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I’ve been online for years. I started using the CompuServe forums back in the ’80s…before the Internet was something you used at home. Why CompuServe? Well, at the time the CompuServe forums were the best place (in some cases the ONLY place) to get online support directly from a software company.
Back in those days, I was using AutoCAD, and the AutoCAD forums were the absolute best place to share ideas, post questions and build community with other AutoCAD users.
In 1990, one of the friends I had met online was looking for someone who knew how to do 3D modeling in AutoCAD to help with an animation she was contracted to produce. This turned out to be the first of many projects I got directly through contacts I met online.
Today, I use IM to keep in touch with people I’ve worked with on a regular basis. Instant messaging has become an indispensable business tool!
My story with online messaging began less than a year ago. I began a “chance” email relationship with a person I had met while perusing an advice site. I wasn’t really looking to give or recieve, just looking.
It was my very first “online” relationship and I found it neither strange nor frightening which the media hype and stories of others had led me to believe. It was a very positive, wonderful experience. I shared my deepest secrets and fears which I had been hesitant to share with people in my “real” life, and he in turn shared his dreams and desires with me and we supported each other in times of crisis with long emails which never failed to make me smile and feel better.
Over time we found Instant messaging through Yahoo and then Odigo. Since then, I have had the opportunity to meet others online and friendships were formed that have warmed my heart and filled the gaps in my life. My world has opened up in a way which I had not even imagined was possible. These very real people on the other end of this “fragile wire” have supported me, nurtured me, amused me, entertained me and yes, amazingly, even loved me.
I can’t imagine life on this Big Blue Ball without the significant blessing I recieve from my online friends and family. The connection may be made through a cable or bounced off the satellites a world away… but make no mistake….it is very real.
Edited by – sandi on 03/21/2001 2:39:19 PM
I, too, was surfing the net and jumped on an advice site. I came across a post that was basically looking for a pen pal. I responded and was happy I did. Although, many others that were visiting that site put strong cautionary advice against this activity, I went for it. The person that I started IM’ing has the user name of Sandi. We started nearly a year ago and I have spent hours talking with her. We have shared our lives together and have worked and still are working through some trying times together. I have and still do look forward to our chats and now occaisional e-mail’s. I’m glad I didn’t listen to all the negative hoop-la of having an internet pen pal. I’m sure there are some instances that would and should warrant fear. This one isn’t the case. I have chatted a few times in rooms with other people and never really got into it. The IM route was the best for me. Since starting nearly a year ago with IM’ing, I have never had any contact with any other pen pal. I haven’t tried looking either. I wasn’t trying to meet anyone when I met Sandi, it just happened. I’m glad it did too. Sandi, if you read this response….Hi Ya Girly.
OHO 🙂
I like jeff have been online a lil while. My first IM was ICQ and I was fascinated with it. Friends came out of the ether to chat and the warmth of companionship of those days stayed with me, although I may not use correct english or spelling it seemed of little consequence to my buddies. Many of them are still of imense importance to me. During a bad time in my life these buddies helped to keep me in touch with reality. All I can say to new IM’ers is dont sell this system short, It works, it keeps you in contact with ‘real’ people. OK there are some dogs out there but hell, the world needs its dogs to remind us theres a better way. I found it in chat IM’s.
You built a marvelous site here Jeff, it’s a pleasure to see your users in action. My comment on web chat is simply that people are the same on or off the internet: some good, some bad, most in between with a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. Remember that Donald Duck cartoon?
My intention is to link to the company of like minded individuals. We all have a lot to learn and only each other (and a few books) to learn from. Finding old friends and making new ones works with IM or discussion groups like these.
My only disappointment with the site so far is that so many users don’t file a profile. Aren’t we the shy ones?Mark
Quote:quote:You built a marvelous site here Jeff, it’s a pleasure to see your users in action.Thanks for the kudos!
Quote:quote:My comment on web chat is simply that people are the same on or off the internet: some good, some bad, most in between with a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. Remember that Donald Duck cartoon?Yep… but why was the angel always such a wuss?
Quote:quote:
My intention is to link to the company of like minded individuals. We all have a lot to learn and only each other (and a few books) to learn from. Finding old friends and making new ones works with IM or discussion groups like these.That’s my goal as well. I keep learning, and much of that comes through friends (both online and IRL).
Quote:quote:My only disappointment with the site so far is that so many users don’t file a profile. Aren’t we the shy ones?True, many have not. I think that those who are most active do eventually. Maybe it’s time to put a little reminder on the home page?
Jeff Hester
BigBlueBall.comQuote:quote: quote:
My only disappointment with the site so far is that so many users don’t file a profile. Aren’t we the shy ones?
True, many have not. I think that those who are most active do eventually. Maybe it’s time to put a little reminder on the home page?Thats true, active users tend to be the people to put the profiles on. Many people that are just asking one question want to be unknown. When I first signed up, I didn’t know if I would be back, so I didn’t bother to put a profile, but now that I have been here for a bit, I now have a profile…
~Sathallrin~
hi
my story its just beginin, and i hope find a lot of friends in here, i just use the msn messenger and have contact with my friends, then i started to see that are a lot of things around there, many new things, discoveries, and a lot more that i liked, so i hope to find the right direction to be a good member, friend, and learn a lot from u guys, and if i can do some for anyone, sure ill aport what i learn to otheres..
Quote:quote:hi
my story its just beginin, and i hope find a lot of friends in here, i just use the msn messenger and have contact with my friends, then i started to see that are a lot of things around there, many new things, discoveries, and a lot more that i liked, so i hope to find the right direction to be a good member, friend, and learn a lot from u guys, and if i can do some for anyone, sure ill aport what i learn to otheres..Welcome to the Forum. I hope you have a good time in here, I know I have. Its rare to find a place online with such good people. 🙂
New faces with new ideas are always good, its how anyplaces can grow. We can all learn from each other, and everyone who joins adds new ideas to the Forum in some way or another.~Sathallrin~
Hi, thxs sathallrin, and hope that be that way……im totally with your poit
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