You’re right, Sentinel.
We don’t believe it.
{Therapist hat on.}
One might also take in the consideration that due to the impersonality/confidentality of the Web, that many people will use it as a catharsis in order to blow off steam, work out problems, obtain suggestions and even deliberately to get into arguments.
Not knowing who the poster is can be a big advantage to many who will often act via the Internet in ways they normally will not act in direct confrontation, plus posting on a message board gives one time to pause, to think and to script an appropriate reply. One need not fear being humiliated in person or before others because if such happens, one need only stop going to that board. One can also drop one’s screen name and start anew, reborn, so to speak.
People will often seek out like people in order to share experiences, discuss problems with complete anonymity, secure behind their screens. After a time, a seasoned user learns that the majority of the replies to posts are not going to be what one either wants or uses, but now and then, a gem shines in the night and they can grasp that to chase away the darkness.
Posting is a good way to vent, to express oneself, to learn, to grow, to have fun and to work out aggressions, learn how others think, cross international barriers and shatter old beliefs or myths.
For all you know, I could be someone you have seen and work with. I might be someone you buy things from each day, I might even work in your hospital, your doctors office or your gas station but you’d never guess it. The same applies to me. I might know you casually but to me you would present a different face. I would not know you as your screen name.
The world of the net is complex and even now somewhere, someone is starting to work out the psychology of it. After all, it is new. Never before have so many people been able to reach so many others within seconds and to learn so much without having to leave the comfort of their homes. There are problems, of course, but those will eventually be worked out.
Just be glad that you can vent here in anonymity and that you can feel free to do so.
Many here find me irritating, but there is the great possibility that if you met me in person, you’d not compare me with the persona I use here. That is the great pleasure of the web.
For those who need to, it is a good place to come to work things out, to get opinions or to get into good discussions to get their minds off of other problems. Even those under psychiatric therapy can use the boards for there are a great many helpful areas and even here, ‘stupid’ discussions can actually be what a person needs.
Each one who uses the net gets what they need from it.
Feel better now?
{Therapist hat off.}
CAREFUL! We don’t want to learn from this!(Calvin and Hobbs)
< confused look on face >
Sentinel,
Did you notice the date Satan started this thread? This thread was started in September
This newbie, Norman, brought this to life.
Why he did I don’t know.
(EMBARRASSED LOOK ON FACE!)
SHIT! No, I didn’t. I rarely notice the post date, especially if I’ve not seen the thread before!
Apologies to all and thanks for the information.
NORMAN – kiss my pimply ass!
CAREFUL! We don’t want to learn from this!(Calvin and Hobbs)
sigh
Alrighty now, where to begin?
Look at the date in this thread. I was a very different person then, and kellibelli and I pretty much hated each other. Now, we are lovers. 
Seriously, this was a long fucking time ago, kelli and myself now get along famously, and if anyone wants to make anything of it, they can go fuck themselved.
As for you Norman… Who the fuck are you? A newbie digging up a thread which had to be on page 12 or something? What was your motivation, how did you find it, and essentially, what the fuck is your deal?
Yer pal,
Satan
http://www.raleighmusic.com/board/Images/devil.gif
I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR:
Two weeks, one day, 12 hours, 19 minutes and 18 seconds.
620 cigarettes not smoked, saving $77.57.
Life saved: 2 days, 3 hours, 40 minutes.
I think there needs to be something in the FAQ (not that I think anybody would take the time to read it :rolleyes: ) about dragging moss-encrusted threads up out of the bottom of the list. This isn’t the first newbie who’s done this.
I personally blame Threadspotting. Is it just me or have we been favored with an unusually large number of drive-by posters this week, since we started Threadspotting?
I think Threadspotting ought to be just archived threads, No Reply/Closed Topic threads.
“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen
Satan: If anyone should follow your advice it should be you.
You say that the SDMB members are NOT therapists and yet YOU tell people to take their Prozac…a prescription medication for depression. Personally I don’t give a rat’s ass how long you have quit smoking. Are you getting therapeutic value from telling us?
Follow your own preachings!!!
Don’t ever say 288 in polite company. Its just two gross!
**
Hey there, person I don’t know. Did you read my last post on the subject, purhaps? Or anything which shows that it’s horribly out of date and not in-line with what I feel or am today?
Maybe you never change opinions and views on things and people, but maybe you still have your parents wiping your ass too.
**
Wow, you know what Prozac is. Fucking genius you are. Again, let me mention that THAT POST IS AGES OLD, NUMB NUTS! I was WRONG then. I have said as much to kellibelli herself!! And she has forgiven me. Get your head out of your ass.
**
Personally, I don’t care that you don’t care. I don’t even know who the fuck you are, dill weed. You don’t like it, don’t read it.
**
Well, others are from reading it. If you ever looked at the MPSIMS thread I started, a lot of people came out that they quit, and are quitting, and felt encouragement from it.
Maybe if I started a counter for how long I have been away from crack-addicted male prostitutes it might encourage you to quit.
I HAVE BEEN CRACK-ADDICTED MALE PROSTITUTE-FREE FOR:
Thirty-One years, three months, five days, 23 hours, 50 minutes and 17 seconds.
11418 crack-addicted male prostitutes not hired, saving $576,947.63.
Life saved: Probably
I hope this helps you break your crippling addiction.
Also, it helps me when I see how long I have quit, how much money I’ve saved, and the extra time I will live - extra time I will be able to call the likes of you festering pus-filled boils on the face of humanity all the more.
In short, you are rancid dick cheese. Lick my bag.
Yer pal,
Satan
http://www.raleighmusic.com/board/Images/devil.gif
I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR:
Two weeks, three days, 13 hours, 56 minutes and 55 seconds.
703 cigarettes not smoked, saving $87.90.
Life saved: 2 days, 10 hours, 35 minutes.
**THIS IS AN OLD CLOSEDPOST!
IGNORE IT AND GET ON WITH YOUR DAMN LIVES!!!
CAREFUL! We don’t want to learn from this!(Calvin and Hobbs)
Well, Serlin, two entire days went by - enough for a MPSIMS thread o get right off the first page - passed between my last post and the one you just did.
Seems like you’re the one going out of your way to not let it die…
Yer pal,
Satan
http://www.raleighmusic.com/board/Images/devil.gif
I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR:
Two weeks, five days, 16 hours, 58 minutes and 46 seconds.
788 cigarettes not smoked, saving $98.53.
Life saved: 2 days, 17 hours, 40 minutes.
OK. This has gone far enough.
::drives stake through heart of this thread::
::chops off the head of the thread::
Now maybe this thing will finally lie quiet in its grave.
Lynn
Queen of the Pit
Resurrection is cool. Was this locked before the upgrade? Anyway, I just have a short comment. Satan, if you don’t think people should seek help online, why do you offer it? I have seen you “counsel” people here and in chat many times. If you don’t like people seeking therapy, why do you act as a therapist so often?
This place, as well as many other online modalities, are all about communication. Why is that bad?
Hint for Lynn: silver bullets.
AAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!
::shooting silver bullet into thread::
Maybe THIS time!
Lynn