So I've been emailing this guy for quite a few years now, his handle on this blog was Tittilywinks (some of you will recognise that name). He's a great guy and always polite/mature about stuff, always able to give sensible/encouraging feedback which is a blessing.Anyway he emailed an apology months ago for not being in touch for a bit because he'd been in-and-out of hospital with a certain quite
scary-sounding thing, and has now gone totally quiet.
Shit. I mean, I know online anonymity is useful in keeping personal life separate in this sort of erotic-comic type scenario, but sometimes I wish I knew who people actually were in the real world so I could get in touch another way.
Shit.
I hope he's ok :(
Makes me think how fragile these little anonymous online relationships are ... how there's no substitute for reality really.
8 comments:
I hope Tittilywinks is ok as well. I've enjoyed reading his comments here. Online friendships can be amazing, but when folks vanish it can be this powerful reality check that we are just peeking into a pinhole of their whole lives. I'm very thankful for my friendships that started out online and have grown and developed into more robust friendships, nevertheless, that's a statistical blip against the number of folks I know online-only.
I do not remember Tittilywinks, but I hope, in the interest of everyone in this blog, that he/she is alright and will be back soon.
Anonymity is really a valuable thing for all of us, but sometimes one would like to lift the veil a bit, in order to have a personal relationship as well.
Ascienne
I'm a fairly long time fan of your work, but have never commented on anything, mainly due to the anonymous reasoning you've stated.
This time, it's a bit different though. I can completely sympathize with you.
I do a lot of online gaming, not going to name games or anything, but it revolves a lot around social interactions and large groups of people meeting on a weekly basis.
A couple of years ago we had a member go quiet and not show up to the meetings at all. A few weeks later we found out, by doing snooping around and research, that he had actually passed away suddenly.
The point i'm trying to make, is sometimes there is a need to tear away the anonymity of these things for certain people in your life. The rest of us now stay in close contact and even shared personal contact information just in case.
Hopefully my story doesn't have a prophetic side to it and your friend is indeed ok, one can only hope. Just realize that even with the anonymity you keep there are people who have been with you every step of the way and in no way judge you for it. Sure, the comic is mostly about sex and naked aliens but it's the stories and comments in your blog that really keep us coming back.
Once again, i hope your friend is ok.
With the utmost kind regards,
~ Terlan
Panic over! They emailed me. Phew. Still alive and kicking.
Does bring up this question of life/death and chatting online though; makes me think about how we balance IRL with online anonymity; how it affects us as we might not expect.
Yeah - pinhole and reality check sounds about right.
Thanks very much for that reply Terlan. Yeah I think this is the first time I've been hit by that thing of "Wow, they could actually have died and I might never know ... how do I feel about that..?". In this case they've got in touch so thankfully (1) they're ok, and (2) I get some closure. But it could easily have not been the case, and does make me think of those other relationships I might not even have considered relationships. I guess if you comment for years on a forum / blog / twitter - you may be building a repertoire without noticing it.
Thanks Ascienne.
Hey that's a name I haven't heard in a while - nice to hear you're still checking the blog :)
Yes, Ascienne was away for quite some while. A) my Pc broke down. B) once it was working again, I had lost all saved addresses and I could not find yours.
But one day I was lucky and found you. But I can only talk to you and all friends here via Unknown (Google) :)
But I just sign my thoughts in the remarks/reply box.
ICU Ascienne
Post a Comment