Do you care ??

[Merlin]

About people who post on here ??

I mean really ??

Forums sometimes can feel so impersonal and distant ..

It's like a faceless friend and yet so many forums are used the world over to make a connection with others.

Thoughts ??

[Julie]

Originally Posted by Merlin

About people who post on here ??

I mean really ??

Forums sometimes can feel so impersonal and distant ..

It's like a faceless friend and yet so many forums are used the world over to make a connection with others.

Thoughts ??

I care about *some* of the people who's words I read on a daily basis.
Some of those people are in my life every day - either through here or on the telephone.

They all have faces - Some I just have not touched in the physical.

I have cared for some, who have let me down - but still.... I care!

Do you care, Merlin?

[deb_U_taunt]

Well, I am new to this site and belonged to one that recently vanished.
I never did develop the RL friendships I was hoping for.
I have had a lot of support comments/IMs/reps, since I have joined this site and it feels different.
So much more hopeful this time.
I am blessed with some wonderful, trusting, loyal relationships outside the internet.
One thing that is good for me is that I can say things on here I am unable to say to my partner and close friends about the insides about my health. I am still 'protecting' them from how scared I can be at times. I need to post some kind of pic on here so show I am just the run of the mill older femme, who is finally VERY comfortable in my skin.

[Linus]

Like Julie, I do care and I care about some more than others because of meeting in person and/or regular conversations via IM, phone or other mechanisms. While online communications can feel impersonal and make us wonder if we're just chatting with a script, it doesn't have to be so if we choose to not let it be so. By reminding ourselves that there is a human behind that other avatar who we talk to and that they go through a variety of daily ups and downs, to me, keeps the personal alive.

[Dominique]

[QUOTE=Merlin;365308
It's like a faceless friend and yet so many forums are used the world over to make a connection with others[SIZE=3].[/SIZE]

Anoninimity is a very important thing to a lot of people for a lot of reasons.

With Anoninimity, true life speaks.

But so do liars, and cheats and imposters, cowards, con artists. (so on and so forth) It's what you make of it.

Yes, I care. And just like in life off the internet, I get to pick who I care about.

[Andrew, Jr.]

I care about the folks who I know and people who I talk with regularly. I do not believe the gossip that flies around online. I hope that God gives me the grace to return good toward those who do evil to me.

[ScandalAndy]

I care because I like people. I'm a very social person, so interacting with others plays a large role in my life. My online friends aren't any less important to me than those who live close enough to see me on the weekends.

For individuals with mobility issues or who live in sparsely populated areas, sometimes the only way to experience good human interaction is in an online community. I hope that sometimes I bring them joy, and that I am offered the same courtesy when I need to talk to someone.

[Gemme]

Yes and no.

For me, it's healthy to NOT care about some folks and what they say or do, because it may affect me negatively. It's good for me to turn them off inside my head and heart.

For those that I've hugged and laughed with and had my ass smacked good 'n hard by....JULIE!....well, those folks are different. I hear their voices when I read their written words. I hear the inflections and the guffaws and snickers that many of you do not. I see the smile behind the text. Those folks, and their words, mean an awful lot to me.

I prefer to socialize on my own terms. It's difficult for me to spend a lot of time on the phone. Ebon's the same way. He spends all day on it at work and I spend anywhere from one quarter to half my day on it as well. We're just not telephone people.

BUT

That doesn't mean that we don't care. We just care on our own terms, which I think is healthy. We have to draw boundaries and create limits so that we can remain as close to whole as possible in this world of take, take, take.

I kind of got lost in my tangent....

[Mr.Nobody]

I care, in the sense that everyone I interact with, has the possibility to become someone special and important in my life. I care, in the sense that everyone on the other side of the screen is a person, with feelings and troubles and joys and things happening in their worlds, as I do in mine. I care, in the sense that we are all spiritual beings on this human journey.
From that beginning, I listen to people. I find out about them and let them find out about me. Sometimes it results in amazing connections and lifetime friends. Other times, equally amazing, but brief encounters. And sometimes I run, as fast as I can away.
I don't see it any different from encounters in real time. Take what enriches your world and leave the rest.

[luv2luvgirls]

I am new so havent really made to many connections but,I care because
1. why go thru life never caring about someone elses well being? regardless if we talk in rl or not we talked and connected in some way. I value the ones who touch me.
2. life can come and go so quick,sometimes its not till its gone that we see just what we lost
3. I also care because in a lot of ways the post's they write touch me,I can identify with so many others,and that makes me care

[amnesia.bfp]

I don't know who I am. Can you help me? Click here to play my Planet game. Please help me. I think I may care but I don't know who I am.

[Okiebug61]

Originally Posted by Merlin

About people who post on here ??

I mean really ??

Forums sometimes can feel so impersonal and distant ..

It's like a faceless friend and yet so many forums are used the world over to make a connection with others.

Thoughts ??

I care that there is a safe place for people to post.
I care that the owners are cool about people being people.
I care that no matter who you are you can find a place to fit in.
I care that I have a chance to engage with people who are alike but so much different.

I care that my faceless friend of over 10 years still pops up every once in a while and that someday we will meet.

Peace!

[Arwen]

Originally Posted by Merlin

About people who post on here ??

I mean really ??

Forums sometimes can feel so impersonal and distant ..

It's like a faceless friend and yet so many forums are used the world over to make a connection with others.

Thoughts ??

I think that they can be impersonal and distant.

I choose to make them not so.

I care deeply and passionately about people on this forum. I've translated that energy into very real, meaningful friendships. Some of these people I've never met. Others only a time or two here and there.

I am not so limited in my emotional repertoire that I can only relate to people face-to-face. I am expansive. I am a broad broad if you will.

And as much as I care about some, it's also nice to be able to skim the forums to see how they are. I can stalk them, if you will, to see how their yesterday (or tomorrow if they are in a vastly different time zone) went. I can send them a PM or a rep to let them know I read their words.

This is what keeps me from being nasty, vile and mean. I can't pretend the people here aren't real, feeling human beings.

So yes, I care. What about you, Merlin? Do you?

[AtLast]

I think that reducing members here to nothing more than font on a forum contributes to the center of what has been damaging to us all from the old site to this one. Behind the font are living, breathing, caring people trying to communicate and build community through what technology has gifted to us.

Also, I find remarks that are uncaring and dismissive about folks that do find community here can be very able-bodied (and minded) privilege in action without regard for just how many of our members are geographically confined to areas in which they cannot be themselves. And there are our neuro-diverse members and those with various emotional differences in communication skills.

There is a new extension, if you will, of cyber consciousness that we engage in. And rudeness or snark does effect this developing 21st century means of communication. I find that sticking to key tenets of common courtesy might be valuable as we utilize this technology at the level of friend or even love building. It's here, it's real and as in all communication, it's etiquette and relationship building properties is evolving. I think of Arab Spring for example and the power of internet social networking in a global sense and am amazed and in awe of where the world is at this time. Of course, I don’t take what we have today for granted. I was born and raised in early life without TV, private telephone lines and other than books, the radio was the main source of entertainment or being informed. This is a time when newspapers were where we gathered quick references to world events and politician’s secret lives remained secret.

Sometimes I honestly think that younger generations born with so much of what we have technologically today just don’t get how different their lives are and the very important responsibilities hey have in developing positive communication skills and mores (how dare I use such a term) for our global systems of communicating and learning about people that don’t live next door. This is a big responsibility and every generation must find new ways to stop these forms of human communication from becoming empty and lacking regard for what makes us human.

Not trying to lecture- having an generational moment that wants all of what has been gained and will be to be utilized in the most human of ways. I actually have great faith in the younger generations ability to keep us on track with honest and caring ways of knowing one another through all of the ways we can now stay in touch. Although, I have to trust this, don't I?

[Andrew, Jr.]

The court of public opinion in social networks and among those who are in certain groups or what I call clicks, is dysfunctional. It sounds like my bio-family. If I didn't play the game that my father initiated, then I was beaten and locked in a closet. I find the same online. That is why I just stick here. It is home. Certain people I do consider my close friends, and others are just acquaintainces.

I think that being online is a gift, as is this site. So many of us are not mobile, or are sick, poor, living in the county or city where there is few neighbors or any glbt groups, or getting there up in age. This is our door to so many new possibilities. No more social isolation for anyone of us. And what a blessing that is!

[Softhearted]

I care for the simple fact that behind every posts there is a human being. Each one has feelings, hopes, a past, frustrations, in other terms, a life...

[Corkey]

Originally Posted by Merlin

About people who post on here ??

I mean really ??

Forums sometimes can feel so impersonal and distant ..

It's like a faceless friend and yet so many forums are used the world over to make a connection with others.

Thoughts ??

I care very much for the folks who have decided that I am one of their friends. I don't care for back biting and general misuse of this space. I care for those who are differently abled to have a place to just be, without being judged for who they are.
I don't care for those who abuse the above.
I care very much about the feelings of the site owners moderators and members, because there are those who just are broken and will use any slight against them.
I don't care for a@@hats who do damage to the reputation of said owners, mods and members.
I care very much for this space to be enjoyable to the community that needs this space to heal, love, make friends and to promote a since of well being.
I don't care for sociopaths and psychopaths, but then I'm a human being who has a brain and can distinguish between real friends and those who would do this site harm.
Kumbyah and enjoy in good health.

[The_Lady_Snow]

Originally Posted by Merlin

About people who post on here ??

I care in a way that I like to read about the people here so that I can see other's experiences, thoughts, ailments, happiness, everyday life is like. I learn about humor, likes and dislikes, their families habits etc. It's like a small book of facts and sometimes it's nice to have that to fall back on if something comes along and you want to reach out and say hi and let someone know you do pay attention. Now, there are some people I have more heart strings attached to the caring, some I talk to on a daily or interact with on a daily, I've either met them or interact with them be it daily, once a week or month there is something about them that has a special compartment in my heart. I'm more invested with these folks since it's an equal balance for both and friendships, family ties are in the making or have been made.

I mean really ??

As I said above it depends since there are people I would never associate with due to differences in culture, racism, fat phobias, trans phobia and flat out ignorance. I'm pretty stern about setting boundaries with those kinds of folks be it here or in my non computer world.

Forums sometimes can feel so impersonal and distant ..

I guess depends how you have learned to maneuver yourself in them, sometimes forums can be very personal and deep and you end up with some amazing friendships and chosen family, other forums are not so warm feeling and tend to be on the yuckier side of things.

It's like a faceless friend and yet so many forums are used the world over to make a connection with others.

Before meeting people and the way technology is I still had deep affection for the people I have now, getting out and meeting them, going to events. or just picking up the phone, yahoo, Face Book and other social networks have made it possible to keep friendships strong with those I've yet to meet and hug physically other than that their place in my life is just as important as those I have and spend time with.

Thoughts ??

Do you care about the people in your neighborhood Merlin?

[NJFemmie]

I care. I am just very careful "how" I care. I enjoy being online because I not only enjoy interacting with others, but I get to gauge the interaction. I can care without getting too involved. I can meet new people without necessarily meeting them, and that's okay. I can also meet people if I so choose and that's cool too. I don't necessarily "know" most people on here, but I care what happens to them - good or bad.

I've met some great people and I have met some not so great people being online. Yet, I love the fact it exists because I wouldn't be able to interact with most of you otherwise.

[Corkey]

I grew up without the electronic devices some here take as their everyday convenience.
Had to do math, trig, the old fashion way, pencil and a piece of paper.
I did not get a computer until I was well in my 40's, at least 10 years ago.
So what has this to do with the topic you ask?
Communicating on a personal level isn't just eyeballs and touch-screens, it has to be deeper, and those of us who now use this form of communication must be aware that not all of us grew up with the privilege of calculators, gps, twitter, and FB. We actually had to talk to people.
Fast forward to today. How I operate here is how I operate face to face, because communication is still an art form.