Tep, you could have just linked to this.

I *do* think the Kittens are batshit crazy b/c of the don't-go-near-an-open-window insinuations

Yeah, but that's a level of threatening other people, real living people, with family and friends. It wouldn't be considered OK regardless to any sort of reason it's attached to, right?

actively worried about my sanity levels and mental health when they found out about my involvement in fandom

People here think I'm straight out insane if I ever say that my online friends are from a tv-show forum. Usually, when I talk about my trip to the USA, I just say "internet friends", and even that makes most people shriek for my sanity, wellbeing, lack of logic and the like.

Tep, you could have just linked to this.

And save myself all the emotional melodrama? Pfft!

YOU, missy, are the one who is CRAXXXXY if you think I'd do something that sensible!....

Tep, you could have just linked to this.

And save myself all the emotional melodrama?

Hmm.

t considers post 7187 and enters notes in file

It's beyond his comprehension as to how I can be friends with certain individuals (that I met online) because of a TV show.

Huh. So, if you met some lady at the supermarket in the soup aisle, and both discovered they stopped carrying your favorite brand of chicken noodle, and shared a moment of outrage and ended up chatting for 15 minutes about recipes and such, and decided to go across the street for a latte to discuss favorite cookbooks and exchanged numbers, and gradually became the best of friends, that would be an acceptable thing, I suppose?

But looking for spoilers or the schedule for your favorite television show online, finding that the show was on hiatus, and seeing a bunch of people saying funny shit about your fave television show, and responding to that, and then gradually becoming the best of friends is kraxy. It's Cause for Concern.

That's so sad to me.

Nilly!

People here think I'm straight out insane if I ever say that my online friends are from a tv-show forum. Usually, when I talk about my trip to the USA, I just say "internet friends", and even that makes most people shriek for my sanity, wellbeing, lack of logic and the like.

Precisely. If all they ever hear about are the crazy internet stalkers and scam artists, the same people who normally marvel at your intelligence and uncommon good sense think that BAM! you're being taken advantage of and don't even know it. How is that different from meeting a random stranger in a bar? Caution is a good thing IRL as well as online. Though I'm liable to give more credence to someone calling herself Steph L. rather than hottsxygrl69.

What's really funny is meeting other friends of Buffistas. "So, how do you know ___?" "Um...Friends of friends? Around town? Randomly?" "Oh, you're a Buffy person, right?"

Though I'm liable to give more credence to someone calling herself Steph L. rather than hottsxygrl69.

hottsxygrl69 was already taken. But you can call me that if you want to.

Huh. So, if you met some lady at the supermarket in the soup aisle, and both discovered they stopped carrying your favorite brand of chicken noodle, and shared a moment of outrage and ended up chatting for 15 minutes about recipes and such, and decided to go across the street for a latte to discuss favorite cookbooks and exchanged numbers, and gradually became the best of friends, that would be an acceptable thing, I suppose?

Who I am friends with is who I am friends with.

But looking for spoilers or the schedule for your favorite television show online, finding that the show was on hiatus, and seeing a bunch of people saying funny shit about your fave television show, and responding to that, and then gradually becoming the best of friends is kraxy. It's Cause for Concern.

He doesn't do much more online than check the sports scores and download new planes for his flight simulator. He had no idea that online communities exist. All he was aware of is the potential for bad shit to happen, because that's what was emphasized in the mainstream media. He had an unrealistic portrait about all of this. Now he doesn't.

That's so sad to me.

I'm sorry to hear that. We got past it.

I love the eye flash, where you look at the Buffista friend and you transmit psychically if it's okay to say "from the internet" or if confuscation is to begin.

When I was on set for Angel, someone asked me how I knew Tim. I went blanker than blank. There's outing people, and there's outing people. However, he's probably way high profile net-fiend. It just didn't feel like something *I* should be saying.

I get your sad thing, Allyson. The idea that there are ways to make friends, and some are right and some are wrong -- and that the way is more important than the friend. It's still a person, right? As my mother says "Well, you're on the internet, so it can't be all bad." Though she does regard it as a poor way to find a husband. But that's about me, not the medium.