Quote:
Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Poll question: How do you explain this whole lawtalkers/virtual community thing to your friends, family, SOs, ect. or is it your dirty little secret that no one else knows about?
Me: At this point it's hard to separate real life from online, so I don't even bother unless anonymity is important to the other person. I've been posting in communities for over 7 years now. (From August 1997 in my other board, from August 2000 in the GA boards). The line between real life and online sort of evaporated for me when I moved to a new city four and a half years ago and the only people I knew there were virtual. Now, I can't even begin to count how many virtually-met people I've met in real life. Hell, 25 people that I've met online have met the Displaced Dog, and a good dozen or so have stayed in my house overnight when they've been passing through.
So since my other board has been pretty much totally integrated into my real life, it's pretty easy to explain this one to my friends. The only raised eyebrows would be about the fact that I'm cheating on them in another community. My family sort of gets it, though they think this board is more professionally oriented than my other board. They think I talk about law here. Work colleagues don't know anything about any boards, though I do seem to have friends all over the place. As far as they're concerned, I only particpate in work related listservs. When I go off to meet my friends in Vegas or LA or New Orleans, I just explain it's a reunion. My two most recent SOs have been from online, so it was fairly easy to explain to them what's going on.
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A couple of my friends know about it; sometimes when I'm looking for info it's for them. I think one of them thinks the Fashion Board has more to do with, well, fashion, though I keep trying to explain it's more about sex. I'm actually pretty nice to those people, so I don't think they have fully absorbed how mean I am on here. I think both of them checked out the old board at some point but I don't think they posted.
My family has no idea that I participate, though I think my dad sent me to Greedy Associates in the first place because he wanted me to make more money. I imagine that a couple of my more removed relatives are aware of the boards as a phenomenon in the legal community. I think someone at a place I used to work suspected I was me online because he mentioned a couple of very board phrases at some point to me, but I feigned ignorance (luckily, it was via email).
ETA I forward links from here to some friends, including both people who know about the boards and people I have determined don't read them. Great links from this place.
