Private parts

[CelShadedDreams]

Do you keep your online and offline lives seperate? Do you consider forums etc your "private" space away from spouses and friends etc?

At the moment mine is blurred at the edges, my twitter is very much public and helps for self promotion etc. I'm currently a normal private citizen, but my new job will actually make me a public figure (though a very small one) and that scares me a little.

Currently it's easy to link my "private" online persona here to my public one, but it's more of an effort to do it the other way around.

Question is, should I be more worried and hold back here or get a completely new username and not link them at all? Or should I just be myself everywhere since I never do anything that could seriously damage my reputation anywhere anyway?

Also, part of me wants to keep certain forums as "mine" and not be invaded by my personal life, but I don't mind forum life invading my personal life.

Then again I might be so small that no one would follow me to other places online anyway... I'm just trying to decide how to mix things but finding it tricky!

[Jiro]

EoFFers are welcome to invade my personal life. Real life acquaintances are generally not allowed to invade my EoFF etc life. The reason for this is simple - everyone here is far superior, and I often like to complain about people here

Most of my trout online is public or at least has lax security because I don't really care. I don't say things I don't mean and if it gets me in deep doo doo then I should've paid more attention in my law classes

[Pike]

This is an interesting topic. For me, there is no difference between who I am "online" and who I am "in real life". Let me explain a bit; I used to play a lot of World of Warcraft and when I did, I blogged about it and then was a fairly popular WoW blogger. Seriously, I had over one thousand subscribers at one point. I made a twitter and promptly had over a thousand twitter followers. Etc.

Anyways the twitter was mostly (but not exclusively) WoW themed and I added a lot of fellow WoW bloggers/players, and I soon noticed a trend among them where a lot of them had two twitter accounts, one for video games and one for "IRL". I never quite "got" that. I am who I am, and who I am is a nerd who plays a ridiculous amount of video games and writes about them (currently for a different and non-WoW-focused blog, but!) I don't really care who finds out, because I'm very open and proud about who I am. If someone looks down on me for it, I don't care.

So yeah, it all overlaps for me.

[Psychotic]

I firmly believe in the separation of powers. I would be kind of embarassed if the people I knew IRL saw me associating with someone like Julian or Steve. They're just so beneath me.

I actually don't really care that much. I don't put myself about online that much anymore. I don't have a Facebook or anything like that because I simply can't be bothered. If I did, I'd probably add both EoFFers and IRL people. They're seperate because there's no need for them not to be, really. I also like to hide my surname from people online but that's now because it's more of a game of cat-and-mouse with the likes of Roogle and tuh than for any other reason. I think 30-40 people here know it and I don't care that much. BUT IF YOU KNOW YOU MUSN'T TELL It's like a cool kids exclusive club, don't let losers in you guys.

What's your new job anyway, CSD?

[Jessweeee♪]

I separate work from personal, offline and online, and that's about as far as the separation goes

[fire_of_avalon]

I'm like Jessweeeeeee. I keep professional and personal life separate. I don't have my active superiors as friends on facebook and it's private. I don't friend many active associates either because they don't need to know Megan outside of work unless we're actually friends.

I consider all of my friends, both those I physically see and those i've never physically met to be "real life" friends. I likes who I likes. If I were a public figure I would again keep the professional chocolate out of the personal peanut butter.

[Raistlin]

Like Pike, I don't even understand trying to separate online and offline stuff. Some of my closest friends have started as "online friends," so I don't even make that distinction. People online know my name, where I go to school, my cell phone number, etc. I've even told a couple of "real life" friends about EoFF, and even more about my religious pareidolia website.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

I just make friends where I make friends. Some online friends know more about me than some face to face friends. I have two friends I've made through face to face interaction that know more about me than anyone. The next on the list is an online friend.

I've sent things to people I've never met just because I consider them friends and wanted to be nice. I'm looking for a field jacket right now if I can ever remember.

[NorthernChaosGod]

EoFFers are welcome to invade my personal life. Real life acquaintances are generally not allowed to invade my EoFF etc life. The reason for this is simple - everyone here is far superior, and I often like to complain about people here

Pretty much this. I'm very open about my online activities. I even tell my friends about EoFF, but I don't actually give them enough information to find the place.

I firmly believe in the separation of powers. I would be kind of embarassed if the people I knew IRL saw me associating with someone like Julian or Steve. They're just so beneath me.

You're an asshole and I hate you from the bottom of my heart.

[Peegee]

I want everybody to try this.

Ask somebody who has spent a significant time with me (there's....5 or six people) and compare it to people who have spent a shorter time with me (there's....about 12 people), and then compare it to the people who spent even less time with me (they showed up at Mandee's wedding), then compare it to what you think of me.

Then you can all go to hell.

[Brunettepudding]

I've always been very open about my online life. I've got many people from online as friends on Facebook, and there's never been any problems.

[Kossage]

I'm pretty open online most of the time, and I tend to write thoughts about my life down in my LiveJournal and Facebook accounts. I make no distinction between "online" and "offline"; EoFF and other forums as well as online friends are simply a part of my everyday life so I see no need to act differently online than I would IRL.

Question is, should I be more worried and hold back here or get a completely new username and not link them at all? Or should I just be myself everywhere since I never do anything that could seriously damage my reputation anywhere anyway?

If I were you, I'd just be myself, because that's how I roll. EoFF is a nice place, so I wouldn't worry about us; people here are friendly and funny, so it's cool to hang out here on the forums or in the EoFF chatroom. Just use common sense about what you're comfortable sharing with others online, and you'll do fine.

[Miriel]

I also like to hide my surname from people online but that's now because it's more of a game of cat-and-mouse with the likes of Roogle and tuh than for any other reason. I think 30-40 people here know it and I don't care that much. BUT IF YOU KNOW YOU MUSN'T TELL It's like a cool kids exclusive club, don't let losers in you guys.

I actually think this is fairly important just as far as it relates to your career. I mean, look at all the examples of people loosing their jobs over blogs, facebook photos, tweets, etc. I'm glad that even from a young age, I was always conscious of anything I was putting out onto the internet. I'm also glad that I don't have a super unusual first and last name. If you google my full name, you'll get tons of hits of people who are NOT me. That's a nice little buffer I think. Sucks to be Amanda though.

[Shlup]

I'm also glad that I don't have a super unusual first and last name. If you google my full name, you'll get tons of hits of people who are NOT me. That's a nice little buffer I think. Sucks to be Amanda though.

Seriously. Worst part about my last name. I have to check my Google results on a regular basis and figure out how to get Google to leave me the hell alone.

[NorthernChaosGod]

I want everybody to try this.

Ask somebody who has spent a significant time with me (there's....5 or six people) and compare it to people who have spent a shorter time with me (there's....about 12 people), and then compare it to the people who spent even less time with me (they showed up at Mandee's wedding), then compare it to what you think of me.

Then you can all go to hell.

10/10

I lol'd.