Online Socializing and Fellowship VS REAL LIFE

[Bathilde]

I'm all about online socializing, discussion, debates, joking around, idea sharing, etc. But nothing beats the real life side of all these things. People online are 2 dimensional and less accurate. Real life, with real people, you get all the body language, emotions, facial expressions, tone, demeanor, etc, it's 3 dimensional.

REAL LIFE > all

[Sera]

I agree. As much as I enjoy perusing forums, the level of interaction isn't quite the same when you're behind a computer screen. But, sadly for some, that's the only interaction they're able to have with the heathen community.

[Bathilde]

Exactly

[Aelfgar]

The internet can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand it's made it a lot easier for Heathens to get info, and meet other Heathens, but is no substitute for real life interaction. But as Sera says, for some of us it's our only link with the Heathen community at large.

[ExileX2]

The internet is great for getting info, honing worldvlew and meeting people. But in the end the goal must be to meet folks in RL. It is impossible to worship as a group over the internet, so in the end having the goal of in-person meetings is the best outlook. Plus, online everyone wants to share their UPG like the three thousand members of a forum are their personal friends. WTF???

[Bathilde]

Exactly

[Karlsefni]

Heathens online are a curious lot. I find that the time spent online is valuable because the time spent together is few and far between.

[Gangleri]

I think we should not discount the online variant for beginning heathens as a way to discuss viewpoints, especially those who are forced to be solitary. It can also serve as a way to find out that there actually are others within a reasonable distance. Of course heathens should all have access to a heathen community that they can interact with in real life. But this is not always possible, especially for younger people.

It should be notified that the whole Ethnicity debate takes place a LOT online, and unless I grossly misunderstood Heathery this is not as big of a deal for normal Kindreds. So due to that gap we risk alienating many people who are interested, but don't feel like rubbing shoulders with racists. If we'd like Heathenry to be taken seriously we need a respectable and open online face.

[Bathilde]

I agree that the ethnicity debate occurs way more often online.

For those stuck in solitary, I would encourage them to seek others as time goes on and our population grows, but until then to network online and perhaps join in on the skype discussion, yahoo chats, and live radio events as much as possible for "real time" interaction, rather than just email and message boards.