What impressions do you get from others online? How accurate do you think it is?

I was just posting in the Debates thread, and I was the only half-naked avatar in there. Made me feel like everyone would think I was a slut. Especially since I'm no longer wearing the default undies.

So, what sways your opinion of other users?

~When you see X's, O's, Z's, numbers or underscores, do you think a little less of that user? Or think more when they have spaces and capitalization? What about when their name is a cosplay?
~When they don't post with good grammar or spelling, do you think they're stupid?
~When their avatar doesn't match, do you think they're incompetent?
~When their avatar does match, do you think they're rich or snooty?
~Do you ever think another user is a nerd or has no life, or think they only watch MTV and tan until they're colored cancer, all because of how they post, how they dress, and not what they post?

Have you ever had a friend that contacted you via the Internet, and for a second you thought greater or lesser of them? Why is that?

If you haven't for any instant prejudged someone online, are you human? xD
Lol, but seriously, if you really haven't, teach me your ways, because although those impressions never last with me, I'd like to not make them anyway.

Originally Posted by DeLish

So, what sways your opinion of other users?

~When you see X's, O's, Z's, numbers or underscores, do you think a little less of that user? Or think more when they have spaces and capitalization? What about when their name is a cosplay?

The above can be used to accentuate a name, I've seen it in some usernames and it's great, however more often than not it ends up looking unoriginal.

Originally Posted by DeLish

~When they don't post with good grammar or spelling, do you think they're stupid?

It depends. English isn't my mother language, I make my fair share of typos and gramma mistakes, I don't think anyone is stupid for that, the written word is always harder than the spoken one. However if someone uses 'u' instead of 'you' it makes me think they're lazy sod's. If they go out of their way to 'tYpE lyke D@t!' then yes I think they're stupid and wonder why they don't realise how stupid they sound.

Originally Posted by DeLish

~When their avatar doesn't match, do you think they're incompetent?

Pfft, god no. I never judge by avatars, beautiful is in the eye of the beholder. I will rate avatars based on my opinion but I would never personally judge someone for the way they dress their pixels >.>

Originally Posted by DeLish

~When their avatar does match, do you think they're rich or snooty?

Neither. I could care less about that. Avatars don't reflect the person behind them, maybe their fashion sense but it can barely convey everything about it's owner.

Originally Posted by DeLish

~Do you ever think another user is a nerd or has no life, or think they only watch MTV and tan until they're colored cancer, all because of how they post, how they dress, and not what they post?

As said above, I don't care how people dress themselves or their avatars, it doesn't reflect wether the person is nice or a jerk, smart of dumb. However I do judge on how people type. If they come off in a mean way then I'll judge. If they are helpful and going out of their way to give well thought out answers I'll judge.

Originally Posted by DeLish

Have you ever had a friend that contacted you via the Internet, and for a second you thought greater or lesser of them? Why is that?

No o_O and I can't comprehend why someone would.

Most times when I see someone make one too many typing errors, or they use chatspeak, possibly because I care so much about perfect communication, only when I'm chatting with them through the internet do I think a bit less of them.

I remember I had a crush on a guy, and then I found him on Facebook and he would always talk to me like," hey girl how u doin u saw kims bf da otha day," no punctuations, no capitalization, and he didn't even talk like that in person. I personally type how I talk, and so when I read things, I read it as if they're talking (I act out books in my head, and love having an audience to which I can read aloud), and if they were to talk to me like that, I'd think they weren't my kind of company. =|

But it is when I see how my friends or acquaintances that I know in person contact me online and it doesn't agree with me that I realize that what I think about people through the way they type is most likely going to be way off.

Originally Posted by DeLish

~When you see X's, O's, Z's, numbers or underscores, do you think a little less of that user? Or think more when they have spaces and capitalization? What about when their name is a cosplay?

Originally Posted by DeLish

~When they don't post with good grammar or spelling, do you think they're stupid?

I usually find myself cringing internally first. The next reaction is based off how badly worded the post actuallly is. Minor infractions are seen as either haste, or an overreaction on my part. Major infractions do make me think less of the person posting (sorry). Only when the person claims English to be a secondary, or tertiary (and so on) language do I let them slide without damage.

Originally Posted by DeLish

~When their avatar doesn't match, do you think they're incompetent?
~When their avatar does match, do you think they're rich or snooty?

If the person does not match, I simply assume they are not fashion people (as I clearly am not) or are poor (as I clearly am XD). When they do match, I mentally applaud them for investing the time to actually do so. The only time incompetence or the rich stereotype cross my mind is when their posts reflect it.

Originally Posted by DeLish

~Do you ever think another user is a nerd or has no life, or think they only watch MTV and tan until they're colored cancer, all because of how they post, how they dress, and not what they post?

Oh yes, when I see someone's avatar, how they're dressed makes me want to stereotype them. How they post, not so much though. o_o

Oddly enough, a person's signature also plays a large role in how I perceive them. How telling, even when we can't see each other, we're still judging. ;P I try not to let those judgements take over my perception of the person. Key word is try. Sometimes people just act in a way that makes the judgement irreversible in my head. >.>;

Glad to know I'm not alone.

And you switched the i and e in "perceive." =) Not sure if that was a typo or not.

Originally Posted by DeLish

Most times when I see someone make one too many typing errors, or they use chatspeak, possibly because I care so much about perfect communication, only when I'm chatting with them through the internet do I think a bit less of them.

I remember I had a crush on a guy, and then I found him on Facebook and he would always talk to me like," hey girl how u doin u saw kims bf da otha day," no punctuations, no capitalization, and he didn't even talk like that in person. I personally type how I talk, and so when I read things, I read it as if they're talking (I act out books in my head, and love having an audience to which I can read aloud), and if they were to talk to me like that, I'd think they weren't my kind of company. =|

But it is when I see how my friends or acquaintances that I know in person contact me online and it doesn't agree with me that I realize that what I think about people through the way they type is most likely going to be way off.

I'm extremely similar to you... I talk text out in my head whenever I'm on the internet so 'hearing' someone speak like that has a dramatic effect on how I view them... I don't see chatspeak as making someone automatically stupid, but generally it implies they're younger or less mature to me as I rarely see, say, 20 year olds communicating like that.
Names are similar... but only in the case of something like Xx_NarutoxSasuke_xX, otherwise they're just an additional way of getting a username you'd otherwise be unable to get. Names do say a lot about people to me.
Avatars are just... I don't know how you can judge someone on their avatar other than 'they're new' or 'they're rich'. whoop-de-doop.

Me I don't judge on a persons name online. I don't judge on how their avatar looks. I judge them on how they communicate. I don't speak much internet short hand and hate it once someone thinks its fun to talk to me in all "luls I wants u."
If I see my friends talking like that I feel disappointed, because most of my friends speak very eloquently. It's seems like all there English classes went out the window, once they turned on the computer.
You avatar isn't a slut I thinks its just your style and it fits you. If we were going by looks my avatar would be a hobo or something like that. :P

Um, I don't really judge people by how they dress their avatars or how they type. I judge them by what they type and if I know them in real life how they act.

@cionnaith:
Wow, that last paragraph I wrote that you quoted really confused me. xD Looks like I got a bit jumbled up there, but I hope you didn't have as much trouble as I did. I can't believe I confused myself with my own writing.

Yes, I tend to think the person is younger when they use chatspeak. It usually throws me off when they say they're 19 or older.

And avatars are supposed to be a representation of you. It should give off a bit of who you are. Like, if you're wearing all black with pale skin and maybe black makeup, you can bet someone's going to think you're into the gothic scene.

Or if you have on all the angelic items with the pastels pink, blue, yellow, and white sparkling all over your avatar, people are probably going to think you're a cool and popular or preppy kind of person. If you decide to accessorize your avatar with a cigarette, shades, a short cut, fishnet stockings OR plain/faded/ripped jeans, a plain shirt maybe or even a skimpy bra in dark or neutral colors (boy, I described this one a lot), people might get the impression that you're one relaxed and cool mofo without the tiniest care what people think. Maybe. Ok... maybe that's just me. :sweat:

Originally Posted by DeLish

@cionnaith:
Wow, that last paragraph I wrote that you quoted really confused me. xD Looks like I got a bit jumbled up there, but I hope you didn't have as much trouble as I did. I can't believe I confused myself with my own writing.

Yes, I tend to think the person is younger when they use chatspeak. It usually throws me off when they say they're 19 or older.

And avatars are supposed to be a representation of you. It should give off a bit of who you are. Like, if you're wearing all black with pale skin and maybe black makeup, you can bet someone's going to think you're into the gothic scene.

Or if you have on all the angelic items with the pastels pink, blue, yellow, and white sparkling all over your avatar, people are probably going to think you're a cool and popular or preppy kind of person. If you decide to accessorize your avatar with a cigarette, shades, a short cut, fishnet stockings OR plain/faded/ripped jeans, a plain shirt maybe or even a skimpy bra in dark or neutral colors (boy, I described this one a lot), people might get the impression that you're one relaxed and cool mofo without the tiniest care what people think. Maybe. Ok... maybe that's just me. :sweat:

The last person you described doesn't sound cool at all to me. For some odd reason that type of person makes me think they are older then they actually are. like an 18 year old dressed like a 34 year old.

I try not to judge people but everybody does it, it is a human behavior.

when people use bad grammer i just think that they dont care enough to use proper.

and the way people dress there avis are the way they like it, to me it doesnt matter how they dress as long as they feel comfortable with it.

@DeLish...
doesn't work for me that way... I just have phases with my avatar so figure others do to. i.e. On Gaia (where I can actually make an avatar ;) ) I'm currently an orphan child... before that I was a bird... and before that I was a fairy... make of that what you will XD

I do sometimes judge people by there username when it's something like
Sophie_1584
Are they just not creative enough to come up with a name.

I do sometimes judge on grammer and spelling when it's like this

"wahh up lyk lv" or " sfe h0w u b33n"
ok theres geek talk like "l33t" or "n00b" I can understand but I can't stand people who type like that constantly.

I never judge on a persons avatar because they could be someone new or they could have a different approach to a style, and want to be unique by clashing or they just go with what they like.

Originally Posted by DeLish

When you see X's, O's, Z's, numbers or underscores, do you think a little less of that user? Or think more when they have spaces and capitalization? What about when their name is a cosplay?

I guess sometimes I'll think that they're a bit unoriginal if there's a bunch of random letters or numbers, or maybe that they don't have a whole lot of creativity, but I generally don't pay too much attention to the username.

Originally Posted by DeLish

When they don't post with good grammar or spelling, do you think they're stupid?

Okay, I'll admit it, bad grammar is one of my pet peeves, especially if the person uses "txt tlk" all the time. Seriously! However, if I know that the person's native tongue isn't English, then I won't judge as much, but for those who are native English speakers, please, don't degrade yourself. That's why spellcheck was invented.


This especially bugs me if I see it in the roleplay or literature forums. It's a lot harder to understand what someone is trying to get across through their writing if their writing is filled with errors.

Originally Posted by DeLish

When their avatar doesn't match, do you think they're incompetent?

Not necessisarily. It may bug me to have clashing colors, but I don't think they're incompentant just not fashion enabled.

I actually bugs me more if the avatar is too busy. If there's so much stuff crammed in the small little rectangle I'll occasionally think that maybe the person is just showing off or bragging about how much they have. But I usually don't think of that. It just bugs me to have so much clutter.

Originally Posted by DeLish

When their avatar does match, do you think they're rich or snooty?

See above.

Originally Posted by DeLish

Do you ever think another user is a nerd or has no life, or think they only watch MTV and tan until they're colored cancer, all because of how they post, how they dress, and not what they post?

No, not usually. But if people use a lot of emots I tend to think of them as more excitable/happy. I'm not sure why.

Originally Posted by DeLish

Have you ever had a friend that contacted you via the Internet, and for a second you thought greater or lesser of them? Why is that?

Only when the friend has contacted me with something that really doesn't seem like them at all.

It might be an age thing. I have a very well educated friend who, when sending an email, still doesn't know that the "shift" key won't send the email. So all of her emails are one paragraph. I've just learned to be more tolerant of web-based eccentricities.

It's like anything else, like how cold does someone like their air-conditioning, how much sugar in their iced tea, etc.

I mean, have you seriously ever met anyone who talks in text talk?

Originally Posted by DeLish

Glad to know I'm not alone.

And you switched the i and e in "perceive." =) Not sure if that was a typo or not.

Aha, just fixed that, thank you.

Originally Posted by cionnaith

I'm extremely similar to you... I talk text out in my head whenever I'm on the internet so 'hearing' someone speak like that has a dramatic effect on how I view them...
...
Names are similar... but only in the case of something like Xx_NarutoxSasuke_xX, otherwise they're just an additional way of getting a username you'd otherwise be unable to get. Names do say a lot about people to me.

I do that as well. Everything I read is spoken in my head, and when I type my hands take the place of my mouth (more or less).
Also, I agree with you and people's names completely.

Originally Posted by Bara_hi-mi;4559354[FONT=Comic Sans MS

I don't speak much internet short hand and hate it once someone thinks its fun to talk to me in all "luls I wants u."[/font]
[font=Comic Sans MS]If I see my friends talking like that I feel disappointed, because most of my friends speak very eloquently.

My friends are guilty of this as well. Its like talking to a completely different person sometimes.

Originally Posted by Guivre

I mean, have you seriously ever met anyone who talks in text talk?

Yes, yes I have. Sad to say, I'm friends with quite a few people who do this almost constantly. o_o;

I guess judging people by superficial means really IS a human thing. Or rather an animal thing, since it's more based on the "relate everything to past experiences" instinct a lot of animals share.

The decision that really makes a difference is whether you ACT according to that first impression or rather try to be friendly and open despite your instinctive dislike of others. Though it's hard at times, I found a lot of nice companions that way, all of which are far beyond the first impressions they gave me.

• Names: A huge source of prejudice for me. I tend to think better of people with actual names (though that might be because I spend so much time on RPG forums on which using a character name was part of the netiquette), while I have a really hard time taking someone serious with a name that includes numbers and special characters (I simply can't get over names like ~*ZZ*tiki_12*ZZ*~ or the like).
  
• Spelling/Grammar: Well, being my second language my own English is pretty poor, so of course I can quite relate to people who make a lot of mistakes... :sweat:
  But most of the time you can tell whether someone is actually TRYING to heed grammar and spelling rules or rather doesn't care at all. I'm too much in love with the written word to easily accept the latter, though I DO know that a lot of very interesting, intelligent and overall great people belong into this category.
  
• 1337 and chat speak: That's where I draw the line. I know it's just prejudice all over again, but I simply CAN'T get along with people that use either one. Reading those texts makes my eyes hurt, and though I realize I might be missing out on some very good comments I almost always simply ignore posts in 1337 and chat speak. Completely. Yuk.
  
• Avatar: l'm a rather visual person, but strangely enough I don't care about avatars at all. That is, I don't judge people by how they look, simply because I don't have any past experience about a certain style of avatars being any indication of what a user's personality is like. No experience --> no instinctive conclusions --> no prejudice
  
• Cosplay: For avatars the above applies, but with names I have to admit that sometimes cosplaying disturbes me. A username is meant to represent yourself, and while you might be fan of a certain character, you are NOT him. Makes it hard at times to get a better view on who a person is when a character's name (and the face and/or personality that comes with it) is constantly hovering next to you them... :P

[/end ramblings] ;)

when online i usually try not to have any first impretions that are baised to things like usernames and how people act. that is ofcouse unless they have a name that really is questionable (like this one player i bumped into on an online game that was called noobkiller.. tho was new to the game... not the best of starts as he couldnt get any one to help him)

i must confess that i find it hard to spell correct and have proper grammer in my posts, this i know must effect how other think of me and so it is a bit annoying as there is nothing i can do to help it (time and time again i have had private studies and so i try to make as few mistakes as posible)

i must admit that i shouldnt spend so much tim in the debate section as it tends to shift my thought about others when they have the oposit opinion on multiple topics, they may feel the same way about me.

as for avatars, i have no reflection on them when i get an opinion of some one, true i may disslike them and would like it if they were to a set costume or matched but i dont think more or less of some one because they have lots of donation items or not as the style is completly up to them.

in all i try to baise my opinions as much as i can on the posts they have made.

I hate it when people abbreviate stuff, or say "ur" instead of "your", etc, etc. It's not that it makes me feel like they're stupid, just that it seems like they're not making an effort to act smart.

i find that no one should really be juged by their avatar but by the info the go

~When you see X's, O's, Z's, numbers or underscores, do you think a little less of that user? Or think more when they have spaces and capitalization? What about when their name is a cosplay?

No, I don't think less of the user if they have x's, o's, 'z's, numbers, or underscores in their name. I'm fairly uncreative at coming up with names myself. My IM'ing screen name has "2000" tacked onto the end of it. A friend of mine made it for me when we were in ninth grade, so I don't want to give it up. It holds memories. If their name is a cosplay, I probably won't even notice.

~When they don't post with good grammar or spelling, do you think they're stupid?

I don't think they're stupid for not posting with good grammar or spelling. Some people just aren't good at that stuff. One of my best friends is always asking me how to spell words and all, and she's not stupid. So, I'm not going to think someone I don't know is stupid because of that. I do get a little bothered when people say "there" instead of "their" and stuff like that, but I don't say anything to them. With grammar, I suck at remembering where commas should go these days. And I've never been able to remember when to say "whom" instead of "who". So, please don't judge me harshly?

~When their avatar doesn't match, do you think they're incompetent?

No, I don't think they're incompetent. Some people just don't like matching. Others just aren't good at putting avatars together. It doesn't really mean anything. It's just an avatar.

~When their avatar does match, do you think they're rich or snooty?

No. I may get jealous, though. Kidding.

~Do you ever think another user is a nerd or has no life, or think they only watch MTV and tan until they're colored cancer, all because of how they post, how they dress, and not what they post?

No. I don't know how you could come to a conclusion like that based on those things.

Have you ever had a friend that contacted you via the Internet, and for a second you thought greater or lesser of them? Why is that?

No. I have thought, "What is he/she thinking?" Like, I have a friend who has a friend who talks LiKe tHiS. Or LiiKe tHiiS. So, my friend talks like that sometimes. Why? It really annoys me that the "i" is never capitalized. And why double the i's?

When IMing, I do say stuff like "nm" or "ty" sometimes. I guess I'm just a lazy IMer. It really depends on whether I actually want to talk to the person or not. If someone I do want to talk to asks me what I'm doing, I'll usually actually tell them. If I don't care to talk to the person, though, I'll say "nm" just because I don't really care to answer at all. Or with one of my friends, it's because if I do type out a real answer, she doesn't seem to register it anyway. She mostly seems to IM me to complain about something.

Originally Posted by DeLish

When you see X's, O's, Z's, numbers or underscores, do you think a little less of that user? Or think more when they have spaces and capitalization? What about when their name is a cosplay?

*Points to underscore*. So no, not really. If they have a lot of numbers on this site, I'll just assume that they really like the numbers. Even uncreative people can come up with a user name that doesn't use numbers at this point. I use juniper_silver because I like the way it looks more than Juniper Silver, not because I can't get Juniper Silver. If they have a cosplay, I probably won't notice. If I do, I'll probably think it's cute if their outfit matches their name.

Originally Posted by DeLish

When they don't post with good grammar or spelling, do you think they're stupid?

I definitely don't think people are stupid if they can't spell, I've got a really intelligent friend who can't spell worth crap. Plus a lot of people here don't have English as a first language. I won't lie though, it can get annoying if their spelling or grammar is so bad that I can't understand what they're saying.

And I have a really bad problem with my grammar; I overuse commas. Sometimes it gets so bad that I have to go back and find a way to edit some of them out. I don't think that it's necessarily grammatically incorrect, it just looks bad.

Originally Posted by DeLish

When their avatar doesn't match, do you think they're incompetent? When their avatar does match, do you think they're rich or snooty?

I never think that someone is incompetent if their avatar doesn't match. I like looking at avatars that are really pretty and people put a lot of time into, but I wouldn't judge someone for not having a coordinated avatar. I'm not amazing at it myself, so I wouldn't be a good person to judge.

If their avatar is overflowing with old and hard to get CIs and EIs I might be more inclined to think that they're a show-off, but if their posts don't seem like they're full of themselves, I don't hold it against them.

Originally Posted by DeLish

Do you ever think another user is a nerd or has no life, or think they only watch MTV and tan until they're colored cancer, all because of how they post, how they dress, and not what they post?[/INDENT]

I judge people by what they post, but not usually by how they dress. In the debates forum, I don't mind someone having a different opinion than me if they aren't being illogical about it. I try to give someone the benefit of the doubt more than once. And I'd never be directly rude to someone if they weren't being directly rude to me.

It does bother me sometimes when people continually don't follow the rules or if they are continually posting the wrong kind of thing in a forum. For example, if someone posts their related story in someone's life issue thread, but doesn't give any advice, or even address the fact that they don't know what advice to give.

Originally Posted by DeLish

Have you ever had a friend that contacted you via the Internet, and for a second you thought greater or lesser of them? Why is that?

I have, but not recently. My friends used to text talk a lot, but they've grown out of it by now. I don't mind the basic stuff like brb or no capitalization. I do those things myself when IMing so that I can type faster.

Originally Posted by DeLish

So, what sways your opinion of other users?

~When you see X's, O's, Z's, numbers or underscores, do you think a little less of that user? Or think more when they have spaces and capitalization? What about when their name is a cosplay?
~When they don't post with good grammar or spelling, do you think they're stupid?
~When their avatar doesn't match, do you think they're incompetent?
~When their avatar does match, do you think they're rich or snooty?
~Do you ever think another user is a nerd or has no life, or think they only watch MTV and tan until they're colored cancer, all because of how they post, how they dress, and not what they post?

1) I used to have an underscore on my main account on another avatar community, but I had to change it. I can /deal/ with underscores and x's, but I absolutely loathe number usernames >.>; I like spaces and capitalization, because they're signs of good grammar. *is a grammar nazi* and Cosplay names are okay, as long as their avi -looks- like the character it's named after.

2) No, but I do think they are annoying. Sentence structure was created for a reason. They are not texting me, I am not one of their "high school buddies", so they should treat me like a co-worker, if you can understand where I'm coming from. Someone's not going to walk up to their boss and say, "Yo! Wuzzup homie?!!!11shift1!" >.>;

3) Most of my avi's don't match :3 I have one that is completely rainbow. A person's avi represents their own personal style, and I like seeing random people's avatars.

4) No, it just means they know about color consistency. If you have blue at the top, you need blue at the bottom to offset it. No big deal.

5) Well considering you are asking a band nerd who strives on Yahoo IM, I'd think not :3 I don't judge.

I also tend to judge a person more by how they communicate rather than by how their avatar looks. I'm a bit older than the current mobile phone texting generation, so I'm not that into the shorthand words, etc. If I were doing a lot of texting, I guess I'd be more into it, because it's faster (and my thumbs don't work all that well).

In terms of how the avis look... well, mine doesn't look that much like me (I only wish I had red hair). It's fun to try and make them look dashing, or romantic, or other things. I wouldn't read too much into it.

By the way... I'm new to all this online community stuff. What's cosplay? I haven't been able to infer what it means by the context.

Originally Posted by Jeannesha

By the way... I'm new to all this online community stuff. What's cosplay? I haven't been able to infer what it means by the context.

Cosplay (COStume PLAY)is a term that originally stems from - as far as I know - Japan and simply means dressing up as a book/movie/comic character. Normally it's a real life thing (with some really nice, elaborate costumes - look up the word on Google's image search), but recently people started using it for dressing up on avatar forums, too.