Why do you act differently on different websites?

I guess one could say that it's like how we act differently in one setting than we do another. We act differently based on who we're around in a class setting. We act differently when we're around our friends and we're in somewhere familiar than when we're surrounded by strangers. It seems to be that way too with websites. On some websites I've noticed that I am more intelligent about articulating my opinions and on others I noticed that I have problems with that. On some other websites I can fail to be credible, and, I sometimes tend to do stupid stuff. On other websites I act more like I do here on ATS... or like I really do in person. I guess it's how the website is set-up. At some sites I just keep creating really stupid topics over and over... and I don't know quite how to connect with other people there. Has anyone else noticed this with themselves? I know that no one has seriously studied internet psychology yet- at least- not that I'm aware of... but I've been thinking about this for quite some time. I wonder if this is how it is for anyone else.

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reply to post by Frankidealist35


uummm i don't go to other websites. try try keep that under your hat ok?

Same reason I talk different to my parents than my friends.

Different audience, different material.

NEXT!

As Walt Whitman wrote so long ago:

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

It's not just different audiences, though. I was a mod for a while on another site, after having been a member there. I could still post opinion, "just like" when I was a member. But when I did, my role affected how much other members would get in my face, and how much I could get in theirs.

A "paradox of power" - I could edit somebody else's post, but I couldn't call BS .

So, same audience, but different role, made a big difference in how the interaction played out.

Maybe it has to do with the settings, and the mood. What is the general atmosphere? Is it formal? Casual? Maybe age is involved as well. We adjust to our surroundings, we are 'group animals', in a way, I guess.

There is some truth to this...on msm-websites I encourage conspiracy-theories and on this website I discourage some conspiracy-theories...because every website will be imbalanced to some extreme....

I always act the same no matter wich site i'm on, the only difference may be that on some sites i am forced to keep it 'shallow' so i won't scare people of into thinking im 'out there' so that they auto-react and not read my posts with an open mind. But no matter what i try to keep it in line with what i believe and am willing to go as deep into the subject as my discussion partner is able to without shutting down mentally.

So the only reason is because i want to be able to 'speak' to people without scaring them of or causing them to close down. It's never a good idea to talk about the more obscure or dire conspiracies with someone that is fully immerged in their 'bubble', first you have to pop it, gently and then you can feed information otherwise it just bounces right of the mental rubber.

Something like that in any case