I just read some responses to a post that I honestly had no clue what was going on but one response stood out to me that our OH personae's (as she called them) were just made up people we wanted to be.  Really?  Why the **** didn't anyone tell me because I would picked a much better personae if that were the case.  What you see and read about me is what you get, I don't bother to make anything up or sugar coat who or what I am, and quite frankly I never joined OH to collect friends, but to learn about wls and once I had wls I thought I might have something to offer others and try to read posts reguarly and give something back to keep it real for me.  I don't relate to many people here as I have always been an outsider type and I don't fit into the FB world, I don't friend anyone, I don't like to kiss ass and I never just say the right thing to fit in.  I say what I think and feel and if I think its mean or hurtful I sometimes block the person for their own good.  Hey call me a humanitarian.  So tell me is it true was I supposed to create some beautiful fashionable rich powerful OH personae, because if so I better start the **** over quick.  lol

What say you?

Nope, that frankly sounds like too much work.. then if you have holes in your memory and forget your last "story" things tend to come back and bite you. 

Yeah, I'd love to pretend I have a fab career (unemployed).. that I rock a size 8 (in my dreams).. that I'm some sort of zen-centered person (generally freak a couple times a month).. 

That pic is me, whatever I post about really did/does happen, and to hell with sugar coating, that's partially why I'm in this mess. I rarely share anything terribly personal though, and I ditched my FB account a long time ago.

Love this reply...been considering dumping my FB account too.  Too much drama and not enough reward. =)

I say the person who posted that is talking out of her ass cause her mouth knows better.

If we get to make up personaes i will change mine so that I am at goal and fabiously wealthy.

I just had to post a public reply to someone who was too scared to confront me in public but wanted to unburden herself to me exactly how she feels about me then run and block me .

I don't have a lot of patience for that. I am like you;I don't do FB and I have only asked to friend someonw when I wantet o see the after plastics pics,lol. I also don't do FB...seems incredibly boring to me.

 I try to adjust my posting style to what I feel is needed in each individual case. I always say what I mean and mean what I say.

I can't stand brown nosers and there are a plethora of those around here.

So if you find out we are all going to make believe land,clue me in ,k?  I will never see it on FB....

 Nope, I only have the energy for one me.  And not even that most days!

I think that it is true for some people.  Not for me to judge who, but I think it is pretty common to escape reality for a bit on the interwebz by making yourself just a little more like that person you really want to be.  Or let a side of yourself out that you are afraid to show "in real life."

I am who I am.  I'd like to think that if someone who knows me only online met me face to face they wouldn't be surprised by the person they were interacting with.  I do tend to reveal only what is necessary about myself to understand the context of what I'm posting about, so in that sense, the online me is definitely not the whole me.

I think that what that poster was getting at is that it is easy but perhaps not wise to invest all kinds of emotional energy into a person that you will never even meet in real life, who will never be more to you than an avatar and some thread space on some forum. 

No, I've met too many people from here in real life and have had a few spend the weekend at my home. Even if I wanted to, they wouldn't let me get away with pretending to be something I'm not.

Who wants to devote their energy to that kind of crap, anyway? If you don't like who you are that much, you should devote your time to changing THAT instead of investing the effort into maintaining a fake persona.

Who wants to devote their energy to that kind of crap, anyway? If you don't like who you are that much, you should devote your time to changing THAT instead of investing the effort into maintaining a fake persona.

Exactly!

Although I would really like to be a blonde. A blonde with big boobs. Oh, and while I'm pretending, I think I'd also like to be back in my late 20's and about 10lbs under my goal weight.

Perhaps I'll start a new profile for my new identity. That seems to happen with rather alarming frequency around here at times.


eta: obviously this was meant to go under kelly's post below. i see the OH brainiacs must be at it again with some new "improvement"

I've got blonde hair and great, big Dolly Parton boobs!

It's all fake, but it is not like I'm fooling anyone. Be whoever you want to be, it is just more fun in real life.

See fake boobies, brown roots, LOTS of fun!

LOL, Kelly! If I can be whoever I want to be, I think I'll just go ahead and be you, thank you. 

You are beautiful!  How did you find an avie that actually resembles you so much?  =)

Aw shucks, thanks! Flattery will get you everywhere!

But, go ahead and be yourself. Let your own sparkle shine!

I've had that avi since I first signed up as a pre-op and couldn't bear to see my fat face thrust at me every time I posted. After I lost the weight, I didn't want to confuse people by changing it. I've got plenty of photos posted on my profile, so it's not like I'm hiding anything.

 Me?

Hell no.  Nobody wants my ****** up personae.  LOL.

Send me all your tickets to New Orleans and I would LOVE to pretend to be you! We do share a passing resemblance.

I will make you infamous!

 Technically, I don't have any tickets.  LOL.

If you go -- make sure you're ready for haters!  They love me.  

And -- you got work to do.  

Haters? You? I can't imagine.
As a DS Renegade I, of course, have absolutely zero experience with haters.

And, contrary to these last few days on the board, I actually do work from time to time.

What kind of work? Promote your blog? Hand out samples? Be a Bad Girl? Can do!

 Sometimes work for vendors.  

Sheesh. I can do THAT. Particularly if they dress me up as a protein shake and let me dance around the place. I would LOVE that!

On second thought, though, we'd better wait for a different city. I can get into all sorts of mischief in NOLA and I enjoy getting into mischief. It seeks me out which is generally a good thing. Just not when I'm supposed to comport myself like a respectable protein shake.

In the famous words of Popeye, "I yam what I yam!" Or from the early days of computers: WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). That's more than enough for me to handle. Plus I rather like who I am and who I'm becoming. Plus I don't have any choice about it, other than how I handle me.

I do think the the Internet, because of the anonymity, allows some people to pretend to be who they aren't, and allows some people to express themselves in a way they probably (hopefully?) wouldn't face to face.

I also think that the poster was meaning don't let yourself get all bothered by an avatar and a posting or postings.

HEIDI-great post! Dont know what "started it"-and don't care..I'm "like that"..part who I am..how I REALLY AM..what you see is what you get...no fairy farts and rainbows...I am painfully honest..as I get older my "brain to mouth filter" gets thinner and thinner..but I am mostly honest about MYSELF...it's just easier that way, cuz I'd never be able to REMEMBER any lies I might make up!

I know Im perfect. We all are. LOL Not really. For those who judge us for being that way must not be as grounded as they think. None of us would be on here if we had all of our stuff together. We all are flawed. We all suffer from something. Some of us are depressed overeaters, under achievers, over achievers, miss spellers (like me), broke, poor, rich (not), lonely, hurting, hurtful, and more. Some of us aim to cause havoc and make mountains out of molehills while others strive to help others. I do believe that for the most part, most of us are not posers or putting forward the perfect personae on purpose. I just think that we intend to help others without putting all of our baggage online.