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Do You Really Want to Meet People on the Web?
Wolfspelz writes "Do you want to meet people on Web pages? The Jabber Virtual Presence project makes people aware of each other on the Web. Just like you are aware of other people in the real world anywhere you go, the virtual presence makes you aware of others on the same virtual locations. The project uses Jabber/XMPP as the transport protocol for virtual presence. Jabber conference components serve as presence servers. The code is GPL/LGPL. The Virtual Presence Protocol extensions are open and documented. The virtual presence system including the LLuna2 client is designed to protect the privacy and prohibit any indecent use, be it commercial use, advertising, or profiling. But: do you want to meet people on the Web at all?"
I'd say that the more opportunity to meet interesting people in this world, the better, and this just improves the odds of randomly meeting people your probably wouldn't otherwise have to opportunity to meet.
As long as it doesn't supplant actual real world interaction with people as a primary social outlet, that is..
All of these services are just an excuse to gather a huge number of e-mail addresses and connections between people, and then to use that network to market stuff. If there were a service that banned marketing and advertising messages, maybe it would be worth doing. As it is, it almost acts like the "in-crowd", where if you buy what they want, magically you're the most popular. However, so what if people want to meet people online? How is that worse than in an establishment serving alcohol, where everyone's not themselves anyhow?
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Why not? It is just another medium to meet people. In fact it can sometimes be better. You might get to know the person, and like the person so that you would want to meet the person. This does not have to be for romance, but could be for friends. Back in the day when local BBS' were big - we would have get-to-gethers. I never did it to try and go out with a girl, but it was nice to meet the people I would play MUD's with. I have met a number of people from the web. Some nice, some not so nice. Some extremely hot, some extremely not :)
I think it is a new medium - nothing wrong with it. People use newspaper ads, bars, clubs, parks, restaurants. Others may not have the time (i have been in this position) to go and hang out at these places all the time.
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
But: do you want to meet people on the Web at all?"
could easily be rendered as:
But: do you want to meet people at all?"
For a lot of people, this involves some sort of a negative answer, one way or another. Some folks have a low tolerance of human beings, depending on circumstances.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Having met several people in person that I first met through e-mail or chat (fellow programmers and co-workers from remote locations), I've noticed several interesting dynamics from virtual communications relative to those of "real life." Some of these are obvious, such as judging people by how well they express their ideas and opinions in words (instead of by their appearance or personal hygiene).
Others are more subtle, and are apparent only over time, such as the speed with which someone responds. Do they think quickly, but type slowly? Do they fly off the handle and just post the first thing that comes to mind, or do they carefully consider every response?
In most cases, I have found that getting to know someone online, over time, gives you a better perspective on how that person sees themselves. If they have low self-esteem, that will come across (eventually). If they're confident and authoritative, that will show (again, over time). If they're egotistical and full of themselves, they'll have microsoft.com in their e-mail address.
However, you *can* get to know someone really well on one level (or in a given context), and completely miss another. For instance, I used to manage several mailing lists about Borland Delphi. One of the moderators for the list, named Jo, was moving from one part of South Africa to another, and was offline for a couple of weeks. I had known Jo for years as a serious gearhead when it came to Delphi Database programming. After I asked one of the other moderators about Jo by saying, "Where is he moving?", I discovered that Jo was, in fact, a woman.
At that point, Jo's signature line took on new meaning (and I got a much-needed lesson in gender stereotyping): "I am a programmer - I don't do relationships."
Tim
Really, and the person you meet at a bar, park, restaurant, club, etc.. cannot be a paedophile? The fact that there is no presence makes the interaction safer. You can chat with the person for months, and then chat with the person on the phone, and if you continue to proceed to meet the person face to face, you are better off (much better) then if you just randomly met the person on the "street." At least, utilizing the Internet method, you have some time you can attempt to get to know the person - on the street, if the person is psychotic, you may have very little warning. To assume psychopaths only proliferate on the internet is naive and wrong. Your example is sorely lacking. And your statement about being "genuine" lacks evidence. In fact, people are more blunt on the Internet because they have a certain sense of protection - hence people are more willing to speak their mind. While some people cannot control their emotions and decide to lash out, many people utilize this form of communication as a way to voice their, legitimate opinions, without feeling pressured due to society rules. That is VERY genuine.
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.