Couldn't resist. I already subscribed to latter opinion. It's deeply connected to Otr's music in my view.

Patrik

I am here because I like the music and I like to follow discussions/exchanging ideas.

Most of all I like the variety of people and views, which doesn't cover just two answers in a poll.

Andre

Definitely escape my every day.

Neither.

I don't differentiate between "the outside world" and this. Or the outside world and anything. It's all just the world. Mind and body = me, not separate. Inside and outside = world, not separate.

I think people tend to characterize Internet-based forums in particulr as "virtual" when they are, in fact, not. They're quite real. The Orchard exists, you all exist (except Keith, he's a program that Drew wrote to stir things up around here). This is as worldly as it gets.

Plus, like I said... the chicks here are HAWT.

I tend to agree that there is no (or very little) difference between this MB and the "outside world." One of the downsides of a MB is that it could be easier for people to mistreat others. After all, we're just names on a screen, right? However, I don't get that vibe here. So, yeah, I like people... and as a result, here I am.

a bit of both, but more the former than the later.

good buddhist view by fallingleaf...
BUT...I can lob any number of things into these forums and then just turn it off and walk away, OR I can misrepresent myself here or even be a fictional character altogether and escape into a fantasy realm...and then turn it off and walk away. I think that is what i would mean by talking about "escape from reality" or this place being something different than the "real, outside world".
but yay for zen buddhism nonetheless...

Heh. Funny, 'cause I do like to park on the cushion. How very intuitive of you.

But to the 'lobbing' of things, and the fictionalizing... I can do that in a bar. Or a bookstore. I can pretend to be what I am not while I'm at work, or in many settings. I can be real or I can be fake, anywhere. And can walk away to the next thing, whenever I feel like it. Some people in my life matter to me, some don't. The Orchard is the same in all these ways.

well, actually, I would suggest that if you tried lobbing certain things in a bar (at least around Detroit here) you're more than likely not going to just be walking away. real life will be engaging in reality with you whether you want it to or not. I would suggest that in the real world, there is real, immediate, flesh-and-blood feedback and response to what we say and do. there is a level of detachment here on the computer. your mama's a ho. I'm going to turn the computer off now, go out to the grocery store, and maybe have a little chuckle to myself. if I said that in a bar, I wouldn't be able to just walk away and have a little chuckle to myself. because that's not how things work in the real world. but it can work like that here. feel free to be angry or fire back or just laugh yourself. I might never even come back. there is a moat of detatchment that niether of us can cross, rendering our best, or most vicious attacks as somewhat "unreal" (detatched from reality, seperate from our experience in the real world). This is all quite a different affair for those here who personally know each other, and to that degree, this is an extension of reality (or the real world, MTV notwithstanding).

the flipside of this is also why I have always found it rather silly when some people on these boards get "hurt" or "offended" by what others say on the boards.

I think that's all I have up my ass right now. if I find any more I'll pull that out as well and share it with you, my fictional friend.

Both. Reading the music threads and talking about Over the Rhine can be a bit of a calming escape. The off-topic threads (cough, cough, the countless theology threads) tend to give me more insight about how things are. While I agree with what Falling Leaf said about this not being different than being offline, I think the quality of the conversations here does set the Orchard apart from the rest of life.

...but then again, does an apple really fall that far from one of the Orchard's trees?

Brookd: Since this is a message board, it's more like a bulletin board or mail even than a face-to-face conversation. Since the comparison isn't to real-time communication, your argument that you can "walk away and have a chuckle but you couldn't in real life" doesn't hold. Now, if this was a chatroom...

There's no option for meeting chicks. I need that option.