How Do You Communicate on Forums vs Face-to-Face
 

When I communicate on the 50+ forums:
When I communicate on the 50+ forums:
I tend to give MORE careful consideration of what I communicate than I would if speaking face-to-face with someone and attempt to be as civil as possible.
I tend to give MORE careful consideration of what I communicate than I would if speaking face-to-face with someone and don’t especially care how my communication is received by others.
I tend to give LESS careful consideration of what I communicate than I would if speaking face-to-face, but still attempt to be as civil as possible.
I tend to give LESS careful consideration of what I communicate than I would if speaking face-to-face, and don’t really care with others think of how I communicate.
My consideration of what I communicate on a forum is about the same as if I were speaking with someone face-to-face.
I’ve never thought about it.

Same

I vote for a poll, please :)

Ok here is my .02 worth, but I can see this thread getting out of hand.

"I tend to give MORE careful consideration of what I communicate than I would if speaking face-to-face with someone and attempt to be as civil as possible."

This is pretty much what I follow for any online communications (work or otherwise).

A little history of me for those who might be interested.

I've been "online" in some form since around 1983. Ran a two node BBS using Fidonet and echomail from about 1985-1993, did a ton of usenet, archie, veronica, gopher on the Internet back in the early days. Have been moderators for many forums in the past....a lot more difficult than one thinks.

Here is a link to some history for fidonet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet

Learned it is best to just "walk away" from flame wars, not worth it.

And, one last thing, if you think "big brother" or others watching activities online is a new thing you are naive...

Maybe back on topic: Bikeforums is an excellent place for online sharing of information about cycling and I enjoy the forums.

People have told me I'm pretty much the same ... as insufferable in person as I am on line.

I co-own a pretty large forum dedicated to progressive music: http://www.progressiveears.org ... I've been on it for 11 years - and decided from the get-go to "play nice".

Lucky - because I've since met several hundred of the forum members face-to-face, and have become "real-world" friends with many of them. (In fact - just on Wed. night, on a business trip to Boston, I met 2 forum members for the first time.)

So it's definitely worth being decent on the forums, because if you hang out here long enough you will probably end up meeting - or riding with - many of your virtual friends.



On the other hand - we had a member (one of several who we had to ban) who was an unbelievable troll. He pitched up at a rock festival one year thinking that no one would know who he was. He was friendly and came across as "mister-nice-guy". Then - someone figured out who he was and called him out, and the guy was so embarrassed that he left the event a day early.

I hope not - this is fifty+, not the 41...

I try to alway re-read my post to make sure i haven't said anything out of context or to insult anybody... Sometimes i will be firm and even appologize ...Like i do in face to face conversations...Worth it in my opinion...

:lol:

I don't have to edit my spelling when face to face!

I "try" to be more concise, since words are all we have and you can't use tone, inferences etc. to get your point across. I'm sure I'm more blunt.

I'm with Bill on that.. nor do I have spell check to help..


When the customer is in the Shop, i have to speak of what is in stock, or able to be ordered from the
vendors we have..

i seem to need to ground people that because it's on the web, it may be something that has no local seller.
so the practicality should take over..

What is the 41

A long bout of N+1

This sub-forum:

http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdispl...1-Road-Cycling

i.e. www bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php/41-Road-Cycling

same here - what you "read" is what you get!

Is there a reason to be different?

Always with impeccable grammar and spelling.

I say their is far more to you're personality in person. Great cents of humour and an outstanding laugh. The forumns dont do you justyce. ;)

I try to remain as respectful on the forums as in person. I do notice that when on the forums, some folks seem nastier than in person. Probably due to their distance from the others.

I THINK I'm about the same.

We'll find out for sure next weekend when I meet some 50+ers at the Katy Trail Social.

Is there a cultural difference in how folks respond? I.e., is there more seriousness about posting from those in some countries or locations? Or vice versa? Or other differences?

As to me, I haven't a clue if I am different or similar. As Popeye says:

And I yam what I yam and I yam what I yam that I yam / And I gotta lotta muscle and I only gots one eye / And I never hurts nobody and I'll never tell a lie / Top to me bottom and bottom to me top / That's the way it is 'til the day that I drop, what am I / I yam what I yam

http://agbeat.com/wp-content/uploads...ike-button.jpg

:lol: You had me going...

100% different for me. On the internet, I know everything. In person, I know nothing.

The problem with internet forums is that unlike face to face there is no means of transferring, for lack of better term, the vibes and flow of a conversation and personal interaction. Thus internet conversations get so ugly, so fast unlike with a flesh and blood human soul in front of you.

LC

I try not to talk trash that I wouldn't do face to face. I'm not perfect that way but am much more impressed by in-your-face trash talk in the street than the internet kind and I don't do much of that either.

What part? The grammar or the personality? :D

Software won't let you enter that many characters in the "poll" function. I tried.

Not sure any of the options really fits. I think my intentions are about the same in both contexts but the results are not at all the same.

I've always been much better at communicating in writing than I am at speaking. Talking to people is very stressful and they tend to completely misinterpret what I'm trying to say. Given a choice, I would nearly always opt for text over speech. Besides, I have observed that you get a truer picture of the real person when you don't have all the nonverbal clutter you get in face to face interactions.

My experience is that it is less what you say that causes issues as it is what you read into what others say. Someone's humor is another person's personal insult.

It's very easy to be a keyboard commando...I have already seen some on here and i have only been here a month or less...LOL...It's the same on all the forums i belong to...Funny stuff....It's hard to take back some stuff you types on a computer sometimes... The flip side to that is some are nasty on purpose to get you going...