Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: coug who wrote (106271)	6/18/2005 11:43:16 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

You can influence people in real life. Most people aren't on the net to be influenced (whether they are right or left politically), they are on the net to confirm their prejudices (prejudices which they may not even know they have, or do not wish to acknowledge), or be entertained by the emotional high of fighting with people, or they want to bond with people because they are lonely, and the easiest way to bond efficiently is to bond by hating some other group of people. I think some people are on the net because they are genuinely curious, and there were a lot more of those people around when SI was new. Now it's mostly formalistic fighting or bonding on the political threads, where black and white characterizations were hashed out years ago, and even the insults are mostly retreads. Concentrate on real life. I think if you've met a few congenial people on SI you've been lucky, and I've been very fortunate in meeting some people who have been of great value to me. But I don't think you can expect too much of this place. Sometimes the articles are good... :-)

To: coug who wrote (106271)	6/18/2005 11:58:46 PM
From: Grainne	Respond to of 108807

You might find it surprising, Coug, but sometimes people you would never expect to, PM me and tell me that something I wrote here made them think, or caused them to change their opinion, or some part of their lifestyle, or what they eat, or something that I think is a positive change. And there are a lot of people who read all these posts but don't actually say anything at all. So it's really difficult to know if anyone is doing someone else any good, but I hope so. Sometimes SI is a lot more intellectually challenging for me than watching tv, and certainly the people you can talk to online come from a much larger pool than the people you run into in real life. So I still find it fascinating. I realize it's all really frustrating, though.