i've been using the internet for 17 years and my conclusion is that there's no true friends which can be found online - in the best case, friends come and go like the weather. and lately most people are shitheads, crazy. the best thing you can do is find a friend who's got the same damage as you have; for compatibility i mean :-/

In my experience I have friends that I've known 20+ years who I met in chat, even though we live very different lives we talk about pretty much anything. It can sometimes be easier to find friends online than in real life, don't see much difference otherwise.

Only just last week I met some real great young folks from Wisconsin whom I've met five years ago on an internet forum, and we're friends. Real life friends, like, we support each other, and it was great finally meeting them in person. I concede they do share my "political" views, and I also concede that I simply don't understand how "hello, my political leanings are to decrease the level of empathy towards any and all minorities and minoritized groups and to quickly dismantle social security, the law and democratic checks and balances as a whole in favor of a plutocracy" is supposed to make you any friends. In fact, I rather interpret the attempt as a social experiment on the acceptability of certain dehumanizing stances on this forum. As trolling, to be less precise.

Considering I've kept in contact with friends I've met on forums for going on 13 years and I even met my significant other who I've known for just as long thanks to an online community I'll have to disagree that there is "no true friends online."

EDITED because my first post was a convoluted mess. :P

I think we can all agree the forum would benefit from all of us agreeing to keep out political ideologies out of the forum.

I would promise to if everyone else would promise too.

The problem with the avatar isn't so much that it's offensive, but rather the fact that it is threatening. I could compare it to, say, somebody wearing the robes of the Ku Klux Klan and trying to be friends with black people; that's not going to work.

In any case, by choosing that avatar, you are also saying that you're racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, and transphobic. Even if you don't see yourself as such, you are publicly supporting a racist, which is itself a racist act. (Same applies to the other -ist/-ics I mentioned.)

To put it another way, you are publicly supporting a man who wants to deny rights to my kind, and that is enough of a reason why I can't be friends with you.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. When someone makes posts hostile towards people like me, there is no way I can be friends with such a person.

With respect to the votes in the last election, the way I see it, those who voted for Trump were attacking people like me, and I really can't be friends with anyone who is attacking me.

Which is why I suggest we all agree to stop being hostile toward each other in here, unless it's gaming related.

I have no problem with people continuing to bitch abut games and tell each other how much they suck at certain ones, or how screwed up they are if they don't think Dungeon Siege is repulsively boring, which it is. :P

As for the voting thing, yeah, good point, but I still think we could agree to not fight about it in here. Forget the friendship thing, just keep the hostilities out of the forum. We should all be able to handle that.

Alas I think I could have worded my OP a lot better.

You can't always separate the two.

For example, I recently encountered another user who seems to believe that strong women don't belong in fantasy worlds, and I definitely have an issue with that. (Some of my favorite fantasy stories have strong women who explicitly violate gender roles.)

Also, look at what happened with the response to Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear. (I am looking at the general response to it, not the game itself, which I do not own and have not played.)

There's also the fact that sometimes it makes sense to discuss sexist mechanics in games; the Gold Box games are an example of this.

So,we have no rights and are cretins.And they say freedom of choice is acceptable by all.What a load of crap you have printed.And unbiased,also.
dt I never thought you were that bad.

Went over like a lead balloon. XD
Well, I tried. :P



SO! Anyone see the Cavs winning a game here or does Golden State sweep?

Oh man, this again. Gender stupidity and mental retardation roams free again...

It's ok for a woman but not ok for a man?

And btw; I've always said that people who get easily offended, and gets "attacked" by words and images, belong in a mental asylum... Such BS has no value in our society!

However, I do think we all can meet and get friends online. Way back when I had an FB account (I know, what were I thinking!), me and my friend (now gf) used FB and other to talk and have fun. Though, It's not always easy meeting people, I must admit.

No, we desperately want men to grow out of societal/traditional gender roles as well.

Possibly even more, because that ideal of masculinity often gets people killed.

It's really annoying how Americans constantly drag their political arguments into this forum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QON6SSMLcC8

That's taking to far. I really don't like Trump and his politics, but having his name for the avatar is not anymore offensive than using a elephant, or a red rose, or donkey as an avatar. It is fine to dislike the man and his position, but the fact is that he is just another person and he is allowed to run for president and people are allowed to follow him. This is a plain logo.

However, it tells you who the person here is, and it is up to you to be "friends" with such a person or not. I know I will not be, but I can not find his political stance "offensive" just because I do not share it.

edit -the best course of action, is just to ignore

"Desperately"? It must be tiresome to fight all the time.

I think you both need to wake up and grow up... We can't live in neverneverland for ever, right? :-P