Oh those wacky DEA Agents

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Assumptions on who I am as a person.  You don't know shit about me.  Just as I don't know shit about any of you.  The internet is a horrible way to get to know someone on any meaningful level.

Yes, yes, you keep saying that last part. Where in that sentence am I making any assumptions about you as a person?

The implication is pretty clear, otherwise, it wouldn't be necessary to even make the statement you made.

Cant be that clear if i made an implication i was unaware of.

[McGrupp]

Assumptions on who I am as a person.  You don't know shit about me.  Just as I don't know shit about any of you.  The internet is a horrible way to get to know someone on any meaningful level.

I've never thought of knowing someone as a boolean expression.

[AFK]

Deep-pocketed Pro-Legalization Lobby buys off Sanjay Gupta

Start another thread if you want to discuss this, as it has little to do with the topic of this thread. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Caccioppo (among others) has done several studies that indicate that the depth of connection people get out of interactions on the internet is entirely dependent on how individuals choose to use it. It can deepen the loneliness of people who use it to avoid depth of interaction, and can strengthen the sense of connectedness and the social support network of people who use it to build deep connections, much like with face-to-face social interactions. A person who goes to parties to avoid forging deep connections one-on-one can do so as easily as a person who goes to parties to meet people with whom they may forge long-lasting friendships. I am sure we have all known some of each type of person.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Caccioppo (among others) has done several studies that indicate that the depth of connection people get out of interactions on the internet is entirely dependent on how individuals choose to use it. It can deepen the loneliness of people who use it to avoid depth of interaction, and can strengthen the sense of connectedness and the social support network of people who use it to build deep connections, much like with face-to-face social interactions. A person who goes to parties to avoid forging deep connections one-on-one can do so as easily as a person who goes to parties to meet people with whom they may forge long-lasting friendships. I am sure we have all known some of each type of person.

Even though I have not met a lot of you face to face, I've also met a good amount of you face to face.

And hell, that doesn't even matter. I consider a lot of you good friends (looking at you Nigel) and Roger called me tonight out of the blue. Dimo is my friend and the last time I saw him in person, which was a year ago, he mentioned that it doesn't matter and we can pick it up like we've known each other for ages. I've seen LMNO often enough that I don't even think of him as a PD'er anymore, but rather a guy I know who happens to go to the same forum I do. I don't think of him as "LMNO" anymore. Same thing with Suu, Richter, leln, and Luna. Sure, there's the IRL aspect, but, I only think of you as "Nigel" because the name suits you, much in the same way that I think of Eve as Eve. Or Dimo as Dimo (who, incidentally, refuses to call me Kevin, since that's not the name I was introduced to him with-to him, I'm Twid, and that's that, lol).

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I consider a great many of the people here friends, and some, good friends. I am averse to talking on the phone (which means that, dammit, you fuckers I pick up the phone for better realize how much that means I appreciate our friendship!) but I also don't feel that long-distance friendships, phone or no phone, are any less "real" than local face-to-face friendships.

I am not a lonely, isolated person forced to "resort" to online friendship, either. I am blessed with an incredible network of amazing friends in Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco (as well as some who have moved farther abroad), many of whom I have known for 20+ years. Many of whom I would love for you spags to meet because you would like each other. I've become friends with you fuckers because I LIKE you, and I have made enough lifelong friends whom I initially met online (back in dialup days, judge me if you choose) to have no illusions or false divisions about "the real you" being somehow separate from "the online you". People can lie, sure, but they can do that in person, too.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Also, <3 <3 <3. Don't expect me to get this mushy ever again.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I consider a great many of the people here friends, and some, good friends. I am averse to talking on the phone (which means that, dammit, you fuckers I pick up the phone for better realize how much that means I appreciate our friendship!) but I also don't feel that long-distance friendships, phone or no phone, are any less "real" than local face-to-face friendships.

I am not a lonely, isolated person forced to "resort" to online friendship, either. I am blessed with an incredible network of amazing friends in Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco (as well as some who have moved farther abroad), many of whom I have known for 20+ years. Many of whom I would love for you spags to meet because you would like each other. I've become friends with you fuckers because I LIKE you, and I have made enough lifelong friends whom I initially met online (back in dialup days, judge me if you choose) to have no illusions or false divisions about "the real you" being somehow separate from "the online you". People can lie, sure, but they can do that in person, too.

I mean yeah, I have plenty of friends in Boston that I know offline, independently from the internet. Don't mean I can't make friends here. I consider you guys friends because I like you guys. I don't need you as a replacement or even as a supplement. It just is.

Also, <3 <3 <3. Don't expect me to get this mushy ever again.

D'aww.

<3

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Also, I will note that I was looking forward to RWHN's new found freedom to come down to Boston and become IRL friends until very recently. Despite everything. Until he made it a point to twist my words and shit.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Also, <3 <3 <3. Don't expect me to get this mushy ever again.

Awwwwwww, this should be in the newsfeed

[AFK]

Also, I will note that I was looking forward to RWHN's new found freedom to come down to Boston and become IRL friends until very recently. Despite everything. Until he made it a point to twist my words and shit.

S'alright, between my new relationship, being a dad, and everything else, I likely never would have found the time.

[Ben Shapiro]

You have me.

[Doktor Howl]

You have me.

BEARMAN:  Not just an omnivorous mammal, but also cuddly.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

You have me.

WHEN MOVE TO NEW HAMPSHIRE?

[Ben Shapiro]

By the time I'm 30, or I have a nest egg of 50% of a home in NH.