This is the Internet after all...
one powerful tool!
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
I had a conversation with a friend recently, about any issues I may have with divulging my life in it's entirety on the Internet. I am a rather candid person, and I do let a lot slip when my weekend translates onto the computer screen. Although I do let a lot slip, there is also a lot that I dont tell you - I have to let your imagination do some of the work 
I sit here now, and there is so much I want to say, but I have taken upon myself to not get too personal. This is a tough decision for me, because I count a lot of you to be true friends, who dont just say whatever to see their name on the computer screen... they say what they say because they are genuine people, and really do care. You really understand me at times, and it's fantastic I can bond with a lot of you from thousands of miles away. For a 22 year old male, that is something that is really important - I have role models, and I have enemies to help me find my feet on this planet, and it is something I cannot appreciate enough in words.
It's not only about you understanding me, it's about me understanding you - and in some of your writings, I get this smile on my face that make me think 'gee so and so would be so awesome to sit down with and have a yarn to' or 'Partying with him or her would rock out too the max!!!' Again, it's the connection thing that I never would have imagined finding in an online community.
This article from the Age online really concerned me. It's about a 14 year old boy who organised his own stabbing via a chatroom on the net. It really made me think - who is the victim here? The internet is can be web of deceipt and lies, where the naive can be prayed upon, though I digress - the Internet is a place where the naive can pretend to be strong - they can fake persona's to lure their next victim, or commit their next crime, but thats just the internet - in real life they are just a regular anti-social 14 year old kid!
People, as much as I would like to reassure you that it's a safe place out there, and you can trust whom you will - I cant do that. It makes me sad that people cant be themselves. The greatest gift we are ever given is time, and it escapes me as to why anyone would want to spend any of it pretending to be something they are not. To paraphrase Eddie Veder, we know that we are born, and we know that we die, but the in between in ours.
What you have inside of you, really shouldn't be dispensed by multiple personalities. It's a tough world out there, and people struggle to fit in - but whether you are on the internet, or hanging at the local mall - pretending to be someone you are not will achieve nothing. I see through tough guy persona's, and I am sure I can protect myself in any situation, but it still worries me that my friends on the Internet are susceptible to negative intentions, the same as I worry about my friends in life.
Whilst I think that the Internet would be one of the best inventions or ideas of all time - the fact remains that it is not safe. Their is always that element of fear when ones child in browsing the net - hopefully parents aren't so naive as to think that their child is safe completely un-supervised. As a www. community member, I guess it's our responsibility to do the best we can to keep the content above board!
This is why I will make sure I do my part, and not mention the illicit activities I indulge in - well, I will, but in a not so obvious fashion. Also, as members of the community, we have to do our best to reach out - so 14 year old kids dont try and organise their own murders. I hope no one takes offence to this - but places like JU are havens for sufferers of clinical depression - it gives them an outlet to work through their problem's - and it gives us an opening to help.
You guys, really are great, JU is full of good people, who have willing ears and hearts, I feel confident that anyone reaching out at JU would grasp what they were searching for. I wonder if Brad had that in mind when he started this site? Something tells me he didn't... I bet he doesn't mind though. He has been himself the whole time - and Brad isn't cool guys, he is a freely admited nerd - look where that got him! Dont be afraid of who you are - that's what makes JU wesome, if only everyone else in the entire world could hear my message.... be yourself.
BAM!!!
I sit here now, and there is so much I want to say, but I have taken upon myself to not get too personal. This is a tough decision for me, because I count a lot of you to be true friends, who dont just say whatever to see their name on the computer screen... they say what they say because they are genuine people, and really do care. You really understand me at times, and it's fantastic I can bond with a lot of you from thousands of miles away. For a 22 year old male, that is something that is really important - I have role models, and I have enemies to help me find my feet on this planet, and it is something I cannot appreciate enough in words.
It's not only about you understanding me, it's about me understanding you - and in some of your writings, I get this smile on my face that make me think 'gee so and so would be so awesome to sit down with and have a yarn to' or 'Partying with him or her would rock out too the max!!!' Again, it's the connection thing that I never would have imagined finding in an online community.
This article from the Age online really concerned me. It's about a 14 year old boy who organised his own stabbing via a chatroom on the net. It really made me think - who is the victim here? The internet is can be web of deceipt and lies, where the naive can be prayed upon, though I digress - the Internet is a place where the naive can pretend to be strong - they can fake persona's to lure their next victim, or commit their next crime, but thats just the internet - in real life they are just a regular anti-social 14 year old kid!
People, as much as I would like to reassure you that it's a safe place out there, and you can trust whom you will - I cant do that. It makes me sad that people cant be themselves. The greatest gift we are ever given is time, and it escapes me as to why anyone would want to spend any of it pretending to be something they are not. To paraphrase Eddie Veder, we know that we are born, and we know that we die, but the in between in ours.
What you have inside of you, really shouldn't be dispensed by multiple personalities. It's a tough world out there, and people struggle to fit in - but whether you are on the internet, or hanging at the local mall - pretending to be someone you are not will achieve nothing. I see through tough guy persona's, and I am sure I can protect myself in any situation, but it still worries me that my friends on the Internet are susceptible to negative intentions, the same as I worry about my friends in life.
Whilst I think that the Internet would be one of the best inventions or ideas of all time - the fact remains that it is not safe. Their is always that element of fear when ones child in browsing the net - hopefully parents aren't so naive as to think that their child is safe completely un-supervised. As a www. community member, I guess it's our responsibility to do the best we can to keep the content above board!
This is why I will make sure I do my part, and not mention the illicit activities I indulge in - well, I will, but in a not so obvious fashion. Also, as members of the community, we have to do our best to reach out - so 14 year old kids dont try and organise their own murders. I hope no one takes offence to this - but places like JU are havens for sufferers of clinical depression - it gives them an outlet to work through their problem's - and it gives us an opening to help.
You guys, really are great, JU is full of good people, who have willing ears and hearts, I feel confident that anyone reaching out at JU would grasp what they were searching for. I wonder if Brad had that in mind when he started this site? Something tells me he didn't... I bet he doesn't mind though. He has been himself the whole time - and Brad isn't cool guys, he is a freely admited nerd - look where that got him! Dont be afraid of who you are - that's what makes JU wesome, if only everyone else in the entire world could hear my message.... be yourself.
BAM!!!
