The Mask (and Hypocrisy)

[sufi]

I'm not really able to dissolve into masks. Maybe I haven't had enough opportunities. But a lot of online friends of mine run alt accounts with distinct personalities, and I just can't. Who I am here is who I am everywhere, for the most part. This makes me sad. It would be interesting to see another side to how I could be/am. Anyone have ideas for opportunities?

even not including sock puppets most of us here are pseudonymous innit

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

any of you who know such things, what do you think Barthes etc would have said about Internet trolling?

or more generally, online authorship, and possibly how it relates to irl/pre-Internet authorship

 

[constant escape]

@shiels But perhaps the set of all online selves constitute a branching of the holistic self, and within this branching there are smaller branchings, (edit: such as instagram or twitter, each of which providing a different framework for the branch to latch onto.)

@suspendedreason could an alternative account/self be a sort of purgative shadow self?

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

I don't think it'll do anymore to lump things into online and offline persona

sure I agree with that

the multiple online selves are like a more conscious, curated form of codeswitching

I also thought of the written vs spoken self but I think it's more the public vs private self

or as you're getting, the various levels of public and private self

 

[woops]

It works especially well if I've been on most personable form, dotting every i and crossing every t before opining as the main arrives, 'That Trump's a top lad isn't he?' - they've already decided they like me so any damage incurred will be to their own self-image.

@Mr. Tea can relax now that @mixed_biscuits has come out as a troll

 

[constant escape]

I personally haven't set foot in the Chans, but they seem to constitute a sort of woods, an untamed underworld rife with pagan activity, populated largely by those who couldn't adjust well enough into the neoliberal metropole.

edit: working within the (neo)liberal/alt-right puritan/pagan analogy.

 

[luka]

I'm not really able to dissolve into masks. Maybe I haven't had enough opportunities. But a lot of online friends of mine run alt accounts with distinct personalities, and I just can't. Who I am here is who I am everywhere, for the most part. This makes me sad. It would be interesting to see another side to how I could be/am. Anyone have ideas for opportunities?

corpsey created an account called CORP$EY inspired by Beyonce's 'Sasha Fierce' alter ego which just involved him being more of a lad. his catchphrase was 'eat a bag of dicks chump'. it was really popular. everyone loved him.

 

[mixed_biscuits]

@Mr. Tea can relax now that @mixed_biscuits has come out as a troll

The first part is the trolling part.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

@suspendedreason could an alternative account/self be a sort of purgative shadow self?

yeah I was gonna say, the obvious answer to @mixed_biscuits thing of experimenting with opinions you don't actually hold is sock puppets

it's the inverse of the reasons every social media platform, dating app, etc offers verification

that's another interesting facet of masks, hypocrisy, authorial intent etc - authenticity as currency

 

[sus]

even not including sock puppets most of us here are pseudonymous innit

Well, there are maybe 20 active dissensus users

Padraig, Barty, Sufi, and possibly Craner are just Luka sockpuppets

That only leaves 15 of us

I guess my point is mostly I don't feel like my pseudonym changes my behavior. I could be wrong! But I'm not sure how I'd know otherwise. It's hard to get a read on that kinda thing other than by feel.

 

[sufi]

what would it be like if we all swapped accounts?

corpsey created an account called CORP$EY inspired by Beyonce's 'Sasha Fierce' alter ego which just involved him being more of a lad. his catchphrase was 'eat a bag of dicks chump'. it was really popular. everyone loved him.

a friend of mine had an evil alter ego account on twitter - it worked well

 

[sus]

what would it be like if we all swapped accounts?

That would be something

 

[sufi]

Well, there are maybe 20 active dissensus users

Padraig, Barty, Sufi, and possibly Craner are just Luka sockpuppets

That only leaves 15 of us

I guess my point is mostly I don't feel like my pseudonym changes my behavior. I could be wrong! But I'm not sure how I'd know otherwise. It's hard to get a read on that kinda thing other than by feel.

So why not use your "real" name?

 

[sufi]

So why not use your "real" name?

sorry posted as sufi when i was meant to be being luka

 

[luka]

i'd love to play Mr Tea for a while! Corpsey would be fun too. John Eden. Constant Escape would be great fun to do.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

this feels v relevant

 

[sus]

"suspendedreason" basically is, to be fair; it's the only name I write under

 

[yyaldrin]

i like it when i'm with long time friends and i know several of their masks. when you're together and you enter a situation with new people it's a lot of fun observing your friend and seeing which mask he/she puts on.

 

[shiels]

I could be wrong! But I'm not sure how I'd know otherwise. It's hard to get a read on that kinda thing other than by feel.

you are wrong. But only because because of the ego imperative to maintain this illusion of consistency for its smooth functioning

 

[mixed_biscuits]

i'd love to play Mr Tea for a while! Corpsey would be fun too. John Eden. Constant Escape would be great fun to do.

We need a login-swap day.