No one in my real life really knows I love avatar sites, except my bf lol.

Well I am not ashamed of it, eventhough I am 24. I always loved to chat with people on forums and I like to dress up avatars, and this community rocks. ^^

There are tons of people I know that do visit forums, only not with avies to dress up, thats the only difference.

I do love anime and manga too, so does my bf. everyone in my real life knows I love manga and anime. ^^

The internet and avi sites like Mene just help me to do something with my creative mind. ^^

I never met anyone who made a big deal about liking anime/manga or certain sites, such as avatar sites.
Yet I get online and there's all these people embarrassed about it.

What's there to be embarrassed about? We all have different hobbies. Big deal.

I'm not embarrassed to be on Mene or any other avatar site. I'm actually proud, especially since i helped run one of the thread at a user run event last year. I'm also a pretty decent developer over on imvu, and have been a member on Gaia for over 5 years. I don't really care who knows, it's part of who I am. I was in the anime club in highschool and helped found the one at my college. I don't see my self as a geek for that. I am just who I am, and avatar sites are part of that.

I'm a geek.

But basically I have labled myself that since I was about 7-8 yrs old, which was when I really got into Star Trek. This avatar chat sites and pixel dolls thing doesn't really register on the freakiness scale.

Also my Psychartist knows about this site and actually encourages me in regards to this, because I actually talk to real people here.

I think being on any site that does not involve actually socializing with people you know is considered embarrassing. I mean when I first tried youtube, I was kinda shy about revealing it to others, but now that it's a "popular" site I'm not as bashful about going on. Gaia too, was kind of an embarrassment until it became popular. It's because it involves socializing with random people. And because it involves earning "gold" like neopets or maplestory which are considered "baby-ish"... I dont ever tell anyone about my online life haha

Comic books? Maybe. Like, 15 years ago. I'm too old to be into anime. It just doesn't hold my attention. Still, I am guessing that being on avatar sites makes me a geek (?) and that's fine. I've been called, odd, eccentric, bookish, nerd, punk, freak, etc. Geek is just another tagline.

If I seach definitions for the term 'geek', I get descriptions so broad...everyone could be a 'geek".

Be passionate or specialized about/in something and hoopla: you're a 'geek'?

It's a term I'm not too familiar with, that hardly gets used here. 'Nerd' and 'freak' got adopted from U.S. import series, but 'geek'? Nuh.

I guess we go by different stereotypes.

One of my ex-boyfriends (slightly conservative boy) used to call me 'eccentric'. But that had nothing much to do with me liking strips ((as a Belgian, strips, comics and everything related ARE part of my cultural heritage)), movies or vintage stuff. The fact that I studied fine arts was enough to reduce me to the stereotype 'eccentric artist'.

Uh,
it's ridiculous to put people in a little box just because they are 'into' something. For example:
the people that get stuff from the manga shop not so far from here seem a very diverse audience:
school children of all ages and ethnic backgrounds, fashionistas and their boyfriends, students with guitar cases on their backs, mothers with babies, rowdy boys in leather jackets...etc...

It'd be funny to call them all 'geeks' (with the negative co-notation), wouldn't it (they prolly don't even know what it means)? 's not a good thing.

...

...so...lemme see, are people on Mene geeks? Perhaps, perhaps y'all just trippin'.

Why would you be ashamed of liking something that is perfectly 'morally' acceptable? Facebook is a hype, everyone and their great-aunt has Facebook, what's wrong with other networking sites? Anime, manga...it's all a hype, hip bars have big manga posters on their walls and every little girl knows Hello Kitty.
Art is art and good art deserves appreciation, games are made to be played, people specialize in certain fields...so is life. If you start being ashamed of such things...perhaps you are just...such a tool to peer pressure (from who? Perhaps it is just paranoia)-and let's not forget, if you're such tool, you contribute to the cycle.

I won't identify myself as a 'geek' because that would useless. It's a bit of a hollow term to me. Btw:
^___^
but once I start using words such as 'baka', just shoot me. Calling people 'stupid' because you think that looks 'hot'...is kind of lame.

@Elmira Swift: there is anime for all ages. You can decide you're too old for something yourself, but once you would start forcing that standard upon others, you're also contributing to the reason why others will be ashamed of expressing their interests in certain subjects. Not saying you are though. It's just a good example.

Don't be sorry. We are geeks, although, I do prefer to be called a nerd. in the Coast Guard, we're called "tweets."

I dont think that it is for geeks only.
I do not consider myself as a geek, and i do not watch animé (anymore)

- Why don't others want other people to know that they go on avatar forum sites?
I do not care about who knows. Many of my friends and familys knows it.

- Why are people that go on avatar sites considered geeks?
They are not.

- How come people that join avatar sites are all considered anime-geeks/wapanese?
I can not answer that XD But i love japan.

- Why do you think people considered anime-lovers geeks/wapanese?
Why do i think what? That question is not really a question.


By the way, the smileys - I think that it is because we earn more gold on long smileys \(n___n)/

Lol, actually, punctuation earns you no gold at all, so you're wasting your time with long emotes ;)

I don't tell other people besides my immediate family that I go on avatar sites, but that's only because it doesn't take up so much of my time that I feel the need to tell them. I love them for sure, but I don't sit around at the computer all day on them.

I don't think it's geeky to be on avatar sites. One of the things I like about avatar sites is that by dressing up your avatar you are showing a bit of your personality. I get bored going to other forums sometimes because it's just more of the same, but here that is not the case.

It's news to me if people joining avatar sites are all considered anime-geeks or wapanese. I haven't really gotten that impression.
I love anime. In fact I'm going to be going to Otakon in July. But I don't consider myself a geek in that respect and I don't obsess over it. I've been a fan of all things Japanese long before I had seen any anime. I've been slowly trying to learn the language (I even got My Japanese Coach for my Nintendo DS), but I don't use half English, half Japanese when I talk or write. Sometimes I say Japanese phrases to my parents, but that is more because I'm trying to get a feel for them. Practice makes perfect! I'm sure I come off as obsessive with some things at times, but only because I'm excited about them at that moment. But in a day or two I'm excited about something else. I have a short attention span. XD
I think other people believe all anime lovers are wapanese and dislike them because they are very close-minded. I like what I like and if someone has a problem with that I could care less. I'm not going to change what I like just because someone else doesn't like it. I might as well be a zombie.

I personally am glad that emotes were created. When you type in a forum, or anywhere on the computer for that matter, the person on the receiving end is only getting the words and sometimes not the intent behind them because they can't see your expression. Your words can be taken more than one way. I use the smiley ^_^ all the time because it helps to show that I mean things in a lighthearted way. A lot of pointless arguing back and forth over meaning can be avoided sometimes by a simple emote. When people string them all together in one post though, that really irritates me. I think they should be used for clarification and to enhance meaning, not to see how many you can fit in one post.

I don't like anime.... at ALL.
But I love avatar sites.
I guess its because I like the community, and having something to strive for (items and a pretty avatar) make things a little interesting...combined with the fact that when I had my old computer, I used to be a part of the dolling community.... I would pixelate hair and outfits etc, so even though I don't do that anymore (but if I get my hands on another copy of photoshop maybe i will resume... i find it fun) I have a respect for the pixel artists who pull it off well.
You're right though... I'm sort of embarrassed by my hobby.... I always change tabs to facebook or something when my boyfriend walks into our room. I know he wouldn't judge me... but I just dont feel like explaining it...
LIKE OMG he just walked in here so I switched tabs. He opened a new tab to check something out and then when he closed it he clicked on this one to see what I was doing.
I immediately said "DONT LOOK AT MY STUFFS!" and he was like "what is it?" and i told him to go away..... lol. funny that should happen just as Iwas typing this.... *le sigh*

I think people worry entirely too much about what other people think, instead of doing what they like and living their life to the fullest. Why do people care, who are they trying to impress? I'd much rather meet people who are into the things I'm into than people who turn their noses up at everything.

I really don't care for the term 'geek'.

You aren't automatically a geek when you join an avatar community, or watch anime. :/
I know there are some people who think, that but.. seriously. Come on.

People like what they like, and stereo-typing is bad. D':

Whew. I made some baby steps last night.
I was on Mene while Dan was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner.
He came in as I was replying to the announcement thread regarding the email that was sent out. He asked me what I was looking at. This time, I didn't switch tabs or anything and I merely said "It's a forum."
He asked me what it was about and I said "Nothing in particular" and he goes "Is it like a star trek forum?" and then I realised that I don't have to worry about MY hobbies being considered geeky... this is the guy who is reading star trek magazine beside me in bed... and watching hours upon hours of star trek in the bath on his ipod....
OK.... so, maybe next time he asks, I will actually give him a little tour of our beloved Menewsha!

I am a complete un-anime person! Never even really seen it, if you watch it :P

I do think I am an avatar site gook though :P
My friend take the piss out of me for it...:(

I actually switch around the terms Nerd and Geek.
For me Geek is a compliment. Nerd would be an insult.

For example, my boyfriend calls me a Nerd(in a loving way)
when it comes to video games, HTML/CSS/PHP, etc.. But he
also calls me a Geek when referring to my Photoshop skills.

I don't usually care who knows I go on avatar sites, or who
knows I like anime. Especially if I plan to be a manga/comic
book artist in the future.


My definition of Geek is someone that actually
knows what their talking about.
My definition of Nerd is someone that doesn't
know what their talking about, but pretends to
in a very annoying way.

@Teriyaki Stars: That's interesting. Personally I always found nerd to be the less offensive of the two (not that I find either offensive, really) simply because I liked the way "nerd" sounds and geek always has that "bite the head off of chickens" connotation.

That's interesting.

To me, "Nerd" is someone into book-knowledge/information. (Ie: "A science nerd." or "A literature nerd.")

"Geek" is someone into "media" things. By which I mean music, television, movies, video games, and computers.

So I'm geeking out to Harvest Moon or Pokemon, but being totally nerdy by crushing on Mr. Darcy or the Count of Monte Cristo.