When Real Life Meets the Internet

[Nurvingiel]

My main reason for starting this thread is: have you ever met one of your on-line buddies in real life? I personally have never done this, and actually feel a bit shy about it. However, Jonathan and I are going to have a fika in Stockholm (if I can get there ). Jerseydevil and Ruinel have met in person as well.

What do you feel about meeting on-line buddies in person? Have you done this with any Mooters?


From another hobby of mine (reading Lord of the Rings fanfiction), I can see another place where real life might meet the internet, but this time in reverse. I'll summarize some of my fanfic reading experience. There is a lot of utter canon-mangling rubbish out there. Everything from the spelling and grammer to the characterization and plot could be total crap in a story, but still the author will probably get at least a few people telling them the story was great, and to write more.
If someone does say the story is crap, possible author responses include some very childish methods like starting a flame war, trolling, or spamming the reviewer's inbox.

In real life, it is highly unlikely that total crap would get praise. Also, spamming and trollery wouldn't be possible, or at least would be considered socially unacceptable.

It seems like the internet is a society unto itself. It even has its own languages! (HTML, or AOL-speak...)

How and when have you observed the two societies of real life and the internet interacting, and what was the results?

All thoughts are appreciated. Perhaps I've left out some other manifestation of real life (RL)-internet interactions. If so, I'd like to hear about them!