Here is how I look at it.

 

There are many authors I love, and you have your own authors you love.

 

But I prefer to preserve my distance from the authors I love, simply because I wish to hold them on a high pedestal, and not actually see them for the dregs they might actually be, without hiding behind their genius for writing.

 

============

This same thing holds for great music, as it does for great writing.

Take Beethoven, for example….

 

“The personality, deafness, and bad health of Ludwig van Beethoven”….

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/096777200201000108?journalCode=jmba

 

Ludwig’s music is still amazing.  And yet, his personality was discordant, and off chord, during his heyday while he was still alive.

 

This is why I love to read the posts on this forum, which are often immensely entertaining. And yet, I will never meet you in real life.

Can we please just enjoy reading the posts of the very best posters, without actually needing to hook up?

 

I bet that we can continue to get along together, online, without any more than this casual contact, which continues to remain so satisfyingly unencumbered.

 

I have never heard of anyone on this forum actually meeting up in REAL LIFE.

And, such a thing, for sure, I would find shocking.

 

I believe that life online is a better life.

And, surely, a simpler and more wholesome life.

 

Further, during this season of the virus, our monastic life is the best life we can lead, for now.

I am sure many appreciate your desire to preserve your distance... ????

26 minutes ago, timendres said:

I am sure many appreciate your desire to preserve your distance... ????

Yes, I understand your irony.

 

However, what I actually meant to say, although I unfortunately did not say it well enough, is that......

 

aa.  I LIKE the writers on this forum, absolutely.

 

bb.  If I were to meet them in REAL LIFE, then I might be disappointed in that they might not seem, in real life, just as good as they are in virtual life.

 

cc. The same goes for writers like Truman Capote, for example.  No one can write such a riveting book, such as In Cold Blood, like Truman.  Yet, in real life...

 

 

dd.  Do you see what I mean?

 

ee.  This is why I always avoid looking at any photos of the authors I like and revere  And, this is why I prefer to just read many good authors on this forum, and imagine that they are, in real life, just as handsome as their great writing, and their great humor.

 

I am sure that you feel the same.  Do you not?

 

I mean, it is sort of like going on a Blind Date after meeting someone online on Chiang Mai Tinder, I would think.

 

What do you think?

7 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

I am sure that you feel the same.  Do you not?

 

I mean, it is sort of like going on a Blind Date after meeting someone online on Chiang Mai Tinder, I would think.

 

What do you think?

When it comes to a "date", looks do matter, I will admit. My shallowness runs deep. When it comes to others, especially those I consider intellectually interesting, the more bizarre and misfit, the better. That photo of Capote would make me want to meet him even more so.

When you become a moderator of ASEAN NOW you have to attend a well known hotel in Bangkok to collect a laptop and a communication system that is to all intents and purposes untraceable.

 

You get to meet S, or Support, and at that time you have to give your word never to reveal your real-life identity to any non-moderator.

 

Later on, when I met a well-known moderator I was quite surprised to find out that he was a female surgeon who specialised in surgery of the knees and feet.

 

Another moderator was a runner-up in the World Scrabble Championships.

 

A third moderator bred fancy racing pigeons for export to China, where apparently racing pigeons are all the rage in some circles.

 

(All of these moderators have since retired).

Only time I met someone off the forum was when I put up something expensive for sale. Of course nobody wanted to pay for it.

Then I said ok if you people don't wanna pay then you can have it for free.

Next day about 15 people messaged me that they all of a sudden became interested????????????.

Then I met one of them and gave it to him. 

 

2 hours ago, timendres said:

When it comes to a "date", looks do matter, I will admit. My shallowness runs deep. When it comes to others, especially those I consider intellectually interesting, the more bizarre and misfit, the better. That photo of Capote would make me want to meet him even more so.

Of course, unlike you, I would have not loved to meet Capote, just because I am an introvert.

 

Maybe I should have more accurately stated it this way:  I do not care about the physical appearance of any author.  And, I do not want to meet any famous or infamous author.

 

Instead, I just fall in love with an author over his or her written words.  I do not want to see what they look like.  I do not want to ever hear their voice.  I just want to use the words that the author has written in order to experience the words, and not the author.

 

Does it even matter what Dostoevsky looked like when he was 3, 33, or 63 years old? Well, I think it matters not to anyone, in most cases.

 

I do not want to know anything more about  the author than what I read in the pages of his or her novel.

 

Same goes for the Brontë sisters. I have no idea what they looked like in the Real World, and do not care.  I just LOVE their writing.  And, to actually meet them would be to destroy the personas I have assigned to them.

 

Same goes for writers on ASEAN Now.  I do not want to meet them.  Not because I hold them on a high pedestal, but just because.

 

 

How do you know you havnt met them ? If you have no contact with people possibly, but as its an anonymous forum you could well be talking to one on a regular basis and neither of you know the online persona.

I dont think everyone discusses their online activity with others.

 

I have met one or two over the years and some have become long term friends. Some I have known for many years here but never actually met.

Its also true in my experience that the online persona is not always a true reflection of the real person.

 

Judging a book by it cover (undercover?) comes to mind.

In the olden days TVCM used to have annual or semiannual parties where members ate and drank together.  Also there were groups of members who got together like weekly for drinking and eating and racing those lawn mower powered little cars and more.   All welcome.  For many it was a social and online deal.

 

But the nature of membership has changed since those days and not for the better.

6 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

In the olden days TVCM used to have annual or semiannual parties where members ate and drank together.  Also there were groups of members who got together like weekly for drinking and eating and racing those lawn mower powered little cars and more.   All welcome.  For many it was a social and online deal.

 

But the nature of membership has changed since those days and not for the better.

I believe The Pub in Chiang Mai was one of the "events" meeting places in the good/bad old days?

 

4 hours ago, timendres said:

I am sure many appreciate your desire to preserve your distance... ????

There are a few I wouldn't mind pounding a few beers with, followed by pounding a couple bar girls.

 

Then there are others, where I wouldn't want to meet them even if there was money in it, as I have zero intention of ever seeing the Bangkok Hilton from inside.

 

Then there are those, where I can almost smell them through the screen, from what and how they write. ????

24 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

How do you know you havnt met them ? If you have no contact with people possibly, but as its an anonymous forum you could well be talking to one on a regular basis and neither of you know the online persona.

I dont think everyone discusses their online activity with others.

 

I have met one or two over the years and some have become long term friends. Some I have known for many years here but never actually met.

Its also true in my experience that the online persona is not always a true reflection of the real person.

 

Judging a book by it cover (undercover?) comes to mind.

Yes.

This is an important consideration I often worry about.

I may have met some of the good writers here, and never even realized it.

In fact, I have met some.

However, even though they know me, and even though I, in a few instances, know them,.... in most cases, we just pretend that we don't recognize our virtual world profile names, and remain real friends in real life, but separate.

According to the opinions of many, virtual life should remain separate from real life, and this is pretty much de rigueur. This is necessary if one wishes one's virtual life to remain full of mystique, and untainted by one's separate life in the Real World.

 

I cannot say that I understand it, but I respect it.

I remember 2 people from this forum ending up in prison for a long time.

 

3 hours ago, timendres said:

When it comes to a "date", looks do matter, I will admit. My shallowness runs deep.

As I always put it to the ladies: Personality is important, of course, but it doesn't get my male chicken hard...

3 hours ago, blackcab said:

When you become a moderator of ASEAN NOW you have to attend a well known hotel in Bangkok to collect a laptop and a communication system that is to all intents and purposes untraceable.

Anyone know of a good agent in Bangkok that could handle this for me ?

I've only met one member. We came in the same Peace Corps group 44 years ago and were in the same language training class for many weeks.

oh god heaven's forbid ever meeting any of TV's bar stool judges that think they can run Thailand.

It gives me nightmares just thinking about it .....   Lol

 

 

 

31 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

I remember 2 people from this forum ending up in prison for a long time.

what happened to them.

I have over the years met 3 people who happened to be members of this forum.

 

They were all remarkably ordinary, each a nice bloke in his way.

 

Never met Beethoven though. Saw the movie though - seemed a fairly harmless pooch!

1 hour ago, Thailand said:

I believe The Pub in Chiang Mai was one of the "events" meeting places in the good/bad old days?

 

I think The Olde Bell on Loi Khroi was the last one to hold such an event where you were encouraged, but not forced to wear a name badge with your avatar.

I first met a well known poster on this forum there who turned out to be as kind and warm hearted in real life as their online persona.

"Do You Often Dream about Meeting Someone from this Forum, in REAL LIFE? Or, might it be your Nightmare?"

Yes i meet myself everyday, and let me tell you, it's a nightmare, can't stand the man....

On a bad day, sometimes putting one's self on one's ignore list appears attractive.

I've met a couple. One was mutual hate at first site. The other was a diamond in the rough.

There are a couple here who are welcome at our home anytime, you know who you are.

Most people don't like me online due to my brevity. In person I'm actually quite warm.

There was Yinn?But after the cancellation of poty,she(he) decided to stop trolling.

Date women not 70yo dudes

A post about dreams and love on TV AseanNow. Fascinating.

 

Statistically it is likely that I know a couple of people who post here in real life. But at least for me it was never important enough to talk about the people from this forum in real life.

11 hours ago, blackcab said:

collect a laptop and a communication system that is to all intents and purposes untraceable.

untraceable?

 

Looking at the technology and reliability of this site that sounds funny to me. I hope you don't believe it.

No, not at all interested in meeting anyone that is on this forum.  I suspect that some of my friends may be on here, but we never discuss that possibility. 

I suspect that I might have somewhere along the way..... However, I would never think to ask anybody about what forums they are into online....

If the question happened to be raised I'd watch, learn, and listen before commenting....

 

A few years back, it seemed most of the foul, uncouth, bullying/fight provoking ones either dropped off or were culled out... 

 

Most of us on here just reflect the (semi ????) normal among us - sharing life's twisty, slippery, & unpredictable rocky road....Thai drivers and all.....

 

 

 

The old-style Pattaya-based Forums like Secrets, Addicts and Live were great "fun", as most people did know each other in real life.   Aseannow is worthy, but nicely dull in comparison.