Is Fluther a kind of universe?

Why is Matt Browne a topic?
I don’t feel like it’s another planet except for recently as much as a safe place to actually talk and ask questions. A second home.

@rangerr Cuz I like his answers about things like this – and if I put him in a topic, it’ll appear in his inbox. Clever, huh?

Fluther has become my world away from my real world. I’m all safe here unless I get more than normally bitchy!! And I can count on a laugh, a think, couple of eye rolls!!

@Zen_Again Sneaky, sneaky

Experience. Engage.

ZEN OUT

It is now! :)

Unlike the real world, when I speak my mind, and I’m wrong, after getting chewed out, it’s pretty much forgotten, and I can go off and be wrong again. IRL people tend to remember things way longer. Plus here I get lurve, there I get this shitty stuff called love, it’s all sappy, and warm and no one ever means it.

To be honest, I prefer the fluther community over the real world. I do have a few reasons:
A. When you write, you actually have to THINK
B. I’ve always liked to be in the company of older people (my ex was 23 days older than me, if that makes a difference) mainly because I can relate to them more than I can do with people near my age (However, this doesn’t affect me at school with my grade because I’m months younger than most of them and most of the time they’re pretty mature)
C. You have to admit it, fluther is a dream come true…You ask a question and people from all around the world can come and answer, all in the few taps on the keyboard!

Yes. We’re in Alternate Universe #69. Read as probability 512,682:1 on Heart of Gold’s Improbability Drive counter, last time I checked.

The online communication medium is indeed much different than real world interaction, for many obvious factors, such as the suspension effect of leaving messages, stalled perception of people on chat until next you speak with them again, or the lack of proper emotional portrayal and other such misconceptions or proper comprehension of intended interaction, due greatly because of the restrictions it imposes.

Until you really get to know someone online, I guess it does make it “like” another universe, although on the other hand, since you’re free to come and go at will, that way of looking at it may direct it back a lot more to what it is, an alteration or differing means of communication rather than anything else, kinda like telegrams, telephones and today, the Internet. Efficient, accessible, but quite restricted when you consider real world interaction.

As for Fluther itself, well I do like and appreciate it here, and while I’ve experienced plenty of different online communities which varied greatly between one another, Fluther really isn’t anymore of a universe than the entirety of the rest of cyberspace and its prominent nature is.
For example I couldn’t have said all that in real life in two minutes, or if I would, it wouldn’t have sounded like that…so the perception of me as a being is slightly altered here on Fluther, but possibly not anymore than it was on AB, Assbook or CrapSpace.
I mean I say all the same stuff online and off, but in different ways, since online offers me the time to think about something and word it properly, instead of saying putin and sacrébleu every two minutes.

Of course if we spoke on chat, it may be different…yeah I just went on and on and on and really didn’t answer the question, but it’s too late now, sorry. XD

So to try and answer it on your terms, beyond the virtual aspect of online, it doesn’t really feel like a universe to me, if indeed, I’ve correctly understood the context in which you present the universe issue. And the reason why is, well, all that crap I typed above. XD

it’s something like that ;) seems to be a pretty big place with everyone in it :)

@Symbeline Superb analysis. The only point that I can add is that the net provides a level playing field for us autistic types. The internet is my social life. I can interact here in a way that is impossible for me F2F. Since nobody can read facial expressions or body language here, I’m not crippled in communication. Before the internet I was considered an oddball for sending interoffice memos to a person one office away. Now with e-mail everyone does this.

I think we are a sea… like beautifully described here:
The Simpsons
Mom and Pop Art (Season 10)
Homer: Moe, this is Astrid, my dealer, and these are my fans: Gunter, Kilto and Cecil Hamstead on Cecil Cecil.
Moe: So, uh, you guys are Euro trash, huh? How’s that, uh, workin’ out for ya?
Gunter: Eh, to be honest, we are a drift in a sea of decadent luxury and meaningless sex.
Moe: Uh-huh… so where might this sea be located? here, in fluther :P

Well, I do often feel like I am just talking to my computer rather than actual humans sometimes (which explains why I can be “social” online), so the reality of the virtual world is quite different in my mind than the “true” reality.

I’ve had a couple of rough days at the office. So I noticed that my topic buddies are fluther universe and fluther the final frontier. I guess I have to come up with a really good answer. Hmm.

Well, the philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson said something very interesting about the universe and from our online perspective it could be translated to:

“Once you make a decision, the fluther universe conspires to make it happen.”

@Talimze So true. It tends to be unreal for me to the extent that dealing with people F2F is also unreal. To an autistic person, other people often seem to be little more than cardboard cutouts, irritations or obstacles.