Glad to see you made parole, E.
Because, in a real if incomplete way, I "know" these people
I wouldn't be so sure.
I think some people here took the "alias versus real person" distinction too literally ... leading to disembodied voices and woooooooooooooooooooos.
I believe the central point in that discussion is that SI posters are not accountable for what they say. Citing TOU as a standard of accountability doesn't fly, because some people don't mind bannings, suspensions, or even being booted off. There are other threads and other chat line venues.
Thus, the opinions, arguments, positions, etc., of an SI poster can be mere game-play. One can be as outrageous or disengenuous as one chooses to be here, with nothing to lose. Nada.
You can't do that with people at the office. Or your neighbors. Or at the corner bar. That's 3-d life, and there you can't offend and outrage people you have to see every day, people you have to live next to, or people who might punch you in the mouth. In 3-d life, you are accountable to everyone, with the possibility of sanctions by those you annoy, which can truly affect the quality of your real life.
Nothing that happens here can affect your 3-d life in any way. You can turn off your computer and that's the end of it. There is no on-off button in the real world.
Those are the reasons why some of us believe that what you see here, what you read here, may tell you things about the person behind the alias ... but may just as well tell you nothing about them. Nothing that is true, that is. |
