[Discussion] Internet Generations.

[Ace Pace]

I’ve always been myself, and I’ve even been highly consistent on the pseudonym I use, which I adapted since I was pretty young when I started posting online. I hid most of the details of my life at first, to an extent I still kind of do, but what I did give up pretty much told the whole story anyway. I didn’t have to do this either, when I first started posting on warships1 I was in middle school, and people though I was in collage, but I corrected them at once when I could have easily lived out the lie and never suffered for it.

Pretty much like Skimmer, I've always used the same name (people call me Ace in real life) and started posting young. Only thing I used to hide was my age, because I started posting online before middle school. Reversed that trend when I started meeting SDNers. Overall though, I see no reason to hide most details, esspecially on SDN. The people who care any posters personal life are going to be accepting anything that's not criminal, and those who don't, there is no reason to care about them.

[rhoenix]

My usernames change every once in a while - but I still am me, online or off.

[charlemagne]

I got home internet access back in 1996 or 1997. I didn't go under my real name in forums and such, but I've used the same nickname everywhere and also in my eMail address - just like everyone else I knew did. Using a nick was as far as being anonymous ever went. Using and sticking to one nickname isn't that different from going by your real name after all, it just provides a (thin) layer of "security".

I never behaved different from my real life persona, and to be honest, the thought that teh internetz would mean that I could behave or be radically different didn't even occur to me. No one I knew back then in various message boards invented a special online personality, and I think I would have found it really, really weird if I someone did.

Facebook etc. may be different in that people used their real names to sign up - but on StudiVZ (the facebook clone people primarily use in Germany) people quickly changed that to real first name + abbreviated/invented surname. The reason for this is that people realised that e.g. if you're applying for a job, the interviewer may scout social networks and stumble across pictures of you being really drunk and doing really weird or disgusting stuff... plus it also opens convenient doors to every creepy stalker out there. Only a small percentage of my RL friends goes by their full real name on any social network site.

[Admiral Valdemar]

I first came to the web around '96/'97 or so. Back then, I didn't do much more than browse aimlessly, play BT's Netropolis and chat up girls on ICQ. It was before I really took on this pseudonym that I use all over now, simply because I didn't post on boards, least not seriously, and the game I derived this handle from wasn't out yet.

By the turn of the millennium, I had stumbled across SB.com and started really getting into posting on those forums. I'd gotten my current moniker and was posting a little on ASVS since I'd only lurked before then (the special edition releases of a certain sci-fi trilogy had reinvigorated my love for such topics from '97 onward). I may have been a lot less serious back then compared to now, saying some silly things and not getting into the deep sort of non-fiction debates I do now. Had SDN been about ten years ago, I'd be a lot more active in the SW and ST forums and their versus debates. Now, I've seen little interest as it got samey.

So I guess I've grown more cynical, use emoticons less and prefer to take part in topics I'd have had less interest in a decade ago. I've always been myself, maybe a little harsher at times in speaking my mind, but never made a persona online that existed outside a story debate e.g. Me and Marina at odds over those commie Culture types. Ah, memories. Even though it was dial-up back then, the web seemed more fun, not that SDN's emergence didn't signal a monumental and more diverse shift in online activities to me.

[Lagmonster]

I was giving this subject some more thought, and wondered why people would change who they were online.

The first reason seems to be age - Online you can be whatever age you claim to be. This is why Pokemon forums are filled with '30-year-olds'; because 13-year-olds think age makes them more respected and mature.

The second would be self-esteem - Online you can claim to look like whatever you wish you really looked like or have accomplished whatever you wish you would have accomplished. This is why all the chat rooms are filled with hot 19-year old vixen blondes; because 14-year-old girls are insecure.

The third would be fear; you can act tougher online where you'd be fairly timid and polite in person. This is why martial arts forums have traffic.

[Rye]

I'm almost the exact same as I am in real life, except I apparently come across as "angry" or otherwise bitter, when in real life I'm relatively subdued and thoughtful and less "serious" (especially compared to SB where I only go to be a polemicist). I think I like the tone I write in and how that's perceived is pretty cool though. I can confidently say that there's nothing, not even on SB that I wouldn't say to people offline to their face.

And people do tend to refer to me as Rye in real life. Though my last girlfriend did refer to me as Zuul, oddly enough. So did her spiteful ex-boyfriend (he would refer to me as "fag-zuul" lol).

[Maxentius]

I started using the internet often in around 1997, when I was barely eleven years old, and I've consistently been utilizing it since for the same things I did when I was a child; message boards, BattleNet/online gaming, and even chatroom roleplay. So it's not much of a stretch to say that I matured with the internet. That said, the 'persona' I use online is mostly the one that I have in real life. Before 2000, I didn't really have any place on the internet I'd call 'home', but at the turn of the millennium, I began to frequent Yahoo! Chat quite often, and began roleplaying in some of the user created Star Wars rooms, and generally developed a rapport with the other regular there, which is when I'd say I began to really consistently act the same way.

However, I would go so far as to say that the majority of traits I exhibit online are, to one degree or another, exaggerated. I'm not exactly sure what reason I would put to this exaggeration; it may be amusement from theatricality, or simply because the relative anonymity of the internet allows me to play up some of these traits without much in the way of fear of repercussions. While there are boards where I come across as a radical, fascist Imperialist dedicated to the rebirth of the Roman Empire, I'm not that way in real life. Certainly, I'm an avid lover of Roman History, but when I sneer at someone on a forum and say "Shut the fuck up, Plebe," I'm saying something that I would never repeat in real life, save in jest amongst close friends.

Writing this post, however, has made me think about something else. As I mentioned before, I pretty much grew up on the internet, which has got me wondering just exactly how much of the way I act in reality has been shaped by my adventures on the 'net.

[DaveJB]

I first got onto the internet at the end of 1998 (part of the "Freeserve revolution" over here in the UK), but apart from the odd Usenet post every now and again, I didn't really start posting on forums until 2000; the original Star Trek: Armada board was the first one I really stared using. I've used a couple of aliases in the decade I've been on the net, but this one has always been my main ID - guess I didn't have that great an imagination when I picked it.

My online persona is probably about 95% the same as my real one; there's the odd difference in the way I use language, phrases and whatnot, but not really any more than anyone else I would bet.

[aerius]

Got onto the net sometime in the mid 90's when I was in high school. Usually I'm me, sometimes I'm me turned up to "11".

[FSTargetDrone]

I've been online since 1995 (back when pages were gray, connection was slow and there was less good porn) but I've never really had any sort of online persona that is somehow different from my real one. This board is the first I have posted on with any sort of regularity or as extensively. I've been part of a few mailing lists over the years, but that interaction is minimal. I'm not and never was particularly interested in inventing an online persona. My name is obviously not anything like my handle here, that is just a holdover from playing Red Baron 3D's limited online multiplayer component and I've used it or a variation ever since then for online gaming (which I do a lot less of these days). I used to play EverQuest and WoW, but not for a few years now. Like there, I gave out limited information about myself, but nothing is made up.

I could never be bothered with inventing an online "me" that is different from the real one. If some people are into it, hey, cool beans, but I just don't care to.

[Coyote]

I first got introduced to computers as a daily tool in 1989 or thereabouts. I got out of the Army and went to go live with a girlfriend (actually a vicious man-hating she-demon but that's completely another story) and after breaking up with her I drifted a bit, staying here & there with friends I'd met at conventions. Many of these friends had computers and were either hooked into, or running, regular BBS's, a more primitive version of the type we have here (for example, you might have only 2 or 3 phone lines, meaning only 2 or 3 people could be logged on at any given time, etc). I was fascinated and logged on constantly to check out replies to things I may have written, or just to look at the ebb and flow of traffic on the system because it was, well, kinda science-fiction to me at the time (my family was not very technical; we had a black & white TV up until the late 1980's and my dad groused and grumbled for weeks when my mom brought home a new calculator).

But on the old BBS, I had my own account, which was me, and then I'd frequently run several "character accounts" in which I would indeed play a persona. But back then the BBS's were highly specialized, and typically folks in my community set the BBS's up specifically to act as a support unit for a particular comic book, show, movie, etc. So in reality, we'd have a one-trick pony BBS that also served as a STGOD forum for writing collaborative fanfictions. Typically, people would have a seperate account for each character, and act in character when posting those accounts. Since the nature of the boards were specifically for characterization, I don't really consider that to be a 'net persona' per se, and I always felt uncomfortable using one of those personas later in wider net surfing, when that became possible & the norm.

I got out of net usage for a few years, during the 1992-'96 years, and used a desktop PC for word processing and data storage, and lots of games, but almost never ventured online. I was back in Boise by that time and going on-line back then still meant tying up a phone line. And, since most of the old BBS's I wanted to get on were in California (Boise, for its size, has almost no functioning sci-fi/fantasy fan base here... there's plenty of fans, but they're oddly very, very passive). Calling California meant long-distance calls that could, possibly run for hours.

By the time I got back on-line I was in College of Idaho in 1996 and using a student account there, and stunned at the advances in on-line technology. It was like I was theat 20 year old kid again, staring in rapt fascination at a 3-line BBS all over again. By 1998 I went to Israel and studied at University Ben-Gurion in Beer-Sheva and online all the time. Around that time, "Phantom Menace" was coming out and I did some Google searches and found this place. It wasn't a BBS at the time, but I read Mike's ST/SW crossover story and found it cool.

Eventually I returned here to find it had a BBS and lurked awhile before making an account, and it's pretty much been me all along. I've changed my political views and positions on a number of things but never adopted a persona or attempted a sockpuppet. Through Marina, I got introduced to SB.com for the sole purpose of participating in stories there (specifically, "The Great Game, a favorite I wish hadn't died) and remained consistent here ever since. I've sometimes left SDN for periods, either because it wasn't as interesting at different times, or I got fed up with certain personalities from time to time, but I don't stay away long because most other boards I find are full of really ignorant people that post stupid shit ("didja know Obama is a Moooozlim!!!??") and don't get called on it, and if you gripe to mods, they don't do much or wag their finger at you for complaining.

The Senate may suck, the mods may be heavy-handed assholes, the citizentry may be full of bleating oafs, but really this place is pretty much the best I've been able to find.

[Solauren]

I was online before the Internet was the Internet. I 'cut my teeth' on 2400 bps dial-up phone lines, connecting to ASCII or ANSI BBS's (and occasionally ROBO-BOARD). Back when it was all text.

So, 1992 or so.

And I'm still using the same name. I never was any different then what I was in real life. I just flirted more, as I was presented with more 'agreeable' opprotunities to do so.

The only real differences between me in real life and online are

#1 - You can't see my spelling mistakes when I talk.
#2 - I might be a little bit more reserved in calling people on there bullshit. This is coupled with a slight censoring of language, depending on the people involved.
#3 - It's easier to tell my intention due to voice and facial expression.

With a few exceptions, I've never understood the need for an alternate-personality online. I can see the reasoning behind it in a few cases. (Anyone dealing with sexuality issues or deep personal issues comes to mind).

Sure, roleplaying in some instances is fun, but as a general practice? Completely un-needed.

And here is part of the reason why.

Around 1994 / 1995, Oshawa's online scence started getting several multi-line BBS's. This resulted in alot of 'BBS Parties', where users would literally gather and meet each other in real life. After missing 2 of them, I was convinced to go to one by online friend of mine.

As a result;
I didn't know the user known as 'Leggs' as 'Leggs'. She was my friend Amy.

I didn't know 'The Professor' as 'The Professor', he was my friend Allen I sat with in English and Computers class.

I didn't know 'Red Smurf' as 'Red Smurf'. He was one of the guys I went bowling with on occasion. I believe his name was Jerry.

I didn't know Spitfire as Spitfire. He was my friend Kevin who I played games with either over the phone, or by hauling one of our comptuers to the other guys house and lan-partying.

An alter-ego was completely un-needed. The screen names were just a minor defense to keep trolls or people we didn't want to know for real from bothering us offline.

[tim31]

I got introduced to the internet in 1997 in my mid teens when ICQ was all the rage. I think it probably helped pave enough insight into the psychology of females to become confidant approaching them in real life.

Wherever I have posted, chatted, blogged, I have always incorporated my given name into my handle.

[Coyote]

I was online before the Internet was the Internet. I 'cut my teeth' on 2400 bps dial-up phone lines, connecting to ASCII or ANSI BBS's (and occasionally ROBO-BOARD). Back when it was all text...

Oh, those are the days I remember. Dick-wagging was all about baud rate! 1200 baud was the norm for so long, and the first guy that got a 2400 baud modem was a god, then it was the first guy that went to 4800 baud. We always heard about, but no one ever knew exactly who, some dude that had the Holy Grail, a 9600 baud modem. Oooohh!

But it was real high tech back then. Shortly after the 9600 came out, it went to the multi-line cable and modern networks we see today.

[Formless]

Is anyone just plain more talkative over the net? I'm curious.

[Solauren]

I was online before the Internet was the Internet. I 'cut my teeth' on 2400 bps dial-up phone lines, connecting to ASCII or ANSI BBS's (and occasionally ROBO-BOARD). Back when it was all text...

Oh, those are the days I remember. Dick-wagging was all about baud rate! 1200 baud was the norm for so long, and the first guy that got a 2400 baud modem was a god, then it was the first guy that went to 4800 baud. We always heard about, but no one ever knew exactly who, some dude that had the Holy Grail, a 9600 baud modem. Oooohh!

But it was real high tech back then. Shortly after the 9600 came out, it went to the multi-line cable and modern networks we see today.

I remember when I had a 14.4 (and then later a 57.6) modem. No one believed I had one that powerful.

Do you happen to remember the old ASCII games like?
Solar Realms Elite, Barren Realms Elite, Pimp Wars, Stud/Studette and L.O.R.D?

[Coyote]

I remember when I had a 14.4 (and then later a 57.6) modem. No one believed I had one that powerful.

Do you happen to remember the old ASCII games like?
Solar Realms Elite, Barren Realms Elite, Pimp Wars, Stud/Studette and L.O.R.D?

Wow, years later and hearing someone had a 14.4 still impresses me until I remember that time has passed!

The game I remember was a Star Trek game that could be played over a 300 baud line if needed, it was all periods and letters like "K" for Klingon ship, rtc, and you had to enter in X-Y axis to describe your phaser shots... it was painfully slow, but at the time it was like going down the Death Star trench.

[Coyote]

Is anyone just plain more talkative over the net? I'm curious.

I'm never this chatty in real life. But then, I don't know a lot of people worth talking to in real life. Folks around here just aren't so interested in the things I'm interested in.

[Masami von Weizegger]

I am amused that a number of people here previously held Irish internet personae when it never done me any favours to be actually Irish.

I'm me on the internet. I just use a forum name because, hey, that's common internet practice no matter how much you reveal yourself on-line. I'm David, I come from Clonmel, County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland. Hello there. It's no big deal for me to throw my name and real self around.

Maybe when I was 13 and on the 'net I was a bit more boastful, more exaggerating of my talents, more eager to try and find pictures of breasts, but that's an evolution of me, rather than "the real me" shining through at a later date. I've no qualms about meeting anyone on-line in real life because, hey, I'm a pretty big guy and I'm vaguely trusting anyway.

Any differences between me here and in real life? I almost said I'm more open here, but I'm not really, I rarely post in anything serious as there's always someone with either slightly more knowledge or a lot more knowledge on a subject than myself, so I'm superfluous to requirements. So, yeah, that's me.

[Seggybop]

I was online before the Internet was the Internet. I 'cut my teeth' on 2400 bps dial-up phone lines, connecting to ASCII or ANSI BBS's (and occasionally ROBO-BOARD). Back when it was all text...

Oh, those are the days I remember. Dick-wagging was all about baud rate! 1200 baud was the norm for so long, and the first guy that got a 2400 baud modem was a god, then it was the first guy that went to 4800 baud. We always heard about, but no one ever knew exactly who, some dude that had the Holy Grail, a 9600 baud modem. Oooohh!

But it was real high tech back then. Shortly after the 9600 came out, it went to the multi-line cable and modern networks we see today.

If I remember correctly, my first modem that I used for quite a while was 7200 baud. I would lie to people on the AOL Warcraft 2 matchmaking service that I had a 33.6k so that they wouldn't preemptively kick me from games because of the lag. Actually, I think that was probably the maximum extent of any deception I committed back then-- it was widespread for people to make up background stories for themselves, but there was never any implication that these stories were real.

Even when I was 8 or 9 and using usenet and IRC I didn't make anything up; it always seemed dishonest and counterproductive. I simply didn't talk about anything that was too specific to myself.

[The Yosemite Bear]

I think GW noticed something simular, since I'm Irish/German/Spanish american and Have an Aztec themed space marine army, the quickest way to tell if someone is american amoung space marine players is that no one from the UK would field an army based off of Black Watch Highlanders.

[Tiriol]

I am mostly similar on the Internet and in real life. I am a little bit hesitant to get involved in anything which I'm not too familiar with (which explains rather well my low post-count and equally low profile). And I'm not too fond of using vulgarity or insults - sure, I swear from time to time, but I'm not too fond of it. However, I am more able to keep my emotional detachment on the Internet if something that I find distasteful or wrong comes up or if I lose in a debate or am proven wrong, which may give a more subdued appearance.

Curiously I am more open about my religious stance on the Internet, since in real life I would probably get constantly ridiculed or questioned because of it (or at least the tone of voice for many would change into condescending).

[Anguirus]

I pretty much act like myself. "Anguirus" is a longtime net handle that dates to 2000 or so, so I tend to use that instead of my real name, but ever since I got a Facebook (did I link to it on my profile?) I haven't been as concerned. If anyone cared about me enough to find all my online posts and connect them to my real name I'd be more surprised than creeped out. Unlike many of my generation, I avoid putting anything online that I'd be really ashamed of. If you IM me, I'll talk to you the same as I would my friends who actually know me in person. It would be a lot of effort for me to deliberately put on different personas, and when I'm online I'm just screwing around.

[Dalton]

As the internet becomes more and more a viable means of mass communication, the era where it was a mere curiosity and considered the realm belonging strictly to geeks, intellectuals and hackers is slowly trailing off. Average people are now highly visible, and with tighter integration between internet applications and other media (the rise of Web 2.0), people are becoming less and less nervous about having their real personas represented on a medium that literally spans the globe. It is also an age and maturity thing; as people get older, they tend less to want to put on a mask and make their online personas into an act, especially when they want to seamlessly transition from using the internet for entertainment to a more professional presence.

[TimothyC]

I started online about '98ish with the "nerd359" [derived from the fact that I was/am a nerd and the star Wolf 359] handle (on hotmail [which I still look at every so often] and the old STInetligence forum [long dead - it took many years for it to die even as the name changed twice]), and stuck with it for many years (up until about '03-'04) when I moved over to Les Miserables references (this period which roughly corresponds to when some deep-seated psycho-emotional problems started to manifest themselves), and finally in the late '06 to current time frame when I started moving to my real name (about the time that I joined HPCA). Personality wise, there have been times when I wasn't exactly who I said I was (Yes I had at the time a valid White House Press Corps pass, but it isn't valid anymore; Yes I did DJ for the Campus radio Station, but that lasted less than a week), but I tend to play it strait and narrow these days (once I learned of facebook, I realized just how open anyone is to being searched for when they look for a job, and how playing around could effect what goes on offline).