Your true self?
 

My surprise meet this Sunday got me thinking about how different some people seem online and off. As for myself, I often feel as though I come across as a blubbering idiot offline (which I hope I'm really not), but the handy use of the backspace key saves me all the time online (aw heck, who am I kidding, I'm sure I come across as an idiot online too). Some differences I see in other posters surprise me though. Here are the examples I'm thinking of from Sunday:

Euromonkey - Cool poster, always has something to say, yet seems so quiet in real life. Almost shy. Not in an uncool way at all, just less outgoing. Still funny though.

Not Afraid - Lisa is, well, Lisa. Contagious personality online and off.

Ghoulish Delight and Cadaverous Palor - On the board these two are so vocal and conversational. In real life they seem much more reserved. Not in an unfriendly way at all, mind you, just a laid back way.

MickeyLumbo - Is exactly what I expected him to be, but I thought he was taller. I think I had thought I had seen a picture of him before, but apparently it was someone else. Either way, my mental image has been wrong this whole time. I had no idea he would be so cute in a lawn gnome way. It's hard to say that online and have it come across as the compliment I mean it to be. Let's just say that I'm sure if I set him on my lawn then he would cheer everybody up that passes by.

I don't really know the other posters I met well enough online to compare the two. I did think mousepod looked a bit like a pirate though (in a good way) and that surprised me.

Mind you, I haven't spent enough offline time with any of these posters to know their offline personalities. These are just impressions. I find the subject as a whole interesting though. Which me is the real me? I'd like to think neither. I hope that the real me is more complex than either of my faces presented to the world. However, they both give me a chance to express different facets of my personality in ways that either one exclusively doesn't allow. Which you is the real you?

I really am a terrible conversationalist in person. Especially with people I don't know very well. I just don't seem to be able to think on my feet quick enough. Or perhaps I just THINK I don't think on my feet quick enough. I tend to be a little self conscious. It takes me a loooong time to feel comfortably social with someone. Posting's another story. I think my brain works just about at the speed of typing. On a message board, I have time to make sure I'm saying exactly what I want to say. Of course, I'm still self conscious, so I have a tendancy to over-explain things, thus my many many long winded posts (hey, like this one! :D )

I think that, really, the actual me is the real me, actually. :)

I'm sort of the same way, except instead of being quiet I just tend to say stupid things. People that don't know me usually think I'm an airhead. Can't say as I blame them either. You also looked thinner than last time I saw you, btw.

Yeah, now that I think about it, I don't think I've exchanged more than one or two words with you in real life (of course, that was at MouseAdventure, so you may have been just really focused...)

You pegged me, way more quiet in real life - probably why I like these message boards so much, I'm rather comfortable with the written word.

In general, I find everyone to be nicer in real life - or maybe it's just that we get less obnoxious once we've met each other and know we're real.

Whew - and I though I'd open this thread to find some confessionals about what our "true selves" really are - I'm still developing mine BTW ;)

Strike your colors you brazen wench!

I'm pretty much the same...fairly quiet and reserved, prone to a bit of sarcasm. When I know people well I get a bit louder, but not much. I'm shy:blush:

I'm even scarier (to children and the elderly) in real life than online.

Contageous. That's me most of the time now a days. :cough: