My wife knows I do this, but she never comes aboard, at least, as far as I know. I’ve stopped telling anyone else. It is very important that no one who knows me in real life (except my wife) knows who I am in fluther life. Although, I think my daughter could figure it out if she wanted to. I’m sure she’s seen my avatar on the computer at times. If she ever came here, she would probably find out more than she wanted to.
I wish I lived in a world where people would always be understanding of mistakes and differences of opinion; where people were always willing to listen to each other and wouldn’t attack just because that’s their knee jerk reaction. I don’t live in that world, or a world anywhere near it, so I come to fluther, where I can pretend to be my full self (I can only really do that in real life).
Even here, understanding is a learning process. I think this place allows us to see the same thing from many different points of view, and that tells us things we never might have considered otherwise. I think the community is learning the value of listening, and the value of politeness and the value of encouraging people to be open about things that are not normally discussed. Where else can you have a serious discussion about why people spend so much time on the toilet along side practical dating advice? Where else can you can you have a serious discussion about fellatic techniques side by side with an analysis of health care reform?
This community is learning about the value of politeness and the value of holding your tongue long enough to listen, and I think it is becoming something special. I think this is something we are all doing together, and I think we have to feel free to open our mouths (but not when someone else is talking) to speak the truth about what we think, not some pablum that we believe will be acceptable to others.
Protecting that openness and freedom is very important. It may require that we keep people who know us in the real world from knowing us here. Other people seem to have no problem…. actually, that’s not true. I know people who have not been willing to say things publicly because a child or a spouse or a friend was here. Maybe there should be a little explanation of the consequences of sharing your identity on the sign-up page, just so people can make fully informed decisions about who to share or how to share fluther with others.