AOLosers

The BBQ Pit
1

Let me preface this by saying that, yes, I recognize the AOL crowd is rife for taunting, and for good reason, but still, it irritates me when common sense does not prevail. To wit:

[ul][li]My profile clearly indicates I live in San Diego, California. Why, then, are you IMing me when you live in Arkansas? Kansas? Boston? Florida? Europe? Chatting is all well and good, but this never seems to be the case - you want to start some meaningful dialogue that will someday blossom into a cross-country romance. I hate to tell you this, but it ain’t gonna happen. My hands are already too full locally. So, please, don’t IM me unless you’re coming to town to visit and need a tour guide.[/li]
[li]My profile clearly indicates that I do not meet without a face pic. So, since you don’t have one, why did you IM me to see if I wanted to hook up? And your pic of your dick is lovely, but, really, I’ve seen them all before. The thing that most turns me on about a man is his face, and that’s why, again, I clearly tell you I want a face pic. If you have some kind of bizarre phobia about people somehow altering your face shot and somehow completely ruining your life, then take your paranoia elsewhere.[/li]
[li]If you’re not interested, just say so. Silence after trading pics is inexhorably rude. I’m a big boy, and I’ve been turned down by far, far better than you and survived just fine. Similarly, if we exchange pics and I’m not interested, I will tell you so - telling me to “fuck off” is equally as rude. I was honest and not rude to you, so being similarly so isn’t so much to ask.[/li]
[li]My profile clearly states that I am looking for whatever life offers up - chatting online, hooking up, meeting for coffee, making friends/friends with special privileges, going on a date, finding a boyfriend, or meeting Mr. Right. So if we chat, please do not assume that all I am looking for is sex, 'cause I’m not. Would I turn you down if I was attracted and you offered? Probably not. But it’s not a requirement - I’m new in town, and friends are always welcomed. It would be nice, at least in this instance, to actually be taken at face value.[/li]
[li]“Trading pics” means exactly that - trade. It does not mean “send me yours and I’ll send mine back only if I’m interested.” And don’t get pissed off if I inform the entire chat room of the fact that you do, indeed, lie about this. Sending your pic followed by a, “Thanks, but no thanks” is perfectly acceptable (see above - I’m a big boy).[/ul][/li]
I think that’s it - for now.

Before anyone starts noting all the exceptions to the above rules, I know exceptions do exist (for example, my housemates met online, and they lived in California and Pennsylvania at the time, so internet cross-country romances are certainly possible - not, however, for me personally). I’m just bitching - people piss me off. I’m sure others have had similar experiences. The anonymity of the internet seems to give some people free reign to be jackasses, and although I know this is hardly news to any of us, as has been noted, I’ve been a cranky bitch of late, so I feel like venting. So nyeh. :smiley:

Esprix

2

Heh, I recently changed my AOL profile to say I am a 13 year old girl, and I am constantly getting A/S/L requests from total strangers. Most of them claimed to be 13 themselves when I asked, but I had this one extended chat with a 33 year old newspaper deliveryman from Virginia who kept asking me to run away from home and come live with him (alternatively, he could come visit me, but we’d have to meet somewhere and I couldn’t tell my parents). Funny, but scary.

3

Oh my GOD! Badtz Maru is this true? If so, please foreward the names of those who propositioned you (believing you to be a 13 year old girl) to the police immediately!! I used to work in a psychiatric hospital; and with the sort of people that you describe… they NEED to be caught and confined before they do what they do!!

Not a joke! Not at all! Not at ALL!!!

Forgive me if you think I am over-reacting, but unless you’ve MET these people (and I have), you have no basis for argument…

4

Yech - creepy.

But that reminds me of a couple more:

[ul][li]Not only is “A/S/L?” an inacceptable way to start a conversation, but makes you look like the idiot I’ve just figured out you are, because not only are my age, statistics and location clearly noted in my profile (which, since you are obviously lacking in that half a brain people are always talking about, you aren’t able to click on the little “profile” button, and/or able to read yourself), but if you’re so desperate as to talk to anyone that you’d randomly IM someone from out of the blue and be ill-concerned about their age, statistics, or location, I really don’t want to have a conversation with you.[/li]
[li]If you are an (alleged) 13-year-old girl, don’t IM me. At all. There is no possible reason you and I would have to talk, especially since the only reason you’re IMing me is because you “want to talk to a gay person 'cause it’s so icky!” There are times I wish it were easy to track people down over the internet so I could contact your parents and inform them their lovely daughter is IMing strangers on the net, which is, of course, most parents’ worst nightmare. And continuing to IM me with useless taunts after I’ve told you to buzz off will only either get you reported to AOL Terms of Service, or will get you on my ignore list.[/ul][/li]
I’m sure more will come with time.

Esprix

5

See, 'Sprix, you’re doing it all wrong. Instead of posting this information here, it should be in your profile. :smiley:

6

Sorry, the authorities will do nothing in a case like this. He didn’t proposition a 13 year old girl, he propositioned a 28 year old man pretending to be a 13 year old girl. This stuff is all too common, if you change your profile to say you are a 13 year old girl and that you are interested in love and romance, you will probably get about 15 IMs a day, most will claim to be minors too, but a good portion of them at least claim to be adults.

I gave out the handle of the guy who tried to talk me into running away and making a living having my picture taken on another board, the results are here. Somebody actually got him to call the FBI. 8^)

7

Hmmm… that’s a point, I 'spose…

Parents, watch what your kids are doing on the net! There are a lot of sickies out there!:frowning:

8

Maybe she is a 13-y-o lesbian who wants to talk to gay people to try to understand herself better, in which case if you said no I’d have to spank you. (Not so you’d enjoy it.)

Then again, maybe she’s not. :slight_smile:

9

What if it’s a 35 year old gay San Diego man masquerading as a 13 year old female because he’s not fully in acceptance of his own sexuality and the only English he knows is whats in his profile and the slang term “a/s/l?” What if he had only one picture left in his camera when taking his pic and, right before taking a picture of his face, the camera slipped? He’s desperately trying to reach out to those that can help him and understand, but all he gets is scorn and ridicule. I really hope you’re happy with yourself Esprix

10

First post to the Pit – be gentle, kids… :slight_smile:

It’s unfortunate that a lot of the folks who do online dating or meeting, whether it be through online personals or just perusing AOL profiles, are doing so because they don’t have the necessary social skills to interact in a true interpersonal environment (such as being able to approach someone in a bar, library or other social situation). It seems that some of the folks who’ve been talked about in this thread definitely fall into that category.

In all fairness, there are definitely people out in the internet dating-and-meeting scene who are relatively normal, well-adjusted people. (I would like to include myself in that category, hopefully.) I’ve met some people whose company I’ve definitely enjoyed. Unfortunately, there are indeed those social misfits who exhibit childish behavior online because they can be as obnoxious as they want without actually having to interact with another person.

I’ll definitely say this – if you’re looking up someone’s profile online and are interested in talking with/meeting them, READ THEIR DAMN PROFILE FIRST!!! I hate when I get IMs from someone who obviously hasn’t taken the time to read my profile (it’s what, eight whole lines of text?). They ask ‘what do you do for a living’ or ‘what’s your first name?’ (both of which are on the profile). I haven’t gotten rudely propositioned - most of the people have been friendly and nice enough - but I’d appreciate their trying to learn the basics before they bother IMing.

And can I ask a dumb question? What exactly is ‘A/S/L’?

11

A/S/L stands for Age/Sex/Location. It’s a common greeting by those looking for little more than age, sex, and location.

So, Esprix … I’ve never spoken directly to you before, and I think that your posts are generally pretty good … but I’ve gotta ask. In your thread I’m getting laid too much, your OP states:

I’m callin’ you out! Reconcile THAT!

12

Thanks for the clarification, LNO.

And I’m with Esprix on this one – online dating can be a GOLDMINE. Just as in ‘real-life’ dating, it’s difficult to find someone that’s truly worth spending time with – but for simply getting your hands on a lot of bumper, there’s no better place. :smiley:

13

matt, duh - if she’s legit, I’ll talk to her. But all of them so far have been, “Hi, are you <giggle> gay? EWWWWWW!” :rolleyes:

Ender, does that mean that was you who IM’d me the other day? Dude, if I’d known it was you… :wink:

And I certainly agree, The Infraggable Krunk, that there are, indeed, some great folks online that you sometimes get to meet, and those are the ones I actually do meet, since they have sense enough to read my profile first, as you suggest. The rest of them are quickly forgotten in the interether.

And just because I occassionally bitch, LNO, doesn’t mean I don’t know a good thing when I see it. :wink:

Esprix

14

Well, one of the guys from SA was able to get the AOL pedophile’s street address here.

15

A little hijack, but in line with the AOL profile discussion. When my wife started to spend a lot of time online in chatrooms (she’s into horse riding, & animal suff in general) she mentioned that she was getting a few IM’s from some nuts. She thinks its disgusting, but I, in an immature sort of way, think that its prtty funny. So in an effort to enhance her online experiences I modify her AOL profile - and put in “Big tits are better”. A couple of days later she tells me that she is getting so many IM’s that it’s allmost impossible to do anything online. What I don’t understand is what all these guys with Harley’s and sports cars are doing online? After reading a few IM’s I showed her what I had done, for some reason she never seen the humor in it.