Welcome to Gaia! ::

The Internet. It is a blessing and a curse. It opens so many doors of communication, learning, growing. But it also opens enticing doors of lies, deceit, and sex. We figure we're anonymous and nobody we know will find us, or find out, we do things we normally wouldn't.
I found my boyfriend signed in this morning, and wound up checking his email to see if a file I sent him went through. Then I found he was signed up to some HORNYSINGLES site, got his password, and found his profile listed him as single and looking for girls or pairs of girls for "sexy talk/playing around/threesomes", and "I'm a sigle (his misspelling, not mine) male, horny, and I like to ******** alot"
Oh Gawd. He hasn't done anything on the site yet, he might have just signed in on a whim. There's not much personal info, not even a profile pic. So it's possible it was just a thing. But it was recent, he's got a one-month free trial.
I changed his profile and stated that it was all lies and he's got a girlfriend, and he's in trouble when he gets home. ;D but I mean, it was a recent signup, it's a newer email than some of mine, the signup confirmation.

Discuss the Internet and how it might have tempted you or someone you know. Discuss the fact that I'm thinking I'll format my boyfriend's computer to punish him, because I told him that's what I'd do if he locked me out of his profile because I'd assume he was doing things he didn't want me to see.

People always forget that when they are telling me how stupid I am for letting people on Gaia bug me so much. Just because they're people I've never met in person and probably never will doesn't mean that they can't hurt me just the same.

Uhoh.

FORMAT! Do ett.
Then...
Hide the OS CD. ;O Until he treats you like a queen.
...and steal the hub that connects him to the net. ninja

While I do agree that the internet is a place of both good and bad. That it tends to have just as much bad content as good, and that it is just as easy to get ahold of the bad content as the good. I dont, personally, agree with you logging into your boyfriends email account. Unless he actually gave you permission to do so, that is still his private stuff.

If you guys have the type of relationship where he knows you log into his email, then disregard the whole privacy thing. But if my girlfriend logged into my email account without me knowing and then snooped around my accounts on other sites, I would be pretty upset. A person should still be allowed some privacy, even in a relationship.

Seconded. 3nodding

The internet just makes me shake my head.
Because of the "fact that no one knows you" people go crazy.
To me, the internet is a giant black hole of porn, incest, masturbation and ********. It's sad. But horribly addictive.

He could have just forgot to log out. It's still a privacy issue to me. I dont agree with what he was doing, but I have hold a great deal in a person's privacy and with people letting me have my own privacy. I just cant get over the fact that there was snooping in a person's personal affairs ( even if it was her boyfriend ), it was wrong in the first place. But I guess that wasnt the original issue.

Lets just hope he did it out of a whim, because I agree, he was just as wrong in his actions too.

I've learned that from the internet people are dangerous, both brutal and sweet. They are disgusting, but also quite commendable.

Obviously I'm much more of a pervert on the internet than I am in real life, because it's simply easier for people to accept those kinds of actions online. While I may joke about grabbing some girl, the chances are I'm much more shy about these things. It's almost a conforting thought though, it's just acting out.

Besides, in real life, would you really want me flirting so much? I doubt anyone would be so confortable with that. While I may think a lot of the girls here are fetching, the chances of me saying that in real life are fairly slim. I doubt any of you would ever see or notice me the way I am.

The internet is a strange place, really. It's kind of a black market of the depraved human nature. It's generally where we express the worst aspects of ourselves. I find most people on the internet to be crude and disgusting, but thats how a lot of people are. Theft, of both goods and identity. Hiding behind shadows of anonimity that don't actually exist, due to IP tracking and hacking.

But then again, I've seen some damned amazing things happen too. I saw a local hospital, the Seattle Children's Hospital, get around $250k+ two years ago because of Penny Arcade. I've seen people fall in love and marry. I've seen people be able to quit their jobs and persue their dreams because of the support of others.

It's really quite interesting, but it just seems like a condensation of the world around us. The terminals are our eyes, and our personas shine through the text. There is nothing that will promise you who you talk to is who they claim to be, but the real world has not proven this any better in my eyes. The people you talk to always hold secrets, they always lie. What is so different about all of this? We all have buried desires, hopes, dreams, fears, and hatred. It's part of being human, it just becomes so much more apprant in places like this.

We think that just because we see a person face to face that they are who they are, but there aren't any promises of that. Really, while human touch is still nessessary and conforting, I wonder which is truely better for you? The social interaction met by people whom you know by a simple name, or those whom you encounter on the street?

I suppose in time the question really won't hold any relevence. But it curious to think about for now. Humans are ever so curious to push their boundries that we've created our own world to play in, and still try to push ourselves from our homeland. It really does make me wonder sometimes.