Public Chat or IM? Has a Culture Shift in SL Made It Harder to Meet People?

[Rolig Loon]

Has anyone in this thread said that it was?

[Scylla Rhiadra]

10 hours ago, MissNomer Gothly said:

I feel like people who say "I only chat in public" are the SL equivalents of people who can't stop going on about how they "don't even own a television" in RL. Great. Awesome. I understand that you have a strong personal preference and hey...that's cool and all. But, like, maybe don't assume it's the only right choice?

 

9 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

Has anyone in this thread said that it was?

Indeed, as Rolig avers, they have not. I'm not sure it would even be possible to connect to anyone in SL without also using IM, and I'm going to guess that even those of us who prefer public chat probably actually use IM as much if not more, simply because it's often not possible to talk to friends, merchants, etc., in local.

The overall consensus of this thread, as I take it, is that people have preferences, but that no one is really asserting that one or the other is "the only right choice."

What I myself was more interested in was the question of how a broad shift to IM may be impacting on the way in which we meet new people, and on the cohesion of "community" in SL.

[Madelaine McMasters]

10 hours ago, MissNomer Gothly said:

I feel like people who say "I only chat in public" are the SL equivalents of people who can't stop going on about how they "don't even own a television" in RL. Great. Awesome. I understand that you have a strong personal preference and hey...that's cool and all. But, like, maybe don't assume it's the only right choice?

Until a few years ago, I'd never owned a TV (that barely defensible statement is still in my profile). Though I now have one, it's neither connected to cable or an antenna. I use it primarily to show movies. Considering I've done that about twice since purchasing the thing, I suspect there were better ways to go.

Your assumption that people who make the TV-less claim believe it's the only right choice seems rather tenuous to me.

[Rolig Loon]

12 minutes ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

Until a few years ago, I'd never owned a TV (that barely defensible statement is still in my profile). Though I now have one, it's neither connected to cable or an antenna. I use it primarily to show movies. Considering I've done that about twice since purchasing the thing, I suspect there were better ways to go.

Your assumption that people who make the TV-less claim believe it's the only right choice seems rather tenuous to me.

Once again, my twin sister, Maddy, has said it eloquently. Though we were born decades apart, we share the same world. I too, have a TV but no cable channels or local broadcast access, so I use the set for occasional movies or whatever else comes by way of Netflix.  I don't feel virtuous or special (well, not about this anyway).  I'm just cheap and I don't have a lot of free time to spend sitting in front of a TV.  I spend too much of it right here.

[Erwin Solo]

22 hours ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

Until a few years ago, I'd never owned a TV (that barely defensible statement is still in my profile). Though I now have one, it's neither connected to cable or an antenna. I use it primarily to show movies. Considering I've done that about twice since purchasing the thing, I suspect there were better ways to go.

Your assumption that people who make the TV-less claim believe it's the only right choice seems rather tenuous to me.

I second that.  I don't have a television.  I have a large computer monitor set up like a television.  It's really the same thing.  I used to use a roku box with it, but now use another subscription service that doesn't need special hardware.  

[Seicher Rae]

So, there's this thread, and some other recent posts about "how to start a conversation" and one where I have questions about meeting others, and they all have me (wait for it) thinking. Zomg. As in, there was something educational here for me. :::blinks:::

I've always considered the random, out of the blue IM of "hello" followed by silence (whether I respond hello back or not) to be weird, annoying, lame, intrusive and inducing eye rolling. I read that I am far from alone in that response, but others have posted from the other side of the hello issue.  The whole to IM or not to IM has given this IM-centric person more pause. Anyway, I just may be changing my profile a tad (it's overdue) and also my modus operandi inworld. A bit. Not an overhaul. Just scrape off a thin layer of introverted crust (ew).

[Madelaine McMasters]

1 hour ago, Seicher Rae said:

Anyway, I just may be changing my profile a tad (it's overdue) and also my modus operandi inworld. A bit. Not an overhaul. Just scrape off a thin layer of introverted crust (ew).

Introverts like us do have to work at this. It's been well worth it for me.

From my profile...

"Your seeing this may mean I've taken a rare trip out into a populated place. Don't let me miss the opportunity to meet you!"

That line has been almost as productive as mentioning Richard Feynman.

[Lindal Kidd]

I LOVE that line, Maddy!

I also love Richard Feynman.  I've spent evening bingeing on his lectures via YouTube.