The Blogosphere – Living In Another Dimension

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Image by David Cowan (www.freeimages.com)

Image by David Cowan (www.freeimages.com)

Is the Blogosphere real? Are bloggers real people?

Well, of course they are. What a ridiculous question.

However…

I am willing to bet any blogger who has ‘met’ another blogger in the Blogosphere, were they to meet in person, would be apprehensive. Is the person I know in the Blogosphere the real person?

I’ve got to know some fabulous people through this blog and was particularly touched by the care and love sent my way when my father died recently. The Blogosphere actually became a place of sanctuary for me when things got difficult. And yet I wouldn’t know many of you if you came and knocked on my door and tried to sell me fertilizer. Mainly because I probably wouldn’t open the door. But if I did, I still wouldn’t realise who you were until you introduced yourself. How weird is that?

Two of my blogging mates – Joanne and Maggie – recently decided to meet up in person. Both admitted to some nervousness. Would the person they ‘knew’ from their blogs be the same in the flesh? Fortunately, they got along in the ‘real’ world just as well as they do in the Blogosphere. (You can read about it here and here.)

I’ve shared some hilarious and stimulating conversations with my mate M-R – she of the soon-to-be-separated book blog and ‘other’ blog (link pending when she gets her act together) – through the comments of our posts. Lately, they’ve got so out of hand we’ve occasionally had to delete the comments so as not to confuse other commenters. She has become a dear friend. And yet we have never actually met.

Today, in order to assist with a technical matter without clogging up the comments on her blog, we agreed to talk on the telephone. (It was a quicker and cheaper option than jumping on a ‘plane which I briefly considered.)

Was I nervous? A bit.

Would we get on ‘in person’ as well as we do out here in Virtual Land?

Of course we did.

M-R in person – well, in ‘voice’ – was still the person I know in the Blogosphere.

I hope she found the same.

In thinking about this other dimension I ‘live’ in and who I am within it, I realise I am most probably more me here than I am in many other parts of my life. I have always found it easiest to communicate via the written word than the spoken. Some friends who know me in person will attest to my penchant for sending “oh, I should have said” emails after we have conversed. In a world where all my communication is done via my fingertips on a keyboard, I get all the necessary words out.

Still, as much as I love to hang out here in the Blogosphere with you all, one day I do hope to travel to all the places you are and meet you in person because I’m willing to bet the person you are out here is the person you truly are within and I know we’d get along bloggishly.

Also, free accommodation.

 

 

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23 thoughts on “The Blogosphere – Living In Another Dimension”

  1. I haven’t met any friends from WordPress but have met 2 friends from another forum and the experience has been fantastic. I think when you see people “show up” by regular, thoughtful comments or their own writing or their commitment to whatever subject the forum is on, after awhile (6 months plus?) you definitely “know” that person, like you said, more than sometimes people in your community face-to-face get to know you. If it was the right person, I wouldn’t hesitate again to meet if one of us was nearby. We are so lucky forums like blogging help us connect with like-minded folks!

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  2. I did. Of course ! – I believe it’s easy to tell from email exchanges what another person is like. And certainly through comments post-posts, but less so. The only new thing I learned about you is how your voice sounds, H – and even that is no surprise.
    I try my best to be exactly who I appear to be – and this includes being grumpy de temps en temps and occasionally laying down the law (although I never actually mean to do that …). I honestly think I have no pretensions overlaid; and this may be because all my life I’ve had to depend on personality to survive amongst you thin people.
    Of the four eldest of John Dunphy’s daughters (the fifth being born a long time after us), it was said thus:
    Jocelyn is the one with the brains;
    Josephine is the one with the beauty;
    Carole is the one with the sex-appeal; and
    Margie Rose is the one with the personality.
    😦
    Perth in the ’40s and ’50s was a Very Small Town …
    But the point of it all is that those of us who don’t pretend to bd anything other than what we are – we recognize each other, don’t we ?
    XX OO

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    • Years before I started blogging, I read and commented on an author’s book blog fairly regularly. One day I opened the newsletter from a local museum and saw that she was coming to Richmond to speak. Long story short, I went to hear her speak and then stood in the long line to have her sign a book…..thinking surely she won’t have the time to say much……and maybe won’t really even recognize me…..and so when I passed her the book inscription card and she recognized my name, she leapt out of her chair with arms open saying “Barbara!” and gave me a big hug! Can I pick ’em or what?

      Free accommodations in Virginia, for sure, if you bring the ukulele.

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    • The funny thing is that I was very hesitant when I started to show too much of the real me. I didn’t want to expose myself to millions of strangers or have my identity stolen and used for nefarious purposes. Of course, I soon realised that I’d be lucky if a hundred people found me out here, forget about millions. So I let go of much of the concern and just went with it. I wanted to share my songs and for that I also needed to ensure I protected my rights so I had to use my name. The world didn’t explode and my bank account was not emptied. And really, it’s so much easier to just be myself than to be second-guessing all the time.

      On the plus side, my nervousness was how the drawings started. I didn’t want to use real photographs so decided to draw myself instead. 😀

      Whatever the Sandgropers had to say in the ’40s and ’50s is irrelevant – I wouldn’t have you any other way, dear M-R! I’d say you got the best end of the deal, myself. 🙂

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      • Oh, I should so dearly like to hug you and give you a couple of very loud smoocheroonies (my specialty, but only dispensed occasionally ! – well, other than to Lui Stringer …) !!!
        It is. Since I started out on 21/10/13, it was always going to have to be as myself, since that was the turtle porpoise ( ! ). And I’ve had only one single poor experience, which was just a huge-egoed bloke who didn’t like me stating my opinion on his blogsite so started calling me a troll. I left, right ?
        (You can see my brain is starting to implode, H …)
        XXXXOOOO !!!

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  3. When I mentioned to friend that I was meeting Joanne she felt compelled to issue warnings. My hubby also expressed far more interest than usual in my blog. Who is she again? Where is she from? From my side of the equation, it felt completely unwarranted, since my instincts told me that we’d get along just fine. But their worry stirred up the tiniest bit of apprehension.

    It was like online dating, in a way. The first meeting after a series of written exchanges. Except, as you say here, Heather, we put ourselves into our writing – our real selves. Any anxiety that I might have had about our meet was completely dispelled when we met face-to-face.

    I would love to find the resources to travel to Australia to meet you and the rest of my blogging friends down under. The biggest stumbling block for me is courage. Fear of flying, you know.

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  4. Hey, come to Wisconsin in January. We can have a snowball fight! Seriously, though, I’ve made a few good friends through a blog page for a musician/singer, although I was nervous to meet them at first. It has turned out well and I’ve even gone on a few road trips with a couple of these friends. I would love so much to meet you, M-R, Joanne, Maggie and a few others that share this blogosphere with me. Perhaps someday?

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  5. You hereby have an open invitation to visit me at any time. There are so many people on here I really would love to meet in person….nervousness aside, of course.

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      • LOL! … do you honestly think that just because your boys are young that things will be less chaotic when they are older? BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
        Think – bigger, grown-up versions of chaos whenever they hit the house! I have to admit I love every minute of it too … but good grief, they eat a LOT 😀

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Talk to me. I love a discussion. I might learn new stuff.