• momsrock said on Jan 17, 2007....

  I am basically the same in person as on SC. The only exception would be that I don't post a lot of the dumb things that I do and they are usually hard to miss in real life. My life is full of 'clam chowder' moments because I am either too tired to think things through or too busy to think at all...but a lot of people just take it as not having a brain. So I don't normally post those things. :)

• MissMimi said on Jan 17, 2007....

  I think I am basically the same. I have to add though, that I am nowhere near as comfortable interacting with others, and especially men, in RL, as I am online.  I guess online, I feel less inhibited and feel more comfortable saying things that in my RL, I would keep to myself.

  In RL, there are really very few people that I feel totally at ease with.  In some ways, not even my husband. 

• sweetsoul said on Jan 17, 2007....

  I guess for a really accurate answer you'd have to ask my friends that I've met online that have met me in person.
   
  My take on it is that generally they're one and the same. If anything, I'm more 'me' online. By that I mean that there are parts of me that I hide from a large number of people I deal with IRL. For those select few people IRL that get to see the totality of 'me', I don't think there is any difference IRL versus online.

• SaltwaterPearl said on Jan 17, 2007....

  I would say I'm the same in RL as I am here. I type the way I speak, and keep the same points of view. I know if someone I knew read my blog they'd know it was me, blows anonymity out of the water if that happens.
  
  Thinking about it I'd say I'm less caustic here. IRL  I have a very dry sense of humour and that wouldn't transfer well through writing. People would just believe I was being nasty.
  

• beyondtheveil said on Jan 17, 2007....

  Although very little is known about me, I am what I write. I cannot fathom anyone attempting to present a false persona in a completely anonymous situation. What could possibly be the benefit? I agree with saltwaterpearl in that I, too, could not relate my sense of humor. I can barely relate my ideas.

• MissMimi said on Jan 17, 2007....

  Beyond, I could tell you such a story... Some people do exactly what you said. And in the process, cause a lot of pain.

• ALIENated said on Jan 17, 2007....

  In real life I am actually a liberal and a democrat. However, the ALIENated part is accurate here and in the real world. I am definitely ALIENated.

• Vericona said on Jan 17, 2007....

  IRL I am a lesbian with all the equipment of a male that has tits and short legs. I love to fuck bunnies and dwarfs and drink potato vodka straight from the bottom of the bathtub. I sing at night and howl at the sun. I am fucked up but who cares.
   
  I take all my clothes off at noon and parade around on my balcony hoping to be the first news editor to ever be on the cover of Who's Who in nasty land.
   
  I don't get it. I guess I am far more normal than I want to admit.

• waterstar said on Jan 17, 2007....

  as I've been writing basically the story of my relationship with my ex, I've been asking myself if it could have ramifications I am not aware of?  Like what would happen if someone who knew me read it? would they have a better picture of who I really am?  would they be mortified? relieved? proud?

• Lioness said on Jan 17, 2007....

  I say I am the same IRL and in SC, the only difference is that I tend to be more "talkative" in SC. =)

• CreativeWoman said on Jan 17, 2007....

  IRL I am a more quieter and shy version of the me here.  IRL people have to dig to get to know me.  But once you become my friend, that's another story.  :-)
  
  I haven't created a persona here.  It's just the hidden me emerging.
  
  CW
  

• gingersoul said on Jan 17, 2007....

  Well, i think i couldn't possibly fake it and not being me here.

  In my RL i have already lots of problems in not being totally myself to add more of them here......i said once to someone of you that since i moved in Usa i always felt as there is a thin line between my Italian myself and this me who lives here.....

  Its more than it looks. And i tried to keep it for myself. But if my American friends in RL would see me in my natural enviroment ( i feel like and endangered specie....lol)  they would see me not as different but as updated, improved....they would meet a loaded version of me..... :-)

  Like Saltwater is complaining about not being able to translate her humor here from her RL, i have the same problem in translating it in RL from my original way.....i too tend to be dry humored, sarcastic ....and it doesnt show nicely sometimes....less than less here.......

  i have to control my spontaneity in RL so i try not to do it in SC.........

  so if you would ever meet me in RL you wouldn't be completely surprised but it would be like expecting to drive a nice Mazda and ending up with a Ferrari.....LOL....always a car but with a more powerful engine.....:-)

• mom said on Jan 17, 2007....

  I am very honest on here and have shared things that I would not normally share with people. I am a pretty quiet person at home and have a phobia about being in large groups.  If I could be a mouse in the corner and no one notice me then I would be happy.  I am introverted but on here I am more extroverted.  I feel a lot of things like everyone else and being able to share them means a lot.  I don't have to pretend that I am someone I'm not.  WYSIWYG.

• dazed_and_confused said on Jan 18, 2007....

  IRL, I am really nerdy. I am a programmer. Here in SC, I tend to be bubbly when talking about men though here, I am more open about myself here than I am IRL.
  
  IRL, I don't quite often share what I am really thinking and most of the time, I just talk about non-personal stuff, though I am very talkative, but I do avoid personal questions. However here, I tend to write my personal experiences and my thoughts.
  
  I don't know about appearances though. :D From my posts, maybe you can picture me as a bubbly young lady, I actually look like a high school student ehehehe, which is how I really look in real life. LOL
  
  Cheers!
  

• polarheart said on Jan 18, 2007....

  I am the same for the most part, but the better part of SC than RL is that I can get to say what I really feel.  IRL time is often a rare commodity and I often dont have the luxury to say how I feel, but here I have the time to take to get my point across. . .without being interrupted!  That's the best part!! hahahaha

• petitepapillon said on Jan 18, 2007....

  What you see, is what you get from me. Hehe.

  Okay, seriously, IRL, I'm much less open in person. More quiet and shy. Unless I'm talking with my therapist, but that is a whole other story, but even then I still a bit shy and quiet.

• Comfort said on Jan 18, 2007....

  I've only been a member of SC for a few days but do have another blog that I use (and some who view that one have actually met me). I think I'm pretty much myself online as I am IRL.

• Alyss said on Jan 18, 2007....

  It's hard to say ed. I think I am much the same as I am in RL but here I can be me without the masks and cloak of protection +3 and all the other things that hide me from hurt.
  
  Oh and I get to loose the ring of invisibility here too or am I in fact wearing it? <shakes head>
  
  Perhaps what you get here is the me without the baggage, the me that could have been?
  

• EvilTwin said on Jan 18, 2007....

  It is difficult to say...  I think here at SoulCast, I am more myself, whereas I find that I am more reserved elsewhere online (though that could be a reflex of wanting to protect my anonymity and that of my soulmate as well...).
   
  I try to be myself at all times.  But I have come to realise that there are in fact different aspects of myself that I show at various times.  Only one person, Alyss, has seen all of them in me.  Only she knows the real me.  Totally.  Completely.  Wholly...
   
   

• RollingC said on Jan 18, 2007....

  Not much of a difference. What little difference there might be is that I'm not as spontaneous here as on RL as here I can review whatever I'm about to write or state where otherwise in RL I might just blurt it out. But pretty much the same overall.
  I like Veronica's idea of stripping naked at noon and parading on the balcony waiting waiting to be discovered by news photographers. I'll start carrying my camera from now on whenever I go web slinging across town.
  

• kruuyai said on Jan 18, 2007....

  I'm pretty much the same IRL as I am here, but I don't think I've been here long enough to have shown all the many facets of my personality yet.  = )  Another difference is that here, I have a chance to edit what I say (although I seldom do), but IRL, I often speak first and think later.  I think I'm also sillier in real life, but that part of me is sure to surface sooner or later here at SC.  I agree with what polarheart said about it being nice to be able to talk without being interrupted. I get interrupted a lot IRL.  It's one of my pet peeves.

• quidnunc said on Jan 18, 2007....

  hi ed. happy new year!
   
  i just posted my first for 2007 and i'm hoping to be posting more regularly again.
  
  perhaps you already know that i am the same here in soulcast as i am in real life. once a soulcaster reads my posts, it is at once obvious to the reader that i am blogging about the real me -- my mother's operation, my office work, my being hypertensive, my angst, reflections, and my musings about everyday life...
  
  it's good to log back in after a long while and see that, as usual, your piece is the number one post of the day. so what else is new?
  

• purplescooby said on Jan 18, 2007....

  IRL, I'm quite misunderstood. I don't speak my mind, or even have another adult to talk to. So, I guess this is the real me? No one to interupt me, say I'm stupid for thinking that, or whatever.

• queenparanoia said on Jan 18, 2007....

  i'm actually the same except i'm more confident here in soulcast and i think i showed more emotions here.

• boyzmom said on Jan 18, 2007....

  I am definitely more assertive on SoulCast than I would be in real life. Some people intimidate me and it takes a lot to get past that in real life but here I can choose not to be intimidated so easily. I think my honesty would give me away, I don't keep secrets well and this is a good place to get it out so that I am less likely to get in trouble.

• peedee said on Jan 18, 2007....

  Hi!sw, that's a wonderful query ! If  there is a difference, that only tantamounts to self deception and the very purpose of blogging is forefeited. We face each other on the soulcast inspite of the fact that we have never met face to face. We are a family here, without intrigues, conspiracies or jealousies and if we feel the need to have two faces, it would be  the saddest part of the story. I am the same on the soulcast vis-a-vis my real life. I hope you will accept my statement.

  AND I FEEL PROUD OF IT.

  pd 

• GrapeKoolaid said on Jan 18, 2007....

  have very little time.  Just wanted to come back to this later.  

• lioneljay said on Jan 18, 2007....

  My answer echoes those of SS and Mimi. I am more candid here about certain aspects of my life than I am IRL and I am definitely more loose and outgoing online than I am IRL. At the same time, I hold much of my life private, even from the folks who read me online. Just last night, in fact, I was reflecting on this a bit and realized that there is no one in the world who really knows the entirety of my life.
  
  That said, I am a WYSIWYG poster. I don't have an online persona that is created intentionally to make me appear to be different from who I am. Lioneljay may be a little more outgoing than the "real" me but that's about it. Like most people who participate in online communities, I thrive in the partial anonymity afforded by the net.
  

• purrrkitten said on Jan 18, 2007....

  I am with eviltwin in that I'm more open online than IRL. I express myself more sexually because I'm not afraid of some weird-ass following me home. I write out the things that upset me without fear of "hurting someone's feelings" and I talk more about my deepest feelings without worrying about someone I know reading it and using it against me.

  I am me as purrrkitten but more 'Inside Me' peeks out.

  ~^^

• Bronx said on Jan 18, 2007....

  Definitely, my online persona is parallel to the one IRL!
  
  Just the price of anonymity that I have to pay: online, I feel awkward not being able to show myself to the other party, and vice versa.
  
  I believe, IRL, in knowing exactly what I am getting into, where I stand. 
  
  Online, it's a great feeling interacting, but there's always that strange feeling; like the fear and apprehension that never leaves until you see finally that your blind date doesn't have buck teeth!
  
  Not that there's anything wrong with that that the dentist can't fix in a hurry!

• beyondtheveil said on Jan 18, 2007....

  I know what you are saying, Ed, I was just saying I don't understand why.

• dailyachesandpains said on Jan 18, 2007....

  Ed,

  I have to say that I am NOT the same person IRL.  Simply because I can't just openly talk about 'things' IRL like I can here.  

  I do not talk about my issues with food IRL

  I do not talk about my in-laws as much IRL

  I do not talk about my pain IRL

  That's really the only difference.  I bitch and moan here, not out loud at home. 

  {{{hugs}}}

  Daily

• BombShell said on Jan 18, 2007....

  I'm with daily.  I'm not the same (similar, but not the same) as IRL.  In real life, EVERYTHING annoys me, but notifying everybody that everything they do is annoying just makes me look like Veruca Salt.  IRL, I'm more Machievellian.  I choose my words precisely IRL. I know that words can build a man and can also cripple him and have used my words for both.
   
   I don't have to watch my tongue here.  I don't have to worry about politics here.  I don't have to worry about getting fired for saying what I really think here on SC.  Most of my family is long distance, so they keep up with me and my family via my public blog.  The down side to that is that I could never express anything negative, for fear of hurting someone's feelings or putting myself at a disadvantage professionally (my coworkers read my public blog too). 
   
  I guess, on SC, I feel free to be more of a bitch.

• BlueHotRage said on Jan 18, 2007....

  1.  Not entirely.  My life is a bit different than how I write about it--although my writing is inspired by my experiences and opinions.
   
  2.  Yes, I'm trying to preserve my anonymity, because some of what I have to say is kind of unpopular--at least concerning my real-life immediate circle of friends and relations--and I don't want to get my ass kicked, or worse, should anyone I know stumble upon my writings and take offense.
   
  Also, the more anonymous I am, the easier it is to take pot-shots at Chuck Norris.  Not that it's particularly difficult in the first place, but it's so much more fun.
   
  *grins mischievously*

• MsBradford07 said on Jan 18, 2007....

  I have to say that I am the same person but I would show more of my personal life on this website. I feel comfortable me being myself.

• louthomas said on Jan 18, 2007....

  Ed, I maintain three blogs, two for IRL and this one here.  I like to think that my SC personna comes closest to what I think of as the real me: basically kind, intelligent, giving, caring, and afraid of no subject.  Someone who adores woman in all her facets and accomplishments.
  
  Maybe I don't make it, but I can be honest as hell here.  One of my IRL sites is pretty much me, but with most of the sexual content taken out ... but I'm still avuncular, if just a tad more sarcastic.
  
  Each of us is somewhat a different person to each person we meet.  I think the lack of true constraints on SC gives us a chance to let the Real Us come out ... bless it, and you. 

• writerspirit said on Jan 18, 2007....

  I have to say that I am more me here than in RL. In my RL I don't often have anyone to talk to or at least not about the things I need to talk about. Most people in my world have issues of their own that are far worse than mine. Thus, I don't often feel that I want to burden them with my issues.

  SC has become a sort of therapist. Even if no answers are found at least I'm able to put my thoughts out there. RL does not always allow that luxury.

  Writerspirit 

• silverwhisper said on Jan 18, 2007....

  my god but there've been a lot of replies to this! i will try to be better about responding when time permits--it's been very hectic lately.
  
  ed

• ninibud92 said on Jan 18, 2007....

  ed, i had to go back through my blog titles to evaluate this question!
  
  Yes, I think I am the same person.  I pretty much tell it like it is although here, I really only tell stories about work.  I haven't opened up about my personal life too much because this is my outlet for work (my friends and family are tired of hearing stories at the dinner table, lol) and ...well, at this point, I don't have time for a personal life!  I live the "scrub life".  I love my job!
  

• the_infernal_optimist said on Jan 18, 2007....

  It will probably not surprise anyone that what you see is what you get with Infernal. I don't have the time or energy to create a persona just so I can step out of my own life or for whatever other reasons one might have.
  
  I blog because I like to write, and because I enjoy interacting with others and reading about other people's perspectives on everything from spaghetti to politics. I enjoy people and being part of a community, and I can't really get into things if I'm not being myself. :)
  

• mousenphonic said on Jan 19, 2007....

  My fiance read my blog recently, he said I am worse here than in real life.  LOL, think he meant it as a joke, dunno.  To me, what you read is what you get. Still discovering myself.

  <*ms

• pickersplock said on Jan 19, 2007....

  I think I'm pretty much the same, but I would have to ask; is the
  image you have of me through my writing the same as I am in real life?

• silverwhisper said on Jan 20, 2007....

  sorry guys--things got so hectic and this took off so fast i as having trouble keeping up!
  
  MR: o, i think you're smarter than you think you are.
  
  mimi: i'm probably a bit more free w/ my opinions online as well, although i'm generally equally comfortable interacting w/ others IRL. i do have a tendency to avoid flirting online though--i tend to find that sort of thing can spiral sometimes.
  
  sweetsoul: i can certainly understand not revealing everything about you to people who know you IRL. most of my RL friends don't know that i write erotica and i don't think anyone in my family does. :>
  
  pearl: i too type the way i speak, although i do have the luxury of editing what is expressed in written form. i find myself often wishing i could in RL conversations. :> and yeah, humor doesn't always translate online well. i've witnessed enough misunderstandings like that. :>
  
  beyond: like mimi, i've witnessed such things. i can't understand the appeal of doing it, and frankly, i don't know that i want to understand it, either.
  
  alienated: bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!
  
  connie: [chuckles] an expression i found elsewhere once springs to mind "normal is just a setting on a washing machine". :>
  
  waterstar: if someone read it, i think they would be stunned--i get the impression that people in your life may not be aware of the full scope of what's transpired.
  
  lioness: heh...there's something about SC that tends to draw people out, i've been finding. :D
  
  CW: i'm trying to grasp the idea of you being quieter and failing utterly. :> and one of the things i really love about reading your blogs is that it's wonderful to witness you shedding the mask.
  
  GS: there's a lovely word in english that leaps to mind when i think of you: "irrepressible". :>
  
  mom: you know, you're so outgoing here that i sorta suspected you don't get much outlet for it IRL. :>
  
  dazed: i'm just curious why you don't talk about personal stuff IRL. is that b/c you don't trust people as easily IRL w/ personal things?
  
  polarheart: o, i know all about not having the time to express yourself! :D
  
  petite papillon: i think very few people who've read your blog would think anything other. but you know, being able to talk about things that matter to you--which is part of being open, i know--might not be such a bad thing? :>
  
  comfort: it's a funny thing...i've maintained an online presence of some kind or other for a long time, and what i've found is that over these years, i've become a bit more centered IRL. i find that rather perverse, actually. :>
  
  alyss: [zaps you w/ mordenkainen's disjunction] i find that for some people, the mask can be a very, very big part of them, esp if they don't remove it from time to time. :>
  
  ET: as long as someone gets to see all of you, the real you, then i can be happy for you. btw, i find it really cute that you two commented one right after the other. :D
  
  rollingc: i probably come off as being funnier online than IRL...webslinging across town? should we call you peter parker? :>
  
  kruuyai: i've always felt that sillyness is highly underrated, myself. [trout-smacks kruuyai] :D but i hate it when people interrupt others, too. i always try to stop the interrupter when i see it.
  
  quid: welcome back! it's great to see you again! and i've always had the sense that you're one of the soulcasters who blogs most closely to your RL self. :> you've missed a good bit, some of it ugly, but i think it's settled down.
  
  purplescooby: i think you should absolutely say whatever's on your mind. and now i have a desire to go verbally pimpslap someone for interrupting you.
  
  queen: i think we're all a bit more confident online. more emotions? but...you're so restrained here! :D
  
  boyzmom: being more assertive, i'm finding, is something that can translate back into your RL self. so please go right on being you! :>
  
  peedee: o, i think every family's got its jealousies--don't tell me you didn't have any siblings growing up? :D there is undoubtedly a family here, no question, and it's one of the things i love about this place. so yes, you absolutely should be proud of it! :>
  
  grape: well, i'm sure you'll find your way back to it.
  
  LJ: i guess my question to you is: is the fact that no one knows the entirety of your life a good thing, a bad thing, or just a thing? and yeah, i know that i too thrive on the anonymity.
  
  purr: good! being able just to be yourself is something i too treasure about SC. oddly, some of my deepest feelings however i won't share: sometimes b/c i'm not ready to recognize them as mine, if that makes any sense.
  
  bronx: you always struck me as the kind of guy who's quite happy just being yourself here. :>
  
  daily: i know you don't talk about those things. i have this feeling that you're so busy IRL making sure everyone else is OK that you don't get enough chances for someone else to help you be OK. [hug]
  
  bombshell: you're right that the properly-selected words delivered at the right time and in the right way can have a devastating impact. and i wonder if it's fair to say that saying what's on your mind really makes you a bitch at all if it's true.
  
  bluehotrage: i write infrequently about my life so i have no idea if the way it reads to others resembles the reality at all. and that last bit about chuck norris...bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!
  
  ms bradford: i'm glad to hear that. :>
  
  lou: i was shocked to see your comment--"lou's commenting? it isn't the weekend!" :> and i think your SC persona definitely reflects those traits. i recently changed my user ID at my former online home, in recognition that this is much closer to who i truly am than the name i wore there.
  
  writerspirit: i find that there's considerable mass wisdom to be found here. everywhere i look, soulcasters blog about an issue facing them, and the outpouring of support that i routinely see humbles me. sometimes, that's all the therapy that we need, i find. :>
  
  ninibud: given what you do for a living, i'm utterly unsurprised you lack the time to use SC as anything other than an outlet for stories you can't tell during dinner. :> my dad's an ENT man, and he used to tell stories during dinner that made everyone stop eating. :>
  
  infernal: i never thought there was any question of that at all. :> and your last sentence--i really like that. i hadn't considered it that way but yeah, it's hard to become involved if you aren't being yourself.
  
  mouse: i'm learning that discovering oneself can be a lifelong pursuit. :>
  
  pickersplock: that question can't really be answered w/out knowing you IRL, can it? :>
  
  and now, to answer my own darned questions (finally):
  
  1. i reveal most of myself here. there are certain things i won't (my specific ethnicity, what i do for a living, where i live) b/c i like to retain my anonymity.
  
  2. so yes, it's expressly to preserve my anonymity. it's really that simple.
  
  thanks, everyone, for commenting! i never thought this blog entry would be so commented-upon!
  
  ed

• mom said on Jan 20, 2007....

  SW you are right I don't have friends, and I don't go to many places, so you are right.  Do you think that I go overboard with it at all?

• dailyachesandpains said on Jan 20, 2007....

  Mom, I'm that way too!  Not kidding!

  Ed, Yup...true.  I also think that it's because I don't want to surrond my daughter with sob stories and 'Poor Me' stuff.  My 'MOMMA' always screamed at me if I said anything wrong.  I fell off the monkeybars and my mouth was spewing blood and she told me to "Behave!" because I was crying that it hurt.  It wasn't minor, I had to go to an oral surgeon for my injuries!  I title my posts about her "OH MOMMA" because I was almost murdered for calling her 'momma' as a child, lol!

  {{{hugs}}}

  Daily

• mom said on Jan 20, 2007....

  Daily that is awful, did she see you bleeding?  I feel so bad :(

  ((((((((((hugs)))))))))

• silverwhisper said on Jan 21, 2007....

  mom: i don't think you go overboard, no. and i didn't mean it to sound critical, although it sounds as if you've understood it that way. for that i apologize.
  
  daily: let's just say i have some familiarity w/ folks who are that way so i tend to recognize it pretty fast. :>
  
  ed

• mousenphonic said on Jan 21, 2007....

  silver: guess I have a long way to go.  still descovering myself.....

• dailyachesandpains said on Jan 21, 2007....

  Mom, Yes she saw the blood...I was soaked in it!

  Ed, You are good at seeing things!

  Daily

   

• silverwhisper said on Jan 21, 2007....

  mouse: don't we all, though? :>
  
  daily: well, it's rather a lot like recognizing a friend in the mall from a distance. :>
  
  ed

Comment on "is there a difference between your soulcast persona and your real-life persona?"

Currently tagged	online personae identity anonymity online myself personae What persona otay (Click to add tags below)
Tag this post	(Separate tags using commas, for example: New York, dating, vegetarian)
Your comment