found this on msn.com.....

[velveeta]

and i know it is talking about me! altho i am just as bad most times in rl.....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26837911/?GT1=43001

anonymity is not always a good thing!

[Takora Drakan]

So we are all nasty? (nooooooooooooooooooooo)

[Raptress]

Though I do see it in action quite a lot, I don't think I myself actually do that. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I tend to use the same names everywhere so that it's hard to actually remain truly anonymous. Aside from that, I don't really feel very anonymous on any of my characters. If I made a random level 1 character, maybe then.

I like to think I hold myself accountable for my actions, online or otherwise.

[Velea]

I've been in the "online" world for 15 plus years now (ack, has it really been that long?). Took me about half of them to come to the realization that there's no such thing as "anonymous", and that what you say online is way more permanent than anything you say in real life. In real life you can at least apologize, get your tone and body language right to show that you really and truly are sorry.

So I can say in all honesty that the person you see online is about 95% the person you'd see in real life. (If you're wondering, that 5% is because there's some things I won't say when my kids are around that I'd say online or in person if they weren't around. ) I've asked people who knew me in real life first and then online, and vice versa, if they agree with that, and universally the answer is that it's true.

I made it a self-rule a years ago that if I couldn't say whatever I was saying online to the person's face, I shouldn't be typing it. Now granted my friends also know that I'm bluntly honest with them and give that same honesty right back to me in return. But honestly, there's nothing I've said since learning that "no such thing as anonymity lesson" that I wouldn't say directly to that person. (Now before that time, I reserve the right to say that I was truly a big jerk hiding behind what I thought was an anonymous identity disconnected from my real self. )

What the article says is true though. Even people who "live" much of their life online, have friendships online, build big myspace sites, the whole deal, will be surprised when a potential employer turns them down for a job, for example, because of something that employer found online. There really is no such thing as anonymous, though, and more people really need to learn that lesson.

[velveeta]

i am with you, rapt - i use the same online nick for everything! but there are a lot of velveeta nicks out there, so i am still a little anony........