SPIDERWEBS:
I Am, Therefore I Chat
BY SHEILA FRANKLIN
CHAPTER II Am, Therefore I Chat
"YEP, we are all here for the "educational pursuits" that chat brings....RIGHT????...*LOL*....Hell, I am here for the idle babble....and adult company.....*wink*"
22222 Like millions of others I chat on the net and, like most of them, I am a "chataholic". It is an addiction that is no different than any other for it fulfills a need that we otherwise do not have in our lives. The net represents a verbal singles bar for some; a place to get acquainted and perhaps eventually meet r/t (real time). It is a sense of security for others. They are alone, and lo and behold, there are real people at the other end of that screen! Violet put it this way,
"YOU know,...I come here and chat at night..to stay away from BORING TV...to keep my hands out of the fridge....and to keep my mind busy and happy...."
22222 I personally find it a way to alleviate the stress of my day. I know that even if I have gone through many hours of isolation and mental anguish in my work there will be someone with whom I can communicate.
22222 I began chatting over three years ago. I owned a retail video game store at the time and it was getting to the point where the store was almost running itself. One day I hooked up a Sega Saturn, a Net Link modem, and a phone line, and "voila" a netter was born! I soon discovered chat rooms and began to meet others like myself. Contrary to what non-netters believe we are not all overweight and/or balding, we are not "freaks of humanity", we are just ordinary people searching for a little happiness through a keyboard and monitor as opposed to a fitness center or the produce department of our local grocery store.
22222 Rocky describes the concept of chat not unlike what many of us went through in the sixties. Back then, as he puts it,
"It was a great common denominator. No one had to be good-looking or smart or rich; we all just accepted people as we were. It is similar in cyber. People from all over meet and connect. They can be living in a trailer or a mansion, but they can still connect."
22222 We are factory workers and lawyers, teachers and homemakers, blue collar and white, a piece of humanity that is generally a little too shy r/t to go out at the end of the day and socialize. We often have occupations such as farming that make it difficult to travel and experience people and places outside our own communities. Lincoln put it this way,
"I have often thought upon the dynamics of chatting in the room,,,how ties are made,,and relationships develop.....it always seemed to me that people find it easier to meet and speak on line...."
22222 Sometimes we are of the displaced. Some of us now live in areas that are not our birthplaces and feel the homesickness subside when meeting others that still reside there. It is not unusual to see a comment like this one by Flo,
"soothe my soul sugar..look out yer window and tell me about the ocean"
22222 We discuss our lives and our opinions openly as perhaps we might not r/t. Reading the words of others often makes us stop and take notice of ourselves,
"for what IS your reality, if NOT YOUR VIEW ? I tell my kids....an old woman falls down in the street. One kid thinks it's hilariously funny, another kid is mortified, frightened she hurt herself... so which is it? Funny or scary? It's both. Depends on which kid you are."
22222 We are also seasonal. Those of us in colder climates seek solace in chat when storms keep us inside. We temporarily forget the chill and hope that we will not suffer the consequences of withdrawal because of power failure. During one extremely cold winter Bloom wrote,
"winter, winter go away 22222222222222222222222222222222222 come again no.. 22222222222222222222222222222222222222 don't come again 222222222222222222222222222222222222222 well someday winter 222222222222222222222222222222222222 oh hell go away!"
22222 I have innumerable friends and hundreds of acquaintances on the net. We meet at the end of the day in our "room", in some cases discuss what we did, what our bosses did to us, and perhaps even what we will do to them. Sometimes we just escape in the fantasy of words for a while, creating friendship through wordsmithery. To quote Skybinder,
"Late on Friday 22222222222222222222222222222222222222 They enter in 22222222222222222222222222222222222222222222 Chatting about life 2222222222222222222222222222222222222222 Sharing with friends 222222222222222222222222222222222222 Word pictures dance 222222222222222222222222222222222 Across the screen 2222222222222222222222222222222222 Feeding the mind 22222222222222222222222222222222222 Images and dreams 22222222222222222222222222222222222 Hello all, a busy Friday **S**"
22222 Perhaps the best way to explain it all is to tell you a bit about my own chatroom, for it seems that when we find one we are comfortable in, we tend to stay there, and although my "roomies" and I may "surf" for other places to chat, we tend to migrate to that which makes us the most comfortable. There is no place like home.
22222 My room consists of 20 to 50 chatters, depending on the time of day. At one time it boasted up to 120, but that was before new rooms were created and our room had "evolved" into what it is now. Rooms take on the personality of the chatters, odd as that seems, rather than the opposite. Most of us do not go to "theme" rooms (i.e. the Star Trek room), although we may visit them occasionally.
22222 Some chatters leave their "home" room and take on a new chat name in another room and begin again or change names and return to the original room, but that is generally not the case. We bookmark our online residence and if it becomes unreachable because of server problems that day or night, we patiently wait until we can return to our friends/family on the net,
"booted........please repost everything important that happened from 6/20/51"
22222 I remember one night when I turned on my ‘puter after a stressful workday and discovered to my amazement that I had been banned from my chatroom!! No matter how many ways I tried to get in I was unsuccessful in the attempt. I felt so alone and empty that I asked Sungod to go into our room as see if he could find the reason for this predicament or perhaps a way for me to atone for my apparent chatsin. Apparently he caused quite a ruckus, for I began to receive consoling e-mails and ICQ messages. I was teased as if I was a sort of cybercriminal,
"need me to post bail for you?.. *l*"
"just tell me who it is and I will send some friends over to take care of her/him...*lol*"
"you name it baby..i'll do it...ya want me to smuggle some drugs in for ya...*L*"
22222 I chatted on ICQ that night, but I remember that I felt very much aware then of the spiderwebs, the delicate connection that ties those of us on the net together. Thinking that I was not allowed in was reason enough to make me feel like I was experiencing a sort of chat-withdrawal. I was admitted back in the room the next day never quite knowing what my chatcrime had been, but grateful to my site for its "forgiveness" and my friends for keeping me company.
22222 We are indeed like a family. When one of us has a new baby or grandchild, for example, we insist on she/he scanning a picture of the newborn so that we may all see it. I have known of three roomies who have passed away r/t and we have mourned together in the room. One of them happened very recently and Denise was thoughtful enough to create a memorial page for him a temporary net site with a picture of him and eulogy beneath.
22222 We partake of holidays and special events together and use our creativity to share our feelings about them. Roomies sometimes change their names slightly to spread the cheer. Angel, for example, will become "Xmas Angel" throughout the month of December. This poem was posted by Santa to amuse the room as he gave his slant on Christmas:
"Reindeer coming and they're gonna bite your wreath
They're gonna chew your welcome mat
Swallow your kitty cat
Reindeer coming and they're gonna eat your begonias
'cause Santa hasn't fed them in a month
Elves are coming and they're gonna steal your turkey
Wreck your TV
Burn down your Christmas tree
Elves are coming and they're gonna trash your home
'cause they ain't got nothing else to do"
22222 We also celebrate when one of us finds a new job. We cry together when one of us is sick, or has a r/t family member going through a crisis. This past Christmas season we were all aware that Shadowfax was temporarily unemployed. A single parent, it hurt us to know that perhaps he and his young son would not have enough to celebrate the upcoming event . Many of us were searching the net as well as r/t in hopes that perhaps we might find him work.
22222 Two weeks before Christmas arrived he informed us that he had found a temporary position which would undoubtedly lead to full time after the holidays. We all felt much better, knowing that our friend’s son would not go without his share.
22222 Several of us have met, fallen in love, gotten together r/t and left the net. There are at present at least two couples that have been recently married and are still very happy.
"you met him in here?? another romance...have to be very careful..and hope that isn't catching *L"
"Yes.. and the funny thing is that we were just friends for months.. and suddenly .. boom! it just happened! and well.. thanks for the best wishes.. but no luck needed.. I do not believe in luck.. believe in love and his seems real.. *S*"
22222 Some of us have met, found that the "missing element" that makes r/t a connection nonexistent, and returned to the room to continue our verbal adventures. The best way to conceptualize this is to imagine a soap opera, but instead of just watching you are the creator and active participant. As of this writing Lilly is expecting a baby. We all share her pregnancy as she recounts to us her happiness, her visits with her obstetrician, and her morning sickness:
"i am doing pretty good...dreading next weeks amnio...that damn big needle is not my idea of fun...*l*"
22222 In my case I know most of my roomies. I will "look" in my room (also known as "lurking") and see who is in there at the time, say hello when I enter, then seek out my closest friends with whom I chat in "pm" (private message).
22222 We even have a "gallery" as a part of our home. Albert set up a homepage (website) that displays pictures of many of us so that we can get a clearer picture of each other.
22222 Sometimes the entire room chats together, being silly or just enjoying each others company. In some chat rooms other chatmates will offer you "a drink" or a dip in a cyber hot tub. You may encounter "verbal" food fights, which can be quite entertaining. You can use your imagination to create something so rotten or gooey it is almost like doing it yourself without the necessity of cleaning up.We create cyber foodfights that are often graphic enough in print to make you feel almost as if you were participating in a real one without the necessity of cleaning up. I have also seen chatters that will come up with entire scenarios, each of them assuming a role, taking on the characteristics of a character likely to be there, i.e. on a desert island.
22222 I remember mentioning to one of my roomies that although I seldom watch television these days I would still leave chat to watch the series "ER". One night I was greeted with this, Peter from ER: (in the nickname box)
"Are any of my fans in here tonight?"
22222 This then is my story: the events that go on in chat; the people I have met, the evolution of my room, and the reason behind this book. If you are a chatter you will recognize it and feel comfortable with it, happy in the knowledge that we have been given a chance to "redeem" our stereotype. If you are not, one of two things will happen. You will dismiss this book (and me) as being too ludicrous to think about further. Then again you may just run out, get yourself a ‘puter, and become like the over 30 million that have made chatting a part of their lives.
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