Yva, please don't be discouraged by the weird volatility and hyperdrama of this thread.

You are one of my favorite commenters here (I am writing a post about my favorite people here and was thinking about that).

It was literally upsetting to me that you were upset. This box is not for that.

Thank you for your post, which many people thought was great, myself included. While people went all personal in it, you posted theory; and your theory works for me. I strongly agree with it, and whether I do or not, it makes peace with what is, which is better than shrieking at the sunrise.

A

Posted at July 22, 2008 8:56 PM in response to Real, Fake and Both.

Quinn, I chatted with you last night, and I believe you're real.

I think there has been a lot of bullshit little child melodrama around here. I'd suggest not stepping into it, though some of it has dogged you a bit.

I originally wondered how you appeared to know everyone, and I won't apologize for that, because I think that's a sensible reaction to the data I had. I wasn't the only one to wonder that, but that's not hateful to wonder, not disrespectful, at least in my head it's not.

But I believe you're "real", whatever that means. You're a head on a chat room board, just like me. But I like you, and to me you're "real." You're also apparently real in Winnipeg, so cool.

So that's what I have to say, that and that you should only be here to enjoy, and to encourage you to shrug at what seems insane to you. It helps me. (Hate to see someone get dragged down by the bad spirit.) Best, A

Posted at July 22, 2008 8:51 PM in response to Real, Fake and Both.

Cypher has been rude to you, but you seem to be lashing together everyone who ever used a pseud and attributing all their crimes to one evil malignant him, which appears to be organized around Cypher. It's not a persuasive argument. Not everyone who ever posted under any other name is Cypher, or is mean, or is bad.

Posted at July 22, 2008 8:19 PM in response to Real, Fake and Both.

I'm going to write a post to praise other posters. I hope you appreciate the positive spirit of it.

Posted at July 22, 2008 8:12 PM in response to Real, Fake and Both.

I hate Vista. It ate my laptop. But it has such a cool feel to it.

Posted at July 22, 2008 8:08 PM in response to Real, Fake and Both.

I love this, and agree with you fully.

Top notch, Yva!

Posted at July 22, 2008 12:28 AM in response to Real, Fake and Both.

Great piece, thanks.

Posted at July 22, 2008 12:06 AM in response to One

I was pretty sure bee was kidding when she said I wasn't articleman, but of course I can't tell for sure.

I think this is a little too much drama, though on the topic that was the point of departure above, you have my views in a separate mail, no need to plead a case in here.

And of course, I'll be changing my avatar to a blue head soon.

(Not.)

Posted at July 21, 2008 4:27 PM in response to Mandela at 90; Reconciliation and Dignity

Hi "Genghis" :)

I'm glad you and Yva commented on this. I put myself in quotes, not because I feel less sincere or authentic as "articleman" but to avoid putting myself above others.

I agree that the characters have a diminished reality. I also agree, and think you nail it here, that if you pretend to be a person and interact with someone to induce a belief in them, you're fucking with them, and that's nasty. That's always been my feeling about this.

But I'm not sure that someone having an argument with a character is quite so bad. You have called Edmund or Gladd characters -- no one thinks that arguing with them is being lied to in that way. I think the key is disclosure. You shouldn't have truly personal exchanges without having at least reciprocal self-disclosure as to who/what you are. That seems fair and right to me.

Posted at July 21, 2008 4:05 PM in response to Mandela at 90; Reconciliation and Dignity

Evainne, putting aside everything else in this thread and wishing to respond directly, I have never written anything here that is not my point of view (or which does not, by sarcasm or humor, represent me). That's just not my way.

I don't think my comments here, to you or whomever, are less real or sincere than in mail. They are merely more attenuated because you're not mailing me, you're simply interfacing in a thread, creating an extra layer of anonymity or distance beyond that of mail accounts.

As to your last paragraph, I don't think I mean what you're suggesting I do. That is, if you're suggesting that the use of one name consistently and one avatar drawn from reality would somehow interpose a level of insincerity, that is not so, but that's because at some level all personality here needs to have authenticity, needs to have sincerity.

If you have a chance to comment, I'd appreciate your thought back on this, either in this disappearing thread, or in a separate post, or in mail. A

Posted at July 21, 2008 3:53 PM in response to Mandela at 90; Reconciliation and Dignity