Ask anyone who’s met me at a Dopefest-in real life, I’m extraordinarily shy. I either look down down and stammer or I ramble on like an idiot.
Wow, I just can’t picture that! 
Not quite the same but . . . I’m a freelance copyeditor working from my home office, and all my contact with my clients is by phone, snail mail/UPS, and e-mail. From their voices I’ve developed mental images of these people I’ve never met in person.
One has told me that she’s an overweight redhead, but I still picture her as a petite blonde for some reason.
Another one I always pictured as a tiny pixieish girl with short dark hair. Once I happened to be heading into Chicago on the same day some work was due to her, so I stopped in the office to drop it off and meet her. She was a tiny pixieish girl with short dark hair. :eek:
I’d like to meet my various clients in person someday, but I wonder if their perception of me would change. I work with the written word, so my writing is very well structured and precise, but when I’m talking (especially in a stressful situation) I tend to blather, use strange colloquialisms, etc. I can sound really dumb when I’d really rather not.
I have meet 4 people from online, three from out of state. Thats not couting there friends that I met and talked too online first. So I sorta know from which I speak.
I have found a common thread in all of them. 1)It takes time getting used to the “real” them. Theres always that image you have in your head first. Sometimes its true sometimes its not. 2)Just because you get along good online doesnt mean you will in real life. This was really true for the last girl I went to see. and 3)Things will always be different between you, after you meet. This may be in a good or bad way, but how you relate to the person will change from before.
All the people I have met have been girls. Looking for love in all the wrong places I guess. My advice would be dont get into long distance relationships. They hardly ever work out.
Amen on the “Don’t get into long-distance relationships” thing. I met a gal online who lived in Los Angeles. We had nightly, hourlong phone talks, constant e- and postal mail, etc. She came to visit, and it was WONDERFUL. She came to visit again, and it was even better. I was making plans to move to LA.
This all took maybe six months. And finally, the stress of being apart so much drove that paranoia-spike between us, and it all ended swiftly and unpleasantly.
She was terrific, though; I still miss her sometimes.
I once had the opportunity to meet someone I knew online when she happened to be visiting my area. As an introvert, I drove with both anticipation and trepidation to where she was staying.
As it turned out, when we actually met face to face, it was as if we had known each other our entire lives. She was friendly and gracious and did everything possible to make our meeting comfortable. She was staying with someone who I was somewhat familiar with who was also extremely kind, intelligient and friendly.
However, I know these two ladies are extraordinary individuals and I wouldn’t expect other meetings to be as successful as this one was. It all depends. I know simply that I was lucky.
I’ve met folks from online IRL both in groups and one-on-one. All meetings were pleasant–though one-on-ones had awkward moments. All folks were from online RPG–mushes/muxes/muses, that sort of thing. I have observed, being online & rping on mushes since 94, that a number of folks who populate online rpgs are introverts, some to the extreme, and may have experienced troubles in making friends, etc. IRL. The “ease” of making friends online added to a lessening of inhibitions sometimes creates a different persona online from the rl one, if that makes any sense. I’m sorry that your meeting RL did not go well, OP–perhaps the other person, though, was just extremely nervous and shy? Good luck in future meetings!
tarragon