Omegle: Talk to Strangers...About Strange Things!

Hey everyone,

I did a search and it seems that this hasn't been brought up before (if it has been brought up before, I apologise), but I thought I'd ask you if you've heard of Omegle?

If you haven't, here's a Wiki excerpt telling you what it's about:

Omegle is a website used to communicate with random, anonymous people across the Internet via chat. The site was created by 18-year old Leif K-Brooks of Brattleboro, Vermont and was launched on March 25, 2009

The site is interesting because you have an opportunity to talk with other people with complete anonymity. You would think that this would be pretty cool, but it seems that with anonymity comes something else - Ridiculous banter about obscene things.

What is it about anonymity that makes people act in really strange ways? Some of the time using Omegle chat you can have discussion with people that want to hold a real conversation, but this is rather rare. What you have most of the time is a bunch of people just throwing out obsceneties for the sake of it. I find this kind of fascinating in a way.

Anyway, why don't you play around with the site? Meet some strangers, talk about random things, get asked what you're wearing etc.

Omegle: Talk to Strangers

Have fun, share your experiences, discuss what makes you curious about this site and don't give out personal details!

[edit on 5-11-2009 by Whine Flu]

i dont know why people would try this for intelligent discussion. omegle is pretty much just used by people looking for "LOLZ"
you can find HUNDREDS of omegle conversations posted on websites where the only point of the discussion was well...to have a conversation to post on a website.

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't try it for an intelligent discussion (I guess that's why I'm on ATS huhuhuhuhu!) but I do find it strange that most people actually decide to just go on there posing as girls or Brazilian men looking for a girlfriend.

It's just weird what people will do with anonymity. Why do we act so different with it than without it? Especially considering that "trolling" is pretty boring after a while.

I think that this is one indication of how much social pressure ("peer" pressure) affects our behavior. People who wouldn't ordinarily be rude or aggressive in real life, may become totally nasty flamers when online anonymously.

Another place you see such behavior, to a lesser degree, is at conventions. People come from all over the place to the convention, and behave in ways they'd never even consider in their home town. Again, their social restrictions are loosened, and they behave differently.

I think maybe this also happens while driving. You're a bit more anonymous then, more likely to express road rage and aggressive behavior.

A lot of us seem to have internalized the social "rules", so that we act more or less the same online or in person, even when anonymous. However, it may be that some folks behave themselves only because of how society expects them to, and not because they've learned to agree or live with it. Those folks may be more inclined to let themselves go wild when they're anonymous.

I managed to get connected with one guy that was willing to have a pretty decent conversation, and he managed to see how many people acted totally weird when being anonymous. We had a little talk about it, then we parted ways. Was warming to know that there are people capable of thought that use Omegle.

Here's a conversation with one that I didn't exactly manage to have too much fun with:

Stranger: hey
Stranger: horny? ;]
You: Heh, yes
Stranger: asl
You: I'm...horny for information
You: Why is it that people act in different ways when under the guise of anonymity?
Stranger: i dont know...
Stranger: m or f?
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

I found it sorta funny.

that is just...weird....


some1 even asked for my age/sex/location...how freaky.

[edit on 5-11-2009 by platipus]

haha i discovered that its fun to depress these people.
kind of cruel to ruin their fun..but hey, ive got to have fun of my own.