even though my name and

      • Your post here is a really interesting essay about the mix between the blog and life. It's funny, you obviously consider the blog really public, I consider it sort of anonymous, even though my name and city are just about five clever clicks away.

        These two concepts are not really exclusive in my mind. Actually they complement each other. Anonymity is not the same thing as invisibility. It just means that there is no story to a face. Or in this case there is no face to the story. I use the journal to keep

  • Specifically to the possible meeting of some of the zoo folks in the DC area.

    I've had this general theory of what is the nature of blogging (still hate that term but I guess it's now defacto standard) and its reflected in a lot of my decisions on the subject.

    I've always felt that journals are for catharsis: providing an avenue for constructive thought generation on topics that you usually don't have the opportunity to share in RL. This generally comes about two ways:
    1. You enjoy discussion of a topic th
    • I had no idea you were such a romantic. That was a very thoughtful and interesting comment, thanks for posting it to my journal. I mean that.

      I indulge myself in meeting those I know through the bit-mask because I just meet far too few quality people. My e-friends are all bright, funny, curious and have *something* in common with me.

      I have ruined a few good fantasies that way, but it's good to ruin a fantasy. The Tibetan monks that do the sand mandalas know this. They spend weeks dropping grains of sa
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Well, Bethanie really *is* my name, and it's unique enough so that someone who knew me and was looking for me here could find me. But my "real life" and my on-line life don't really intersect. I would tend to be pretty protective about my real life from on-line folks, just because of the unknown factor, and I am now a Momma Lion with a little cub to protect. Brings out a whole different set of factors in my consciousness.

    That said, I did meet Hubby on-line, and have meet quite a few people from the Intern
    • I think most of us can relate to your view on things. My closest friend in RL thinks slashdot is dork city. I don't argue with her because I'm perfectly content with the fact that her disinterest guarantees that she doesn't poke around here, which is fine with me, frankly, so I just let her live with the impression that I have some need to run with the dorks now and again.

      The truth is that slashcode is almost miraculous in the elegance and ease with which it makes it possible to form these spontaneous co
  • My boyfriend knows who I am online- it seems silly to keep it from him. Lab Partner #2 know that I am Some Woman on some site called Slashdot, and I know that if I ever give up chemical engineering and devote my life to Everquest, the player by the name of maniac_61 is lab partner #2. I would be terribly embarrassed if he ever read what I wrote, but neither one of us is going to do anything with the knowledge of the other's online persona.

    The slashdot users that I have met in real life, I rarely correspo
    • Oh, and to give props to The Onion- I really do wish I were more like my online persona. =0)

      Me, too. I didn't know that one from the Onion, but I can imagine it.

      I've always wanted to be more like my online persona. :-) I'm much more outgoing here. IRL, I am a rather solitary person. I'm not lonely, I'm just alone most of the time.

      • I'm not lonely, I'm just alone most of the time.

        Few people understand the difference, and it's hard to explain it to them if they don't. I've always had friends and such, but I've just prefered spending time alone. In fact, I never really noticed how solitary I am until somebody who is lonely (not just alone) pointed it out to me. It never occured to me that this is bothersome, but people who are lonely can't understand why somebody would choose to be alone.

        I actually become very irritable if I'm arou
        • We should get together...and then stay apart. :-)

          I'm exactly the same way. I like being around my friends, I like being around and meeting new people, but I prefer to spend most of my time alone.

          I used to be terribly lonely, achingly lonely, very depressed because of my isolation, but I got past all that. Paradoxically, I was spending a lot more time in the company of other people back when I was lonely.

          Now, I'm like you describe yourself to be, I get irritable when I can't get some time to myself. An
  • (I'm sure that will come as a huge surprise.)

    For the most part, I don't really publicize my presence here, but I don't go to any great length to hide it either. I have several RL friends who know about my alter-ego here. One of them introduced me to slashdot years ago. A few of them are RL friends who started blogging, and so sort of inspired (nagged, really) me to start one. My blogging friends showed the JE [slashdot.org] I made about the hot geek wife of their friend to said hot wife and some other friends. The

  • Being in an open office doesn't help, of course. :-)

    I have met up a few times with some of the folks from alt.callahans over on Usenet, where I used to hang out a lot back in the day.

    MT.
  • Most of the people I know, even if they do read slashdot do not know what my handle is here, and I like that. There are certain thoughts and ideas that I just don't want to share with them, cause to be honest even if they read slashdot, they may not always get it.

    Also I do like to remain as anonymous as I can, when possible anyway. Hmm I should post this as an AC. Nah.

    Mind it was not always this way, but having been on the 'net for over ten years now, and having been on BBSes for another couple before
    • " Online I am quite a bit more vocal on lots of things, and my personality flows more easily but that has to do with there being the layer of removal from the real world. There have been more things than I care to count that I have said through instant messages or e-mail or posts to bulliten boards that I can't say I would have ever or would ever say in a face to face conversation with someone."

      Ah, yes, this was what I was getting at but you put it more deftly into words. It is odd, but the removal of th

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • " I can easily see that. Strip clubs freak me out for that very reason. She's naked, I'm not. I can't touch her, she doesn't want to touch me. It's a very odd position for a thinking person to be in, which is why dumb guys go there, or they serve alcohol. ;)"

          I just think naked girls in high heels and thongs look stupid.

          I used to date a girl who worked as a stripper about once a month to earn money (~$1000 for 12 hours), I heard a lot about what that job is like and I met quite a few of her colleagues. It'

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