I just started wondering this lately. Often, people on forums never have a formal introduction. We base our opinions of people based on our first encounters, and what they have in their signatures/avatar.
What are your guys' thoughts on this? Have you ever found yourself forming certain opinions about someone from what you gather from a single post, and whatever accompanies it (icon/signature)?
And I'm curious, what does my sig/avatar icon say about me? People in my online college classes always ignore me, and I have the same icon. My posts are usually very similar to theirs, yet theirs still get replies while mine don't. Is my avatar to blame? Is it somehow intimidating? I made it myself, it's my art signature. Nothing really more to it than that.
The main thing that brought this to my attention was my Psychology elective in college. We studied this thing called the Primacy effect, which is all about first impressions. There was this experiment where people were read a list of traits about a person they had never met.
The first group read a list that went: Intelligent, industrious, impulsive, critical, stubborn, and envious.
The second group had the exact same list, but in reverse order: Envious, stubborn, critical, impulsive, industrious, and intelligent.
The second group gained a negative impression of the person based solely on their bad traits being listed first.
This ties into the whole idea of how strong a first impression is. Which really got me thinking about what impression I might be giving off to strangers with what little my online persona has to offer.
My first impression of you was...just some guy. Probably in college. That's it. I'm a shallow thinker.
Senior Member
Round here, post count, grammar, community reputation/respect and ability to make interesting, coherent arguments are the order of the day. There's a lot of nice people here compared to other gaming forums IMO. And my impression was much the same as above
Member
first impresions, on a gaming forum?
should have posted this thread, on a dating forum!
i cant really get a first impression, from something someone wrote, you might get a glimpse of there attitude, or thought process, but in general, i dont really go on first impressions especially when im online.
people can be who they want to be. But in the real world, away from cyber space, people are probably different to the way they come across on here. so to me, first impressions on a forum, is kinda pointless.
just my opinion.
Senior Member
Who cares, come back to the pizza party.
Senior Member
I put people into a few catagories:
1. Internet badass. Not afraid to threaten someone he will never meet, a rebel who says what he wants. dont mess with this guy.
2. Cool and down to earth. self explanitory
3. Passer by's. Just here cause the game is new, wont be around after they start playing their next favorite game. Lots of these guys around here right now.
4. whiner. came here to complain... and nothing else.
5. Dosto. One of a kind.
You'd be surprised. I have spent half of my life using internet forums, and sometimes you can figure out a lot about how someone really is just by a single post. That's obviously not always accurate, and arguably not usually accurate, but it's definitely possible.Originally Posted by goldfinchfirst impresions, on a gaming forum?
should have posted this thread, on a dating forum!
i cant really get a first impression, from something someone wrote, you might get a glimpse of there attitude, or thought process, but in general, i dont really go on first impressions especially when im online.
people can be who they want to be. But in the real world, away from cyber space, people are probably different to the way they come across on here. so to me, first impressions on a forum, is kinda pointless.
just my opinion.
You may even be forming biases for and against certain people without ever really realizing it. If you ever find yourself taking sides in an argument you normally would be indifferent about (especially against someone you disagreed with in the past), that could be the case.
But to each their own. I can see where you're coming from, and it really isn't too hard to think of a forum as simply a form of communication, and treat it as such. We can spend countless hours on here, share countless ideas, and never truly know anyone. A lot of us tend to form impressions more based on behavior they've witnessed, or personal appearance. For some of us, just an idea that came from their heads, and their preferences on certain things is enough.
To the rest of the thread: I really like the mixture of responses here! We pretty much covered agreement, disagreement, indifference (who wants pizza?), and alternative points of view.
What do you guys view me as?!?!
You're either the thing that rears it's head in the worst times (fear), my brother (also named Kevin), or Al Pacino... Not sure which is more accurate...Originally Posted by Fear
As for first impressions on the internet; I usually don't form a firm view of someone until I've seen them around for a bit. Hard to tell if someone's being sarcastic or just a ****, or genuinely nice from their first post. (usually)
