Hi FoLCs

In a conversation today on mIRC, we had this conversation about how people see other FoLCs here. We had some funny revelations such as "El is not blond!" "She's not???"

Personally I always remember people from their Avatars. And you? How do you see other FoLCs?

Okay.. no one is saying anything? Okay!!!

)

Hmm, okay, I hate to admit this, but I am the worst person at noticing details in the entire world. I never remember people's signatures or avatars. Actually, I am not even completely sure what my own avatar is. Okay Edit after checking -- it is a picture of the swans from Stratford, Ontario. I have no idea if I actually have a picture of people at all. I have met a few folcs and I have seen pictures of a few more. But other than that, I have no idea what anyone else looks like -- not even a picture in my mind! Actually, it might be sort of related to my hatred of acronyms for stories and people's names. It takes me too long to associate names iwth acronyms! I think it's all together in my lack of observation. Gosh, even my studens in the lab class I saw every week, I remembered them not by their faces, but by where they sat -- and when they switched computers, that really messed me up! So I think I am saying that I have absolutely no idea!

- Laura (who kind of wonders what people think about her)

I'm a little embarrassed to say this, but here it goes...

I remember people by their avatars, so Sas... until I saw a picture of you... I thought you looked a little bit like Tweety. Rach, I thought you looked somewhat like Lois in PML. Mere... don't kill me, but you in my mind, were a ficus. Lynn looks a little bit like Tom Welling...

Well, the list goes on, but suffice it to say, I really didn't think about how people looked. For some reason, I imagined Julie as a blonde, and Yvonne... you're supposed to be a long-haired brunette. Paul... you're really not older with thick-framed glasses?

I'm trying, now that I've seen pics of some of my folc friends to imagine their faces as I'm chatting with them, but it doesn't always work. Maybe someday when, I meet you all in person, I might be able to... But I'm not sure I'll be able to call Kae by her real name.

Sara (who wonders what people think of her )

I think I inherited that trait from my dad. My mum was the gregarious one of the family. She was forever saying things like, "I was talking to Emily, you know, from three rows down..." to which my dad's invariable response was a blank look and a "No."

Likewise, I don't know that I could say I even have a picture in my head of someone as I chat to them on irc or read their posts here on the mbs. Which is really weird, but there you go. Nothing that would entirely shock anyone who knows me in RL. It just isn't something that's important to me, so I don't think I spend much thought on it.

LabRat (still reeling from the thought of 5" 4 chihauhuas...)

Well, up until the age of around 16, I was. Then I got it cut short and it's been like that ever since. Well, other than a growing number of grey hairs, but my hairdresser does an excellent job of hiding those.

Yvonne

I think I'm not a very visual person... online, I remember people by personality/history. I might forget details, but the general feeling remains. Of course, the few I've met (or seen many pictures of) I'm starting to associate with their actual faces <g> (or in Wendy's case, accent!)

But it's rather alarming to me that some of you picture people as their avatars... I promise, I don't really look a thing like Perry White!

PJ
who, for the record, is a short skinny brunette in her mid-thirties

Well, you know what? Hair colour, facial expression, cute foreign accent... I really do look like Puss in Boots.

Kaethel

Oh my God, Labby. That was two days ago! You have to start getting over things ! )

Darn I could be here all day listing my impressions. I wonder if people really took me for a red head

And on that note, I can promise you all that I don't look like a big, green rock...or do I? Just kidding, some of you have actually pictures, so I can't pull that one off.

JD

Avatars are affecting me to a certain degree, but generally I just picture people. Actually, I don't *picture* them in all detail and stuff. But if I happened to find out that Shadow is blond with blue eyes, I'd be pretty surprised.

When I first joined, I thought that all the FoLCs were 16-22 years old. When I found out that many of them were older, I was shocked. Really, this community is so fun, it looks like a bunch of teenagers! (And this is a compliment!!)

As about the way they looked... I live in Greece. 8 of 10 people are have brown hair and 6 of 10 have brown eyes. So that's how I imagined the first FoLCs I met at first. I've seen pics of some of them, but the rest remain in my mind like this.

For a couple of months I thought LabRat and Artemis were male Now Labby is quite a faint idea, maybe because I don't know her real name. She must be blond, though.

MDL, yes, I've pictured you quite a lot like your avatar.

Laura to me is tall, thin, with brown hair and brown eyes. So are Sara, Mary and several more people.

Paul to me wears glasses and is really good-looking. (I picture all the FoLCs as really good-looking, but people with such a ROFLy sense of humour always capture me, one way or another.) But he must be older than 19-20, from what I've collected.

"See" ya
AnnaBtG. (who would also like to know what she looks like in your minds)

Blonde? Nope. <g>

LabRat (who is actually currently sporting a Lois Lane shoulder-length bob in her natural brunette colour. Which is, she hastens to add, the only similarity between us.)

I had a hard time voting, because my answer is almost "all-of-the-above!"

Some people I do associate with their avatars. I used to picture Julie as a cat, Pam as Perry, and I was *certain* Roo was a guy! MDL, yes, you are a red-head.

Others I have mental images of, some I think of their nicks, some are a combo.

Wendy alternates between being a cat and a woman with black hair and a white shirt (dunno where I got that from! )

Labby alternates between Lois Lane (ie, dark hair & pink dress) and a small white mouse.

Tank I picture as a large, kinda big-boned older man.

Paul I always picture with brown hair, even though from his posts I kinda gathered that he's bald. I may be wrong?

Anna, I saw you as dark-haired, and it sounds like you've *almost* got me to a T.

I found out long long ago that my visuals of people never match what they really look like. So now I try not to think of what they look like. Now it's just ages that throw me off. Now I just remember people by their nicks, and then try to remember relative ages, locations, etc.

I am certainly not! Well, now that everybody thinks I am. Hmmm. I just told mom I want to dye my hair. Carrot-Coloured. I will let you guys know when I am done with that.

Roo!!! If you were a guy... wow. what a guy you would be.

I have to admit that I, also, picture people as looking like their avatars. Intellectually, I know, of course, that you all don't look like your avatars, but when I read a name the corresponding avatar pops up in my mind's eye and I can't get it out!

- Vicki (who used to have an avatar, but deleted it because she was going to use this really cute picture of a squirrel taking off his fur to reveal a Superman emblem underneath, but couldn't figure out how to configure the picture to the correct size, and never got around to putting her old avatar back in.)

At first I thought Labby was male too

However... Artemis would have been an... eh.. just say interesting nick choice for a male

Jose (who is surprised that nobody pictures him as a Robot )

I haven't voted yet, because I'm not quite sure what I do. I seem to develop vague mental pictures, but no more than that. I remember when I met Wendy, I was very surprised because she didn't look much like the picture I'd had of her. At the same time, though, I couldn't say why because the picture was so vague there was nothing I could point to and say "I thought you had..." (Wendy sticks out in my mind because she's the first FoLC I met in person before seeing a picture.)

I've been lucky in that I've been around long enough and met enough FoLCs that I've at least seen pictures of a good number of them. So that helps. Otherwise, I just sort of gather information in bits and pieces ("okay, she's about that old, and she says she..."). Sometimes, I'll fill in a few more details based on personality. Those will often be wrong, but I never really expect them to be right. It's weird, I know.

To answer the questions so far... I'm 26, I used to have brown hair, but lost it in my early teens, I do wear glasses (avaitor style, but thin frames. My latest pair is made of nigh-indestructable flexible titanium, with hardened plexiglass lenses), and I'm about average height (5 foot 7 or so).

I do own a beanie copter hat like the one seen in my avatar, but I almost never wear it. Nor do I generally wear a mask. I am also several years older than Tim Drake (the Robin whose picture I "borrowed" to create my avatar). I did wear both the hat and a mask to NEFF's costume party, so at least one picture exists of me as "Hatman: Avenger of Boredum (and bad speller...)"

Anna... Uhm, yeah. Really extraodinarily good looking. Kind of like a cross between Dean Cain and Jude Law, but with Michael Jordan's suave baldness. Sure, why not? (Okay, in reality... I'm the best-looking guy in this room. I know this because it's my room and if there's anyone else here, he's invisible. Invisible people don't count as good-looking because they're invisible.)

BTW, Vicki, if you want help resizing the pic, just ask. It's not that hard to do with any half-decent image editing software.

Paul

I've never even thought about how people would look, except for what I guess to be their perpetual expressions. I can see Mary and TEEEEEJ smiling, Pam deep in thought, and Meredith and Lynn planning out their moves for the next two weeks.

Thanks for the offer, Paul!

Edited: I switched this over in the How To section. I don't know why I didn't think to ask for help before.

- Vicki

I wish. I am tall. . . ish. I have brown hair . . . with light hilights. I am not really, really fat, but I am most definitely not thin. And I have blue eyes .

- Laura

Me a GUY! Oh dear. How did that happen? (long story about how I couldn't be Roo ). Ruth can be spelled Rooth...therefore Roo blah blah blah.

I'm a chick!!!!!!! A girl. A lass. A woooman.

Who's 27 and married.

LOL

I am 5 foot 4"
At the moment my hair is black and a dark brown red. It was blond and down to my mid thigh but I cut it gradually over the year to my shoulders.
I am tubby now. Groan. These 15 pounds just snuck up on me!

MDL - reminds me of a spunky, cute Japanese anime (not big eyes but the style with the angles eyes) with dark hair. I DON'T KNOW WHY.

Pam - I know you don't look like this. All the Pams I know are short and a bit round with short hair so for some reason my brain forced that picture into my thoughts! LOL
Wendymr - brain thinks dark hair or a orangy.
Anna B the Greek - You picture looks nothing like I thought you looked like.
I thought Shadow, CC Malo and CC Aiken were men. Am I still wrong?
Nothing else come to mind at the moment.

Perhaps you all thought I was a gay man? That would fit the Clark comments I have put in the past.

MDL message:
I need to e-mail you! About something else...

I have a picture but I can't post pics

Er... thats probably the best description so far. But now you know how I look.

And guys, after seeing Roo's picture, I can definately tell she doesnt look like a guy.

I most definitely occupy the female race. I tend to be very gender-neutral on message boards since names revolving around the word 'shadow' usually don't tell people a thing. Plus, I generally go by JD, but unless you know my other nickname, Jen, it can get a bit tricky at times.

So just in case anyone's actually curious, and coupled with the fact that it's 2am, I threw a small photo of me up in my profile. I'm not a large individual...case in point, I let my friends stuff me in a dryer last year. :p I claim I break 5'0" by a half an inch, but considering my Italian blood, that's quite the average height in my family.

JD

I first read it as art*E*mis, which in Greek is male (while *A*rtemis is female).

I forgot to say that earlier, but this is a very interesting question, MDL! Can't wait to see more replies!

See (or "see"? ) ya,
AnnaBtG.

Wow... I am impressed! You're not green at all! Oh Gosh.. Shadow is not green.. Wait? are shadows green? Er... Okay. nermind me.

Whoohoo!!! I'm thin!!! Or did you mean the other Sara? But anyway, for the record, I'm 5'11" (You other guys do meters, right? That's around 1.8m ), with long light brown hair, hazel eyes, and I'm not really all that thin, slightly overweight I guess you'd say (hmmm... I sound a lot skinnier in kilos... <g>).

Sara (who really doesn't like wearing hats, except when her friend wears his Superman hat to the bar, in which case I 'borrow' it for the night )

I have pics of myself if anyone wants to post them for me. I have an urge to proove that I am not a boy!!!
LOL
I was under 5 feet, then I hit 20 and bam 5 foot 3". Since then I've grown about 3/4" ooooooooh.
I have blue eyes, but I've been told they are a mixture of grey and blue *fun* :p

Wow, Sara, you're taller than me! I always thought I must be the tallest woman on these boards.

Yvonne

I thought you were 5'11, Y - I'm 5'10 and you're taller than I am!


Wendy

Well, unless I've grown since I was last measured, nope. Any chance you've shrunk? <g> Or maybe you only *think* I'm taller, because you're not used to standing next to someone who's as tall as you are. I know I find it highly disconcerting if I find myself next to women (even men) that are as tall or taller than me - I'm so used to towering over everyone that having to eyeball someone or, horror of horrors, look up to them, is quite peculiar. <g>

Yvonne

LOL.

I have a good friend (she's female, by the way) who's 1.85 m (6'). She's really really tall, considering that she's ethnic Chinese and you know Chinese are generally shorter than just about every ethnic group on Earth. She used to say that she ccouldn't help looking down at people. I don't think she's met anybody she can look up to yet, not counting her father who has a dizzy-inducign height of 1.94m (6'4). :p

Sounds like VP of Human Resources at work. She's part asian (couldn't tell you ethnic background), and stands about 6'4". We had a company picture taken a few years ago, and she was standing in the back with the tallest men in the company.. who included my husband and our roommate.