Reality Shattered

The following response was actually sent in from one of our readers:

I saw the question about meeting up in person when all you have is an internet relationship and I have to say a heavy NO WAY DON’T DO IT. I did it once and it was the biggest dissapointment of my life. These were people that I had known on the boards for years and then when I finally met them face to face I was shocked. I have never seen such a bunch of overweight (fat) and ugly people in my life. I had a nice image in my mind of what everyone would look and sound like and I was wrong! Not only were they slovenly, they also dressed like bums and talked like trailer trash with hick accents. I’ve never heard such low level back-woods accents.accents raspy from too much smoking and drinking..and they never stopped smoking and drinking the whole time. I couldn’t drink enough to even have a good time myself. I couldn’t get out of ther fast enough. I know this sounds shallow of me, and Im not the picture of beauty,but all I could see were those fat people sitting at their computers while they drank and chain-smoked pretending to be something else. One even fessed up that the picture they posted was from 24 years ago!
What a joke. After having the reality sucked out of me on that one trip I have never done it again and I will never do it again and I advise you not to do it either. Keep the fantasy alive and don’t bother meeting up face to face. Do you really think a good looking trim and fit person healthy person has the time to sit on the internet all day long?

REALITY SHATTERED

Just Curious

Dear Reality Board Observer,

Who do some boards show post counts and
others don’t?

Just Curious

Dear Just Curious,

Good question. I’m personally against showing post counts on a board. They are embarrassing for both the people with very high post counts and for those with very low post counts. They also intimidate newbies from joining when they see many people with high post counts. The newbies feel like they are intruding on a private party. Keeping the post count invisible also cuts down on mindless posts that people make in order to run their post count up.

-RBO

Road Trip or Not

Dear Reality Board Observer,

My board is having one of those "in person" get together thingamagigs in my area. Is it something that is too dangerous to do? Will I be safe if I go? Will they hate me if I don't go? What to do? What to do?

Thanks.

Road Trip or Not

Dear Road Trip or Not,

Why not go? What do you have to lose? Time? If you have the time, the money and are so lonely that you don't know what to do with yourself then venture out from your computer and see what happens. As a general rule, be careful what personal information you give out. Those who appear to be your "friends" today may very well have it in for you tomorrow. Let us know what happens.

And anyone else who has a story about meeting up with internet posters is welcome to add to this.

-RBO

No Time To Post Guilt

Dear Reality Board Observer

I don’t have time to post much and the other members of a board that I post on keep asking where I have been when I haven't been around and making me feel bad when I am not around to post. They won't get off my back. It makes me uncomfortable. It makes me not want to pop in even when I have a short time. What should I do?

No Time To Post Guilt

Dear No Time To Post Guilt,

No reason to feel guilty. At least you have a real life. Relish that.

I would just pick some random threads and stick a few random smilies in each one. That's what most people in your situation do. No one will notice. Trust me.

-RBO

UPDATE CENTER

This is the UPDATE CENTER.

When I add responses to previous letters I will add a comment here along with a link. This will indicate that comments have been added.

6.3.06 - The post that was in this slot has now been moved here:

http://realityboardobserver.blogspot.com/2006/06/frustrated.html#links

INTRODUCTION

DEAR REALITY BOARD OBSERVER was designed to be the "DEAR ABBY" of the little portion of the internet that focuses on the discussion of Reality TV and all the turmoil and drama that goes along with it.

But what if you have no idea who "DEAR ABBY" is? Well, "DEAR ABBY" is the famous iconic syndicated newspaper column that printed letters from people who had various questions about stuff, and they usually were about their love life or other personal information. ABBY gave advice to those who wrote the letters openly in that column. They were interesting.

At this site, I’ll be giving advice to those who send me emails with questions. I will not return answers directly to the sender, but will proffer the response right here in the blog.

You’ve hit a wall on your board? Should you leave? You want to know what to do? Is someone bothering you? Baiting you? This is the place to ask about it and if I don’t have the answer maybe someone will send the answer in.

We also intend to do follow-ups to see how things turned out, and we’ll report about it. We want to encourage people who have advice of their own to send it in. If it makes sense, or if it has a refreshing perspective, I’ll post it. If someone sends in consistently good advice, that person MAY be invited to become a permanent contributor here. A full staff of contributors would be a nice thing to build to.

Be warned that you may not like what I tell you and I’m not usually going to tell you what you want to hear. Chances are if you are asking the question, then you already know what the answer is- you’re just not admitting it. Rest assured, I’m going to tell you like it is as far as I see it.

I may aggregate a group of letters to use in one posting to create a theme of sorts. I may redact certain information that I deem inflammatory or illegal. Names will usually be redacted if they have no reason to be there.

Who am I? I have been around this internet stuff for a long while. I’ve been posting back when all we had were the newsgroups. I’ve been an admin or mod at more than a few boards over the years and I’m happy to say that I’m not a mod or admin at any board other than this one right now. And I don’t care to ever do it again. I feel like I’ve seen an awful lot over my years on the internet and I think I have some good advice to share.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Email me at DearRBO at gmail.com

((smooches))