[Geoff]

Originally Posted by cascademn

I would agree with the level playing field idea, at least in the beginning stages of ones' forum experiences. One can be more 'free' and uninhibited in interaction, without any preconceived notions from others, or any expectations. It's like starting out in a new school - no one knows you, and you start out with a clean slate, so to speak.

But I'd argue that over time, this too disappears, and eventually many of these real life factors do resurface, because once one is on the forum long enough, he's familiar with the dynamics and 'social structure', such that it is, so he might consciously or unconsciously feel more restricted, and since ones own baggage is present online as well as real-life, eventually the same 'problems' could occur online as occurs in real life (if this makes any sense..sigh)...but that's probably highly dependent on the individual in how that manifests. Also, over time, more of the individuals' behaviors and thoughts will have surfaced, so if he is active enough on the board, eventually he will have carved out a very similar 'identity' and 'role' to how he is in real life - that is, if he is being genuine - so his online experiences at that point might mirror real-life very closely. (? Again, it all depends - or, maybe I'm just projecting myself into this entire paragraph)

I think this was in my mind...somewhere underneath.. when I was talking about increasing need for attention as things developing creating "trolls". Perhaps this is part of it? A brave new world eventually turns out to have similar issues to the "real" one.. and demands for attention come out in "trolling"... where behaviour is not so easily filtered by the reality of face to face interactions?

Originally Posted by cascademn

I'm not sure. Again, I think this boils down to the individual. For myself, since I believe Fe is fairly strong both in real life and on the net, I continue to follow social conventions that I find conducive to interaction and I suppose my desire for harmony.

I can see your point on the active members maybe being on a stage, seeing as many people do just read/browse/lurk without participating as much.

As for myself, I actually don't see this as 'safe'. In fact it's probably far less 'safe' psychologically for me than real-life, because I AM choosing to be more open in what I share online, and I am broadcasting all of it to all of the lurkers too. Also, the forum provides a unique outlet for a lot of discussions that simply don't happen to me in real life. And finally, to one of your points, I guess I do use it to 'test' myself -- not in the sense that I'm playing a role, but I'm testing my limits in openness and how all of it affects me emotionally/psychologically. And, using what I learn from here, I then try to better understand how I can integrate it in my real life, and where I can draw parallels.

I suppose everyone's mileage will vary... but I do see large scale signs that people both recognise the size of the audience, and then choose to ignore it by pretending small scale discussions are private, as if they were over a coffee... it's quite fascinating...