Online and in person interaction

[Wereman]

Meeting individuals online and in person is always an interesting topic. Ever since I met individuals from online communities in person over the past 12 years. This video got handed to me the other day and I found it interesting how it covered certain topics.

Enjoy!

[Drake Wingfire]

A great topic honestly, if anything it really shows in communities such as Furry and Otherkin. I had to mention that last one as it strikes on a rather true note of what online-only social nature can do to a person detrimentally in regards to being well known online, but incredibly lonely anywhere outside ones little community. Its no surprise to anyone here that people are often VERY different online than who they are in person. My experiences around carious communities has shown me that real social interaction is incredibly important, Furries get off a lot easier than many groups out there honestly, hard to find a place that doesn't have a movie night or a dinner meet or even just something as simple as a game night. It helps us to be more outgoing, sort of a "apple a day" approach to being social and still having those life skills. But its still something.

I have hung around other communities where those involved become so incredibly dependent on their small, online circles of friends that they actually become negative, even a bit lashing-out towards anything that isn't a part of that little circle and their world. My one thought on it is simply a fear of the unknown, they have become too use to a status quo of only knowing a handful of people they call good friends who are much like themselves, that when taken out of that comfort zone they feel as if they have lost everything they were and are now a nobody. Ultimately it results in some stunted social growth because then they lack the skills to handle situations or individuals who are not like themselves. This in itself has made me feel some disappointment in groups I once hung around that I now can no longer really mesh with without first "drinking the Koolaid"

Why I think furries get off far easier is because the community has so many different kinds of people, different political views, a plethora of spiritualitys and species related identities *points to self*, different hobbies and skills, the list goes on. Its really hard to ever get stuck with people who are the exact same, especially when going to things like meets and conventions. We get many great opportunities for in-person social interaction that many fandoms and communities simply just seldom (if never) practice much.