We all have a mental picture of our Mylot friends here.

Yep. Has definitely happened to me more than once that I even started a discussion about it.LOL One instance, I thought that the friend was male from our exchanges in my response to the discussion and the starter's comments. Then again, after reading a title on the 'discussions Ive replied to', that topic caught me off guard that I decided to read my friend's response. To my surprise, she was actually female. Another instance was I thought of one friend as an All American Mom. I even had a mental image of her kids. Then she posted her photo as an avatar. She was actually more like a "Hot Mom" than an All American one. My mental image of the kids were correct though.LOL They were cute, chubby, and very adorable.^_^ So, after those experiences, I kinda learned not to have mental images of my friends. I just keep their avatars in mind when thinking about(unless, Ive seen their actual photos) them rather than trying to guess what they'd look like in person.

What a nice discussion topic! Very interesting. I have a few friends whose picture I have already seen Bala.I was always responding to the person in this picture .I mean I have their person so merged in their thoughts and mind that I virtually talk to them as though I am talking to my sisterinlaw or sister by phone.[am I able to convey what I feelor have you not got the gist of it?So far, I have not had any disillusionment with any of my friends and I am very happy about this.I would feel terribly sad if there is disillusionment in this quarter.

That is a good question my friend, maybe I am not very observant, or that I think the best in all my online friends, but touch wood I don't think I've ever had a mental picture of my friends shattered by a response they have made either to me or someone else. We all have off days sure, but I feel comforted in the fact that my friends are warm, caring and friendly. Maybe I have missed something, but I value my friendship and the mental pictures I have of them and have thus never been disappointed, upset or surprised by a change of attitude in any respect.

I have seen quite a bit of things like this at Mylot as well as meeting people online in general. It is hard to know if someone is actually a true person sometimes. I find that most of them are not.

Hi Bala! You are right, we do have mental pictures of our dear friends here on mylot, in our minds. I feel that I have drawn correct mental pictures of my dear (selected) friends here and I did not feel that they were different, when responding to some other discussions (they more or less respond in the same fasion and style). For example, you always conduct yourself in a consistent and healthy manner, irrespective of the nature of a discussion.

Well there was the person with a male avatar who was female. Anyway, I don't think I've had my image of anybody shattered. Just changed with time as I got to know them better...

I am sure there are friends we have had in here where we read something they might have responded back to somewhere, or a Discussion they have started, etc. and wonder are they really this? It can be interesting to see how people differ for sure as one time you think you know someone but do you really? But this is the same as people in life that you feel you know, and then find out things that make you wonder if you really don't. But the interesting thing here life in real life is the perception of things could make you also see your friends in a different light you might have never considered otherwise.

The sliding scale of friendship... We all have friends that fit onto this scale and your (best friends) are at one side and those who are not friends are on the opposite side (anti-friends or enemies and bullies), in between there are many levels of friendship that move from one side to the other. Trolls might be a range greater than the opposite carried up the scale in the less than friendly category. People will put themselves where they belong. Some of us are our own worst enemies when we judge our selves. Sometimes we are judge unfairly.

Not really since I think we all have different points of views ,and this is what democracy is all about. Sometimes we agree with people and sometimes we don't. Some people are more tolerant than others and we all have our insecurities and fears since we are the product of the environment.

Hi bala, I have been very lucky that I haven't seen any of my friends thats have been bad to other responders on other discussion, they are always straight to the point but never nasty to anyone. Tamara

I have been surprised by some of my fellow MyLotters before. Sometimes a photo of the person can be quite different to what I had imagined the person to look like; I don’t know why we make a mental picture of somebody we’ve never seen but I find myself doing that all the time. There have been instances when another MyLotter has shocked me with a response that comes across out of the character I presumed I knew.

This rarely happened with me. Since we make friends seeing the way the respond in discussions, their mistakes overlooked many occasions. Its true that many at-times their good features will cover their small bad features. Happy Lotting

Everyone has a few sides to them. Having true friends is about accepting peoples flaws along with the things that you liked about them. See things from all perspectives.

Hi balasri Yes, once I thought one of my myLot friend is a thin, white, small, and super busy business woman, and I feel quiet afraid to talk or give response to her because some minority and junior feeling. But one day she put her true photo as avatar and I was really shock. She is so different from what I've described. She has brown skin, medium size and her face expression really doesn't look like what I've thought this long. I think it's funny, but I can't stop myself from imagine some user's appearance after see their avatar. I know usually it's different, my mental picture nad the real person, but I think it's nice. That difference is what makes it interesting, the shock and fun feeling when you see the real person, that's what I mean

Actually not. I do visualize some of the members and can pretty much tell by their discussions or responses what kind of person they are and what they think. Nobody has deceived me as a friend so my experiencs have all been good. Am real content with myLot and the friends I have made over the last 3 years.

Hi Bala, It hasn't really shattered my thoughts on what my friends say..fortunatley I do know a lot of them and understand that it is how they are and how they speak, but a lot of them I wouldn't expect anything less whatever they are all my friends so accept them the way they are...LoLo

i have never yet had my imageof my friends shattered here as I used'both their user name and their discussion to get a fair picture of them. most live up to some of their user names too which makes it really easy for me with my vivid imagination., we are all multisided and we all get angry at times and upset'but thats part of being human so I dont get upset over that at all. we are none of us perfect so why expect our friends to be perfect either.