Sunday, February 19, 2006
I am trying to gather accurate information for something I’m writing and I sure would appreciate any help you guys can give me.

How many of the people you post with, do you consider to be “friends”?
Have you ever befriended someone on the net only to be betrayed by that person at a later time?
How many Internet friends have you met in person?
Were you disappointed?
Or were they everything they represented themselves to be?

My husband thinks that the vast majority of people on the net misrepresent themselves. Do you agree with him?

Few final questions. (Yes, I am the quiz lady and will be featured in a major motion picture with Angelina Jolie playing the part of me.) And that has to be the truth cause, well, who would make that up?

How many hours do you spend blogging a day?
Do you blog everyday?
Do you find yourself checking your posts for comments like a crack head?
Have you become a numbers person?

My answers.
1. friends – 1 and I believe 3 more in progress but time will tell.

2. Betrayal - LOL! Oh hell, yeah! I admit it. I get sucked in easy if I like the person. (or who they pretend to be) I’m a sap. And I’ll probably continue to be a sap. Because I still believe people are basically, good. Sadly, even when I am betrayed I still find myself thinking things like, “They didn’t mean it. They just got caught up in something and accidentally sold me up the river.” Or is it down the river? Either way, I’m in the river, knee deep in muck.

3. I have met no Internet friends in person. A group of us came very close once. We had a hotel booked in Chicago, plane reservations made, had even decided who would be rooming with who. Then 9/11 happened.

4. Misrepresentations? Yes, of course I agree. And yet I find there are a few brave enough to be just who they are. And even they will embellish. Which is fine because it makes for good reading and we like that! At least I do.

5. I can spend a good 5 – 8 hours a day on here. Generally 3-4 days a week.

6. Yes, I am a crack head poster. And yes, I sometimes find myself getting caught up in the numbers game. That’s when I walk away and give myself a reality check because in truth, that’s when it stops being fun and starts being work.

I encourage you to feel free to post your answers anonymously, most especially if you are concerned about hurting someone’s feelings answering the Q’s in that first paragraph.
 
posted by Crabby at 9:01 PM |


26 Comments:


At 2/19/2006 11:09 PM, Blogger Crabby

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HAHA HA HA! You would show up right before I go to bed, you sexy sea-devil. Now I'll be dreaming about you all night. ARRRRRRRRRRR!

 

At 2/20/2006 1:54 AM, Blogger pkeclub

1) i have made friends
2) i know alot of them may be lying (but who cares)
3) im not sure angelina is hot enough to play you

 

At 2/20/2006 1:54 AM, Blogger HighMaintenanceHussy

Hmmmm...this is a very interesting topic.

About a year and a half ago, I started chatting on IRC, because I was feeling a bit lonely and seperated from my fellow countrymen over here. While it has been cool meeting people from all over the world, I'm afraid I'm a bit like your husband and suspect that most people are misrepresenting themselves, at least a little bit.

 

At 2/20/2006 9:18 AM, Blogger Spinning Girl

Great blog here; I hopped over from Jamwall's. Mind if I stick around?

1. friends – I am friends, truly friends, with two bloggers, but I consider about 8 to be in my "inner circle".

2. Betrayal - I have not been betrayed. I don't know if I would let anyone that close.

3. One. We met in blogland but then talked on the phone for 4 months so by the time we met, we really knew each other. We had a great time and he was just like I thought. And just as he is on his blog.

4. Misrepresentations? I think everyone does, to some degree; I know I try to put my better self otu there, and I don't blog much when I am in a bad mood. THat's like real life though --when I am in a bad place, I shut down. INstead of venting on my blog, I just don't post.


5. 1-2 hours weekdays, more on vacations & weekends.

6. Not much of a crack head. I found the balance; I used to check & recheck constantly. I don't really keep track of my hits, though I am happy to see that I have many.

 

At 2/20/2006 9:41 AM, Blogger MilkMaid

All these questions Crabs!!

Yeah, I can count the net friends on one hand. Well, a few fingers actually.

My net meetings have, for the most part, been not so good for me. Sometimes it makes it all the more ok that we weren't able to meet that day in September. Altho I have a feeling, with you, it will be different. We've been far too much REAL with each other over the years.

Time on the net is hard for me to separate. Working on my computer at home for hours and hours, it's easy for me to surf a window for a few to unwind my brain and then go right back to work. It IS a struggle and I constantly have to try and keep it in check.

 

At 2/20/2006 9:42 AM, Blogger Crabby

Larry, you are right. Angelina is not woman enough. There must be someone out there sexy enough to play me in the movie. But who?

Hi, High! (I love to say that) My biggest shock came from this sweet old widower. Milkmaid was there and she can vouche for me on this one. We all felt so deeply sorry for him when his wife died and he seemed like such a sweet old fella. We got very attached to him. Next thing we knew he was mailing us nakie pics of himself, full on erect sitting outside on his front porch! And also posting stories about having sex with his wife and her sister. (before the wife died. LOL)
We freaked! He then started sending mails out to us trying to lure us into having sexual conversations. The guy was 78 for cryin out loud! ICK!

Denny, as you know I am practically a Mensa brain. ahhhhhhhhhhhhh ha ha ha ha ha. (Stop belly-achin' Mensa people! They know I'm kidding. Your fine rep will not be tarnished by my bitty walnut brain)

where was I?

Oh yeah, I am deep. like the ocean.
Wow, I'm sorry you got shafted by this gal. I've heard similar stories from a few guys and gals. I think it's happening more than people know. And I have no idea what the answer is. You want to trust people, you know?

No sex? That's not what I heard. I heard you made the rounds and left many a maid behind begging for more. But then, what can you believe on the net?

Spinning girl! Nice to see ya, baby! Yes you can stick around. I'm happy you're here.

How did you find the balance? That's the hardest part for me. For instance I should be in there spackling because I want to get my house ready to sell. But where am I? right here in my chair which is firey hot because my butt's been planted here since breakfast. LOL!

I do need to put things in check. But it's tough to do. The 'puter keeps calling to me...."pull up firefox....check out the blogs....you might be missing something." sigh.

 

At 2/20/2006 10:18 AM, Blogger Silver

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 

At 2/20/2006 10:23 AM, Blogger Silver

wow, was I supposed to keep count?

My guess is I've meet a couple of dozen or mor, most at parties. I don't miss most of them.
There are a few I di miss. Hopefully I'll get to visit with them in Myrtle Beach this year during Bike Week.

Also, most have been honest. I'm afraid I'm the one who has been mis-leading people. I am not a porn star and I'm not rich. Sorry, but I guess it was time to come clean.

 

At 2/20/2006 10:24 AM, Anonymous Anonymous

Good post! One that makes you think. I'll try to answer. LOL

1. I've felt a difference between *real* friendships (face-to-face friendships I mean) and net friendships. For me, it's just not the same. I've met some great people that I do have some sort of relationship with - just not sure what! LOL I mean it's more than an aquaintance, it IS a kind of friendship, but not the kind where you've actually experienced things together, etc. But there are a few that I would NOT want to lose contact with - over the years, I feel we've built up SOMETHING! LOL It's just different.

2. Not befriended and betrayed. I guess I've not looked at it that seriously. The ones that I do talk with and share more of myself with - I've had no problems with. Oh sure, there are those who say things that hurt feelings, etc. but that's about it.

3. I've met 3 in real life. All three were good experiences. One actually flew here (TN) from NY and stayed 4 days in my house. While waiting for her arrival at the airport - it finally sunk in that I might have invited the ax murderer to come stay with me. LOL It was great. We are still very close. The other two were really good meetings, we did not have as close a relationship to start with as I did with the first gal - and we've kind of drifted. Still occasional contact and I am glad that we met.

I do kind of tend to agree with Bob. Maybe not that they misrepresent themselves so to speak - but I think so many people act differently here on the net than they do with people in real life. Maybe they feel more free on the net.

Hours a day? Not many. I don't blog myself, and I can surf through pretty quick and read the blogs I keep up with and comment, etc. An hour or so a day I'd say.

The last three don't apply to me as I don't have a blog myself. I'm too boring. LOL

tina

 

At 2/20/2006 10:29 AM, Anonymous Anonymous

Well GOOD GRAVY! I had to come back because I read the other comments (Yes, MM, I know - I'm BAD about that. LOL!!) DENNY - you moved to Texas for her??? From where? Are you sorry you moved there? Sounds like an interesting story.

MM Exactly - when you're working on the puter - it's easy to surf for a few and then get back to work.

FRIDAY!!! YOU'RE SELLING YOUR DREAM HOUSE????????

I remember Raymond. He emailed me a few pics too. I always liked him though. I just thought of him as a lonely old guy. I shouldn't say old guy - he rode that bike MILES - probably in better shape than some half his age. Remember his lady friend? She cleaned in the nude? I don't remember about the sister-in-law. I hope I'm as randy and active as he at that age. HAHAHAHA~~

tina

 

At 2/20/2006 10:54 AM, Anonymous Anonymous

I do believe I have some net FRIENDS, ya'll know who ya are. However as Tina suggested, the friendships are different that RL friendships because they were forged differently.

I move in a very small circle in real life, more relatives than not.I know a lot of people but they are more on aquaintance level I guess.

Yes I have met a "net" but we didn't have sex, but then again I don't have sex with most people I have just met either.

As far a misrepresenting themselves, yeah I guess folks do but it just seems weird for me to grasp, probably because I've never thought to do it for myself.

 

At 2/20/2006 12:08 PM, Blogger Polyman2

Made some nice cyber-friends, haven't met any in person- safer that way.
Spend whatever free time either at work or at home browsing sites and comment feilds-
it's fun! yippie.

 

At 2/20/2006 12:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous

1. "Friends" – There is great speculation here at this time.....With great fortitude on my part (yes I'm weeding out this very minute!!) What use to be many, has quickly dwindled to little or none, although I'm working on regaining an old one back if they'll let me.

2. "Betrayal" - (See above post) considering your answer to same question, then oh yeah I too get sucked in easy at times of need.

3. "I have met no Internet friends in person" - Well here I have to say I HAVE. To some degree it was quite nice, the people I decided were the types that we (me and the rock) honestly had something in common with. However, now I am trying to weed out those that had different agendas....quite evil ones as a matter of fact.

4. "Misrepresentations"? - Oh my goodness yes...some to the damn funniest degree. But mostly the important ones I have met have been genuine. Maybe just a little more quiet than their internet alias prescribed...but what the heck, eh??

5. "I can spend a good 5 – 8 hours a day on here" - Oh I can get caught the hell up on this thing, and before you know the rock is telling me he's "tired of being ignored, and he's hitting the sheets"....then I know I'm in for the cold back if'n I don't get my butt in there quickly!!

6. "Yes, I am a crack head poster." - I'm a beginner at this stage, I have a feeling that it won't take me long to have crackhead status though!! (Wow, now that's encouraging!!), although I don't have my very own blog (in my best Sgt. Schultz's voice....I know nut-zing!!) about any numbers or even what that's about - for now anyways!!

 

At 2/20/2006 1:04 PM, Blogger Crabby

Milkmaid, how'd you get up there without be seeing you? LOL! Yes, we are real with each other. Scary real. There have been times when you have warned me not to touch something just as I was getting ready to do some button pushing which always freaks me the hell out. How do you KNOW?

You know for you, me, Helen, Tina and all the others who have stayed in touch from our old boards the net friendship begins to rival real life IMO. We've watched each others kids grow up. We've grieved with each other and laughed with each other, etc. So I don't think it would be so different for us. As to how I would seem to you or any of you if we met, ask Ethel. (real-life friend who will post here off and on) I'm no different. Only much louder and possibly more stupid. I know, you think it's not possible. ah, but it is.

Note to self: Stop sucking up to Waygon because he isn't really rich.

Tina, we might sell it. The dream house has turned out to be a real money pit. Which is what happens when you buy an old house. Now Tina, listen to me. Ray is alright if you keep a safe distance. But don't be thinkin he's all cuddly and cute. He's an old man perve from the planet whacko. Those nekkie pics he took with his penis at full "fly and bob" mode? That was on his front porch which sits right across from an elementary school. Not good. NO. You do not want to be like him when you grow up. K?

Helen, you lie! We did too have sex and it was good! You just don't want Milky to know.

Polyman, you know what. For me it's not just that it's safer but with some folks, their mystery is part of their charm. I think it's fun too. When I have free time, I am right in here posting and reading. Fact, today I don't have free time and I am still in here. (man I gotta get a grip)

Denny, I dunno where it started but everybody knows it. You have quite the rep.

Friendly Lurker Person, I find myself occasionally falling out with a person, then kind of missing them. Especially if they're funny. LOL!

And I agree some of the misrepresentations are a riot! And let's face it, we come on here to enjoy ourselves.

I think it's time for you to set up a blog. You are gonna have sooo much fun.

 

At 2/20/2006 2:06 PM, Anonymous Anonymous

Oh great Crabby, now everyone is gonna want to meet me.

It's all about the sex people, all about the sex.

 

At 2/20/2006 2:24 PM, Blogger MilkMaid

I KNEW IT!!!

 

At 2/20/2006 2:44 PM, Blogger Silver

Helen, we don't have to meet, dirty pictures will do just fine!!!

 

At 2/20/2006 3:27 PM, Blogger Crabby

Helen, I TOLD you she knew. It was that silly smirk on your face next morning that clued her in.

Waygon, You are not ready for pics like those. Helen and I know....well, special tricks. You have to work up to that kind of thing. Develop special sexual skills. It takes time and practice. If we were to show you, you might go out and try this on your own with no training and you could seriously hurt yourself.

Milky, it was just that one time. Pinky swear. If ya can't trust me, who can ya trust? eh?

 

At 2/20/2006 3:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH! I didn't know that about Raymond! The pics I got were taken out back - some at a table - he was nekkie drinking his coffee! LOL The up close and personal ones I couldn't tell were from where. YUK!!! I remember he talked about that school - never dreamed he was out there in plain view of them!

tina

 

At 2/20/2006 4:35 PM, Blogger Crabby

oh yeah. he was a whack job. pun intended.

 

At 2/20/2006 7:12 PM, Blogger FLAMINGO1

1. Everybody is my friend in blogland until they prove otherwise. I have chased off a couple of people that were just too damn obnoxious to be friends.

2. I met one blogger so far. I wrote about it. I'm not going to re-write it all here. What, do you think I have all day to do this stuff?

3. I check my blog with a pavlovian dog like regularity, salivating the entire day.

4. Yes, everyone misrepresents themselves some - but they do that in real life, too. It really isn't very different. You can tell the ones that are entirely contrived relatively quickly.

5. I have some naked pictures I want to mail you...what is your address.

6. I really don't recall what numbers your original questions had.

7. I like cheese.

8. I check my blog every day. I try to post regularly, but sometimes I let two or three days slip by. I run down my blogs of note (usually in order because I was potty trained too early) every day at least one time.

9. Who am I rooming with?

 

At 2/20/2006 7:34 PM, Blogger SignGurl

Wow, I just posted on Friday night about this Read This Sign: Judgment Day. I have recently been duped and not in a good way. What's really bad is that this person if very friendly with my friends but I just don't feel right outing this person. I have warned these friends but without naming names.

I have a great friend that I talk to on the phone daily and I think that someday we will meet.

I hope that you will be part of the Michigan Blogger meeting if we ever get it together.

I too spend WAY too much time on the blogs. I find myself sad when I don't get any comments. It sometimes becomes an obsession. I have to remind myself that I have a real life and take a break.

 

At 2/20/2006 10:26 PM, Blogger Crabby

Flamingo, Yep. Me too. I like everybody unless they give me good reason not to.

Dad blast it. I was gonna say that at the end about people misrepresenting themselves in real life too.

More nudies? But what about all those others you already gave me? I don't have to give them back do I?

Cheese is good if it's Jarlsburg.

Who you're rooming with depends entirely on how that potty training went. If it didn't take, you're rooming with Captain Carl.

Sign gurl. Are we sharing a brain? Cuz I might have to borrow the extra half for this weekend. The sisters are planning a big celebration. That's always intersting.

I'm coming to Michigan if I can for sure.

Blogging is definitely an obsession. But it's a fun one. I don't blog much on the weekend because I go out on weekends and by Monday...I am all over it again. It's a sickness, I tell ya.

 

At 3/01/2006 1:54 PM, Blogger barman

Sorry for the length of this...

How many of the people you post with, do you consider to be “friends”?

Kind of dificult. Dificult because there are differing degrees of friends. I would say I have about 5 or so true friends. I Probably have 5 to 10 that I could toss into the friends category as I call them friends but it is not that same thing as a true friend. And then aquantances.


Have you ever befriended someone on the net only to be betrayed by that person at a later time?

I do not know about betrayed but I certainly did not want to have anything to do with a person a few times, but very rare.


How many Internet friends have you met in person?

I have met probably a dozen people although most of those were at a party I attended in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. One person I still keep in touch with is sort of a send a christmas card type of person. I write her from time to time to see how things are going and occasionally I hear from her. There are one person now I think I will keep in touch with and two more I am really hoping to have a chance to meet someday. I am cautious but so far things have went well.


Were you disappointed? Or were they everything they represented themselves to be?

The two people that stand out in my head the most are Top Cat and Kathy. Top Cat was a little smaller person than I pictured but other than that he was exactly like I pictured. Kathy looked a little different than I expected but she was everything I thought and more but I must admit that this is the one person that I actually had hoped would go somewhere but alas not to be. I did have another person I met that was the biggest flirt in the world online so I started to flirt back, something I am not all that comfortable with. When we met in person it was the strangest thing. Not at all what I expected but that is OK. It was just fun to meet her. So she was not what she acted like online but she never really claimed to be this big flirt. I think that is kind of common. So no so far people have been what they appeared to be. As to the embelish part, yes I do that to try and make the stories a little more interesting. If I were to be asked about it, and sometimes even in the comments, I would admit to that in a heart beat.


Your husband might be right about misrepresenting themselves. I know I may avoid saying some things but for the most part I let people know who I am, flaws and all. I guess for me I am not looking to date or marry someone I meet on the Internet. Heck, almost all the ladies I meet are married or engaged and I do not play that game even if they would want to.


How many hours do you spend blogging a day? Do you blog everyday?

Anywhere between 2 hours to 6 hours would be my guess with the average being maybe 3. I tend to blog more days than not. Sometimes I avoid it because I have things that I really should be doing or really want to be doing. As to posting a blog entry, I would love to do it daily but I just am not that interesting or have anything that interesting happen. I do try for 4 to 5 days in a week.


Do you find yourself checking your posts for comments like a crack head?

Guilty. I love comments. Sometimes it does not feel right to comment back but I usually try to do that too.


Have you become a numbers person?

Sort of. I enjoy seeing how many comments I get or how many people have visited or where they come from. But for the most part I have never been one of the popular people in real life and I do not expect that to change on the WEB. For that to happen I would have to be something I really am not and I would not enjoy that at all. They say sex sells and that is true on the blogs too. The people that participate in HNT always seem to be much more popular than those that do not. For the most part I do not see HNT in my future but you never know. Then you have the people that are just plain interesting like Wenchy and Deb (and many more) but you can not make yourself be interesting. Again I do not think I would try to do that just to be popular. I would not know what to do with it if I was.