What is your handle (screen name) for most sites/IMing/E-mail? Does this internet persona differ much from you in real life? In other words, are you overall the same person online as you are in real life? I know lots of people who are a lot more outgoing and crazy online than they are in real life, and sometimes the case can be the opposite. If this is the case for you, why do you think these differences occur for you? I highly doubt anyone in the class is exactly the same online as offline, so don't you use that answer as a cop out from answering more questions. Are you more creative in one world than the other? What is it about the internet or real life that changes the way you express yourself or your ideas?

=D you spelled 'weird' wrong on line 5.. =D hehe I should copy paste this to MY journal, too.. xD haha just kidding. I did mine already.

You're more than welcome to paste in your journal responses! That's what this forum was originally for. ;_;

Good job Dennis. You feel more and more in my influence with each passing day, just like Terrance.

I can't say about my old nicknaming habits, but recently I seem to have developed an attachment to names that start with Se and will have handles following that pattern. My current favorite handle is "Sempiternal" but may also include any of the following in combination: Seraphim, Sedulous, Sequester, Sententious, Secern, Secular, Sepulcher, Servile, and etc. (note that all of those words are real and have interesting meanings in the dictionary)

Now, unlike Dennis, I like to use the anonymity of the internet to play the part of someone I'm not, and not to reveal my true personality. While it's true that the real personality comes out at times, this often only occurs when my identity has already been disclosed. So, for example, here on this site I have no problem being myself (ish) since you all know who I am anyway (also the reason for the obvious username).

At other times, it's fun to pretend to be someone you're not. Since no one can really tell anyway, learning to play the part and decieve people becomes one large game which is always amusing to play. After all, the persona is pretty fake. Of course, there are the rare cases where you meet someone this way who you actually want to be friends with, but odds are that they'd see through your facade first or else not even bother getting to know you.

I have to both agree and disagree with the Terrance reference though. While it is more comfortable to speak to the opposite gender while using an alias, it's not very fulfilling and doesn't feel like I can accomplish anything that way. Maybe for initial conversations, but real life interactions are better suited for creating and maintaining... "relationships." Not that I would know, yes?

Now, about being different online and offline... I can easily say that I'm more composed online. Since responding online gives me more time to think through my answers, it becomes easier to assimilate style and wit into my responses rather than the spur of the moment that comes with conventional conversation. Sadly, sarcasm is not as effective online because tone is basically non-existent. Also, we all praise the existence of the delete button which allows us to change our sentences without awkward stammering.

So yeah, I don't agree with you on all points Dennis, but I think we have a similar general idea. If you try to convict me in any way, I reserve all rights to employ the Edit button on both my post and any future posts quoting my post.

Can we get more people to at least copy and paste their responses? We'd like to get a discussion/argument going here.

My online alias, Sakuradragon, has become an important part of me. I've used it for almost 5 years now for just about all my accounts on the internet. If I'm not able to obtain the handle because someone else has already taken it, it get realllllllly fustrated because the alias is apart of me.

Generally, I like the person I am in real life and online to be the same person. I'd normally like to know the person I'm talking to on AIM in real life before IMing them, too. Which means, proably about 90% of the people on my buddy list either go to the same school or I get a long pretty well with them. Why would I want to talk to someone I don't get along with in real life, right? Well.. with the exception of my coach... who.. I'm forced to interacted with and get long iwth. =.= pft. But continuing... I do act hyper online and in real life. My personality and mood usually comes through online when I talk. If I'm tired, the people I talk to can tell.

The internet also provides a "safe" place to converse. When I had tensions with my coach, I felt more confortable addressing him online than during practice. I feel safer knowing that the computer creates a barrior, making it almost impossible to have to hear his angry voice and expressions(which are the scariest things), allowing me to process what he says instead of tuning out mindless ranting. People DO think comments through more carefully online. If I had talked to my coach in person, I can almost garentee that he would have lashed out and screamed at me and I would've cried and just quit. :D

Webdesign and things like Photoshop and openCanvas provide opprotunities for me to use my imagination a lot more than in real life. Unlike in real life, Clt. Z exists and if i don't like the way something is, I just delet it or alter the color. In real life, there are generally no second or third chances. Of course, traditional mediums are very great, too, but they don't make it easy to add special effects. I'd say I'm more creative when it comes to digital design than I am with traditional because I can experiment and undo the entire thing if I'm unhappy.