We Are Family

[Red Shirt Volunteer 0]

I don't see it.  Not at all.  It's just a message board.  Then again, how connected you are here all depends on how good or bad your real life is and how connected you are to the people in it.  No message board will every compare to that and I think it's sad that people get so attached to something so trivial.

I think ARMS' original point was that a lot of members here have developed more connections then just the board, and that it has made him feel particularly close to that group.

 

He started with

Have you noticed how close everyone is on here? Thanks to the board, MSN, AIM, Yim, Yahoo etc we're closer than the Voyager crew.

.

 

For me, I am astonished at my own level of particpation on this board.

 

The behavior consistent with my personality would be what people here call "lurking." I don't know what about this site drew me out of my cocoon and caused me to start having regular conversations with complete strangers!

 

I don't have the feeling of family, but then I do not have the connections many have. But I would miss not talking regularly with this extraordinarily diverse strongly opinionated group of Star Trek lovers. ( And, I have learned a lot from other peoples' comments, including the ones with which I disagree!)

Yes, but ARMS said "everyone" here, not a small group that he's connected to.

 

Anyway, if you're all feeling that close to each other, good. I'm happy for you. I just don't see how the (very) limited experience of exchanging posts/text messages/etc. can compare to real life experiences.

 

Some have noted that real life relationships can be nasty; well, so can online ones, but we tend to avoid them, and this is part of the artificial sense I get with any online conversation. You can walk away whenever things get difficult.

 

Also, the relationship I have with my family spans a few decades and that with my good friends a minimum of five years. While this site has been around for a couple of years, a lot of the current members have been here for a great deal less time. Although I don't give away a lot of personal information here, even if I did the people on this site would know extremely little about me since they haven't been through the same things with me as my friends and can't know how I've changed over time.

 

If you think the people here are family/friends, great - that's nice. They don't carry that status with me.

[ARMS 0]

Fine red shirt your just some guy we all know and talk to.

 

Thanx Tina

 

Good comments TUH.

[Jim Phaserman 0]

What is family?  Does sharing a common genetic ancestor or having a legal relationships make the bond between you stronger.  I have relatives of equal genetic relationship that but are in two different worlds as far as my relationship with them. 

this won't surprise you all much, but there are men and women that I went through boot camp with that I consider brothers/sisters. while I am now an officer, if I see one of them in a bar somewhere, I'll buy em a drink. you also develope a certain relationship with your RDCs. it's odd, one of my instructors in boot camp came back for a second tour as an RDC, and is now my subordinate. when he realised it, he told me how glad he was that I am an officer, and that he figured I'd get a commission eventually. if I need advice on something, his number is second on my list (right behind My dad's, of course.) but this RDC was almost a father-figure to me while in Boot Camp. you don't need to be genetically related to someone for them to be family.

[Jeanway 0]

I just read recently that people on web-sites like this one get to know each other from the inside-out. What they look like doesn't matter. I've known people in real life, not virtual life like this is, who I only knew on the surface. I've never had so much discussion about so many things both public and private and some intimate with so many people in such a short amount of time. All the crap you have to go through to get to meet as many people in person as I've met in here in such a short period of time, about 8 months. I don't think I've spoken to this many people in the past 10 years. I've enjoyed every bit of it, even the fights and disagreements. I have learned so much about myself and have found a few people who almost exactly like I am. We talk on the phone and send things to each other in snail mail. I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to know ALL of you and hope it continues. I Love you guys :blink:

[mj 7]

I think ARMS' original point was that a lot of members here have developed more connections then just the board, and that it has made him feel particularly close to that group. He started with

Have you noticed how close everyone is on here? Thanks to the board, MSN, AIM, Yim, Yahoo etc we're closer than the Voyager crew.

.

Yes, but ARMS said "everyone" here, not a small group that he's connected to.

 

If you think the people here are family/friends, great - that's nice. They don't carry that status with me.

In making the remark, RSV, I was stating what had been commmuicated to me through what I read. But I don't just mechanically look at the words, but try to get the poster's meaning.

 

Now it just so happens that ARMS had posted a thread where he specifically asked people who did they know in other contexts who were also particpating on this board. It turns out that many had overlapping activities, including those acronyms listed above, and so regularly saw each other in other settings, in additional to meeting on stf.net.

 

Most of the people responding in this thread are people who have these overlapping connections.

They talk to each other here and elsewhere. Many are also people who have some of the largest post counts on this board. Some may not have the connections of the group in this post doing most of the repsonding, but because of their broad activity on this board have an awareness of the members.

 

But ARMS cannot have literally meant everyone, because their are nearly 1200 members here, and hundreds have posted at least once. There are over 200,000 posts here. He and even most of the members posting here have never talked to all the people represented by these posts.

 

There are also other circles who communicate regularly on the board very deeply with members of their circle, and more superficially with members not in their circle, who are not posting in this thread, but they have deep connections also.

 

Most of the people responding here talk to each other here ALL THE TIME, and are close. And feel close.

 

I think that is what is being expressed.

 

As I said before, I do not quite feel like family. I, like you, am close to my wonderful, but problem filled family in the real world.

 

But I do feel connected to this board.

[ARMS 0]

Well put mj, i feel close to alot of people here and no i didnt mean everybody, but trek is our common bond, and its brought us all together, i appreciate the fact not everyone feels as i do.

[hangon 3]

Well put mj, i feel close to alot of people here and no i didnt mean everybody, but trek is our common bond, and its brought us all together, i appreciate the fact not everyone feels as i do.

I agree with Arms on this one trek has brought us together,some of us have strong bonds with each other just like a real family would have,i have real friends away from here but i cant be close to them like i am close to 1 or 2 ppl here

[TrekkieMage 0]

I just read recently that people on web-sites like this one get to know each other from the inside-out. What they look like doesn't matter.

That's a really good point, and I think someone brought it up earlier. By getting to know people this way, you get to understand how they think (personally, the emoticons help me because I am a very visual person) before you know how they look or normally act.

 

I think I've met some really increadable people here that I normally would never have met and I am very very glad that I have met you :lol: :lol:

 

While I want to make a list, I don't think I can get everyone on here that I'd like to, but I feel slightly like that neigbor who just moved back into the neighborhood after a really long trip

[cptwright 1]

I suspect ulterior motives but yes, we are like family in here, very much so.

 

I think of Spacetigger as me Pop

I think of mj and UH as me big sisters

I think of AE and Ed as me big brothers

I think of nik and DocNiel as me cousins

I think of Tina and Valeris and BC as me little sisters

I think of ARMS as neighbor who I'm always fighting with

I think of ILikeSeven as the married guy across the street who keeps watching me

I think of HeadBorg, well, can't go into that one   :lol:

I thinkof CJLP as me Nemesis

I think of WeareBorg and HarryKim and Nemesis as me little brothers

I think of Capt.Wright as me red-herring :lol:

I think of Fenriz as the guy who lives down the block who keeps walking past the house, and I keep looking out of the window behind the curtains.

I think of Smoked as the new kid on the block from back home

I think of VBG as the guy me Pop pays the mortgage payment to

I think of DocWho42 as the Uncle who lives far away that I never met but like alot anyway. O.K. Doc? Sorry :)

Anyone else I forgot? :o

Yea, it's kinda like family, in a way, I guess.   :wub:

 

:)

call me old, call me brain dead, but red herring? its late, im beat so im a .ittle brain dead. lol but this place does have a family sense to it.

[DrWho42 13]

I suspect ulterior motives but yes, we are like family in here, very much so.

 

I think of Spacetigger as me Pop

I think of mj and UH as me big sisters

I think of AE and Ed as me big brothers

I think of nik and DocNiel as me cousins

I think of Tina and Valeris and BC as me little sisters

I think of ARMS as neighbor who I'm always fighting with

I think of ILikeSeven as the married guy across the street who keeps watching me

I think of HeadBorg, well, can't go into that one   :lol:

I thinkof CJLP as me Nemesis

I think of WeareBorg and HarryKim and Nemesis as me little brothers

I think of Capt.Wright as me red-herring :lol:

I think of Fenriz as the guy who lives down the block who keeps walking past the house, and I keep looking out of the window behind the curtains.

I think of Smoked as the new kid on the block from back home

I think of VBG as the guy me Pop pays the mortgage payment to

I think of DocWho42 as the Uncle who lives far away that I never met but like alot anyway. O.K. Doc? Sorry

Anyone else I forgot?

Yea, it's kinda like family, in a way, I guess. :) 

 

:)

:o An Uncle? Cool I guess :wub:

 

hehe, far away...

 

That was nice :o