Meeting on the Internet (WAS: the HP pick-up line thread)

[ssk7882]

Anne wrote:

> Anne U
> (who met her husband via personal ad in newspaper long before there 
> was an "Internet")

My (now) husband and I met in college (in a role-playing game, actually, if you want to know just how geeky *I* am), but before we actually met in person, we were on the same Bitnet forum.  Even though I generally agreed with him on the issues themselves, I absolutely could not stand him.  Nobody who agreed with him could, because he made them look so bad.  He was unspeakably rude.  He showed no interest in understanding contrary viewpoints or positions.  At *all.*  No, far to the contrary, he screamed abuse at everyone who disagreed with him.  He didn't want a civil debate.  He wanted a ROW.  He name-called.  He ad-hominemed.  HE USED ALL CAPS, and sprinkled them liberally with words like "Nazi" and "fascist" and "running dog" and the like.  As far as I could tell, he started flamewars just for the sheer hell of it.  

It was only *months* after I met him in person that I realized that he was the same person at all.  And even now, I have some trouble believing it.

You see, he is, of course, an *exceptionally* shy and retiring person.  


Elkins, who knows that it's always the quiet ones...