Chapters 11-12

As I started Second Life I was immediately approached by a "man" from Malaysia. He kept following me around while I was going through the initial tutorial stuff asking if I needed help. I told him I could figure it out and he just kept on following. As I was getting a little peeved I decided maybe if I talked to him he'd wonder off to someone else after a minute. He asked where I was from and I told him the U.S. and he said everyone here is rich. I made sure he knew that wasn't true by telling him so. He told me I was because I have a computer and I laughed to myself. I told him I was using the computer at school not wanting to get into a conversation about whether I have my own computer or not. He was using the only computer at the Internet cafe where he was and then proceeded to tell me there are no black people in Malaysia. After that, I told him I had to go and maybe I would "see" him later on. Wow, I really want to play that again. Why can't a girl explore without being bugged? Geez.

Even though I am a member of the MySpace online community, the Facebook community and the Louisville Mojo community I always remember they are virtual. The last two of the three are the ones I get on the most and talk to people I see often. I see how people become almost obsessed with their virtual community by waiting for replies and comments from people because I have been there before. I've sent people messages and have been overly excited for the reply and checked the inbox over and over even checking to see if they've even been online. Maybe I am a little crazy but I can admit I've done it. Mostly, it was before I had the person's phone number and had no other way of contacting them.

After reading and then thinking about it, when it says real communities are dying I have to agree. People are spending more time online with their online friends and forgetting to come out for sunlight every once in a while. It's easy to get caught up in the virtual world and lose all sense of time (going to the mall and to Target are like that too) thinking you've been there for a few minutes but it's really been 2 hours. If people start to only talk to their online friends and stay in the virtual communities they will look like this guy below. Scary.

One of my most favorite things about chapter 12 is Figure 12.1. For those who forgot, it's the how to be annoying online tips. I love the one about making up your own acronyms...it's priceless. The all caps one was funny too and I have seen it many times. It's usually in the forwarded emails you get that have pictures of angels or cute baby animals with a prayer or some best friend message. The other thing is the alt.syntax.tactical example. It's kind of funny and I actually looked it up to see what it's all about but I found nothing. Well I didn't find the actual site but I did find this http://www.tacticalsyntax.com/ which claims to be the grown-up version and is by invitation only. Hmm, what's going on in there? I'd love to know.

As far as spam goes I am over it. I don't need erectile dysfunction medicine, free Coach purses, iPhones or any other of that crap. I know I never entered any contests so how could I have won a free trip to Disneyworld or overseas? I have a wonderful website everyone needs to see just for laughs. These people reply back to spam and some letters are longer than others but needless to say they're a hoot. Here is the link for your enjoyment http://www.thespamletters.com/.

Just as in real life, there are going to be people who bully and annoy online. The best thing is just to ignore it, delete it or report it. I generally don't open email from unknown senders because I don't want a virus or 500 screens of porn to pop up on my computer while I am typing at a coffee shop.

OK FORWARD THIS TO 7 OF YOUR FRIENDS IN THE NEXT 20 MINUTES OR ELSE YOU WILL HAVE BAD LUCK FOR THE NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ISN'T THIS ANNOYING IT IS HARD TRYING TO READ SOMETHING WITHOUT PERIODS OR COMMAS AND FINALLY HERE ARE A FEW NEW ACRONYMS FOR YOU TO ENJOY ffiiks, rikf, ombaign.