[zarc]

Originally Posted by Geoff

Of course, I am generalising. Not all introverted/intuitives are quiet in real life, and louder on line. Just that it is a factor. 'tis why I said "often" not always! I know introversion does not equate to shy/quiet but it does tend to fit the trend of being in smaller social groupings, more tired by large scale social activity, and more reluctant to speak first, or loudly. Indeed, one of the tests for introversion is whether you tend to hold back before you speak in a social situation. My point being that the forum life removes this as a factor, to an extent.

But your "often" was phrased in a way that could imply otherwise. It appeared to me as: people are often able to gain a voice that otherwise isn't capable in RL due to their demeanour or how they are treated etc. Ah, I wish I could be more eloquent!

(Again, I am generalising, I *know* there are exceptions to this.)

I don't think I misused introverted intuitives. I wasn't referring to Ni, I just mean I+N pairings. Terminology can be a difficult thing, sometimes. Many of us read these things slightly differently.

But that's just it... I+N pairings would be INTJ/INFJ. There are Introverted Thinkers, Introverted Feelers and Introverted Sensors as well. And then you know, all the different Extroverts as well (though you only named Extroverted Sensors).

Anyway, thank you for the opportunity to clarify what I meant, and I am glad you enjoyed the opening post. Any thoughts on other aspects?

CzeCze mentioned in RL that people can use forums/OL to vent. I also think that people who are Extroverted as well can be found exerting themselves a lot but perhaps not for long over a period of time as an Introvert might. Going on forums may seem much more appealing to Introverts but one still discusses/chats, still exerts their being into OL, and so it is a form of Extroverting as well. And Extroverts might think it's not the same as exerting their energy outside more, so it may be considered as Introverting to them. (Mostly shooting off on this one heh. But eh, maybe! )

Communication format is text, which influences communication - different members view it as live vs correspondence

Text can be like thoughts. I wonder how many people speak and type? I don't think it very high... Our thoughts influence who we are, reaffirms who we are and so we translate it into text as well to reaffirm who we are to others using text. It can also be hard discerning the meaning or subtext of what was intended from others or even viewing our own writing as presenting problems if we aren't used to it. It's hard enough for some people in RL but there is at least differing levels that one can try to figure another out. Observing body language, inflection of tone, etc and there are various differences as to how one comes across in RL which can be stereotyped. We can try to check the tone of text but we can become subjective if we think someone's writing is *cold* or *warm* and so we mold people (through text) into how we perceive them. We also use emoticons (I used to hate/fear them...) and some people who use them often may be associated by them, even when they don't use it for particular posts or stop using it--We become accustomed to what 'we know' of the person 'we've created' as opposed to how 'they feel/think' they've created themselves. I recall whatever being upset once but she wasn't taken seriously because she had used emoticons and that, from what I assume as well, is she always seems so "carefree" to people so it may be hard knowing she can be serious or have serious issues to discuss unless one knows her fairly better or even then, still hard to grasp for some-- Some RL stereotypes can be broken, only to present different ones which might not be used for some similarly or OL. Who is more fluent a writer? Who seems immature by comparison to those who seem mature? Who appears to be intelligent because they've written better, have said things *clearly* understood by most? Sometimes, we perceive those who write similarly as being similar to us, perhaps. I don't know but you've got me thinking!