Online Relations - Part 1

When I was first introduced to the world of internet 9 years ago I memorized the internet code of anonymity. Never give away your real name, never give away your address, never give away your phone and always remember the internet isn’t safe.I remember one of the most famous tricks at that time, a flashing ad “Do you think the internet is safe, click here if you do”. At that time I never believed the internet is safe. I kept playing by the rules, I remember me, my sister and my cousins spending long nights on the MIRC, and keeping notes of the lies we tell. We started anonymous and we stayed anonymous. I quitted the IRC as I felt it was just for the teenagers, and I moved to the ICQ. And with that new move I started loosening the tight rules of anonymity, though “shimaagamal” didn’t show at that time, but I used my very well known nickname “misho” and started giving away my name, age and location to people who comes by. I kept sticking to other rules, like no detailed personal information and sure no pictures. The more I stayed online the more I loosened the rules, I started feeling home online, and my life started to move from the real world to the virtual world. Through these 9 years of internet I have come across tens of people, but not all of them qualify to be an online friend. And those I call online friends are those friends I have only in the cyber space. They live in my virtual world, we talk we share and we confide in one another within the web borders. They are real in the virtual world and they are virtual in the real world.Anonymity is of the great things about the internet, you can be whoever you want whenever you want and as it shows anonymity isn’t only the greatest thing about internet it is also the worst thing about it. In the virtual world you trust what you read not what really exist.Again, personally speaking I have few online friends, friendships that started 8 years ago, but out of the tens I met online, only 2 or 3 persons sustained the virtual friendship thing, another 2 crossed the virtual sphere border and became real friends and the rest were lost in the cyber space. Knowing someone in person is tricky enough so I guess knowing someone online requires a great degree of transparency in dealing with each other, and such transparency isn’t always the case of online relations.I thought of sharing part of my personal experience of online relations as a starter. There are many points to be covered, online friendship, online love, online dating and online marriage.