Meeting IRL. LOL. OMG!

Hmm, good question! (Full disclosure: I suggested the question.)

Back in 1991 or so, when I was 14, I visited a BBS meet for Hack's Retreat for the first time. (More on the BBS here.) I'd been talking to these people for two years virtually non-stop, but had only met one of them in person. These were some of my closest friends, and I had no idea what they looked like.

Meeting everyone was deeply and profoundly weird.

The BBS meet was at a local park, where they all gathered to chat and play volleyball (a safe, non-contact sport). When I walked up and first introduced myself, word spread quickly and everyone came up to meet me. It was entirely overwhelming, and I had a revelation.

I'd only known a small part of these people, if an important part -- in a way, I was talking directly to their brains, and the image they wanted to portray online. They were like puppets with funny names like "Gravebuster" and "Psifi" and "Ann Otherworld," but they were only a low-fidelity caricature of the real thing. Meeting everyone in person deepened my relationship with all of them. I'm still friends with several, which never would've happened if I hadn't made that step.

Sometimes, I wonder about all the others that were too shy or unable to come out and how we lost each other when the BBSes died.