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There are many ways to answer such a question. One way is to try to look at the reason of why you are online. Are you online to:

1. make (more) money?
2. check your e-mails?
3. be more satisfied because you thought being online can or would be interesting?
4. find something related to school/university, work, or something else
5. talk to someone, to tell someone something, to find out more about them or to tell them more about you
6. see how the supposed wisdom and knowledge of the author of these words can help improve your life and thinking, or confuse your more?

Another way to answer this question is by the actual outcome of mood you are seeking due to your online activity. Are you online in order to:

1. distract yourself from something in the offline world?
2. be even more happier?
3. be sadder?
4. be confused?
5. be more confused and happy?

Why are you online at this very moment?

So, why are you online at this very moment? I am online mainly because I am waiting to talk to someone. I am also online to check e-mails, send out some important messages, be even more happier and confused, do some things offline and the computer is nearby, write something offline, write this question on the computer, among many other things online and offline. I am also online because I am hungry.

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments or answers. Thank you for reading this. I really appreciate it.

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Facebook is considered by many people to be a more mature online social networking service¹ compared to MySpace² . Facebook focuses more on the concept of networks: you belong to an area, a school, a company or some other group on Facebook which becomes your primary network. As of this writing, Facebook does not allow you to directly edit the entire layout of your profile, which is considered a blessing and a downside, depending on which group of people you talk to. You can, however, customize where different parts and snippets of information get placed on your layout.

MySpace is considered by many to be the most widely known online social networking service in the world. MySpace focuses more on the concept of adding friends and other people to your profile so that you can get to know them more. MySpace allows you to edit almost the entire layout of your MySpace profile. Again, just like Facebook, this is considered both a good and a bad thing, based on the preferences of different people. Maybe having different preferences is what life is all about, right?

A Facebook account, at the moment, focuses heavily on comments and other ways of interaction to help people communicate. A MySpace account, at the moment, focuses heavily on comments, direct messages, and the actual profile customization to help people communicate. MySpace also has its own instant messaging service, called the MySpace IM that you download onto your computer to chat with all of your MySpace buddies or strangers. Facebook, in contrast, has developed its own in-browser chat service, enabling you to chat with any of your online contacts within your browser, while you are actively browsing or doing anything on your Facebook account.

Do you prefer Facebook or MySpace?

So, back to our original question: based on the above brief information, would you prefer using Facebook or MySpace? Are there some other points or reasons for your answer?

I will stop here so that I can do a few things, including checking a message I got on MySpace and sending a message to someone on Facebook. Thank you for reading.

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1. You were not sexually harassed. Why? Does the other person think you are ugly or lack something? That is sexual discrimination.
2. You were not stereotyped at a party where everyone else was stereotyped. Why? That is racism, by ignoring your race completely.
3. You were not seen as a female sexual object like everyone else. Why? That is anti-feminism.
4. You were not seen as a stereotypical male who views females as sexual objects. Why? That is anti-feminism too¹.
5. You are a guy and your case for anti-feminism against you thrown out because you are a guy. You sue the state for gender discrimination.
6. I smile in a comment to someone and do not smile in my comment to you. You sue the other commentor²
7. Someone does not ask you for your phone number. You feel sexually discriminated and sue them.
8. Someone asks for your number. You feel sexually harassed and sue them.

So, what do you think? Did you smile, get serious, mad, confused, or something else, as a reaction to any of the above?

Not to worry: I am not thinking of suing anyone who reads this and does not leave a comment. I am also not thinking of suing anyone who reads this and does leave a comment. I think. 0_0

Thanks for reading. : )

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Going to a movie
A meeting with a friend or someone else
Meeting someone
Going to an art exhibition
Going shopping
Going for a walk
Going out to run with your dogs
Going out to steal other dogs to run with them and then returning them afterwards
Going to the bar
Going to a restaurant
Going out for anything that can be skipped in emergency situations

The online thing that you may do instead of the offline things:

Chat with someone online, that you know a bit, but that you have never met offline

What do you think?

For this question, let us assume that “it depends on the person” phrase is not available - we are not considering the attachment of an online person here but the existence of such a situation. A yes or no, or some other answer, besides the “it depends” phenomenon, can do better here. What do you think? Is there anything you can think of, that you may never give up offline even once, for anyone online that you have ever met?

Similar example: would you skip going outside just to read an upcoming article at this site? No??!! :’(

Thank you for reading. I hope you skipped and paused this reading in the middle at least once in order to go and do something offline.

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A simple example of an article without a picture is my post “Question: do you like using your real name online?.” Sure, an article may have other pictures like the site name logo on the top of this page, though such pictures may be connected to the site directly and may not necessarily be only applicable or connected to the article in question².

Some benefits of a writing without pictures include:

• No distraction, resulting in full focus on the text
• Better understanding of what is being said because of being able to imagine things, instead of being biased by what the picture may be showing
• Understood by many people, including those who prefer having pictures

Articles with pictures

A good example of a post that uses pictures would be my recent article titled “10 stereotypical elements to offline unprofessionalism.” That article has pictures to give some brief examples of what I am referring to in different areas³.

Some benefits of a writing with pictures include:

• Better understanding of what one may be referring to, specially when the picture may explain things when the author cannot explain easily through text or when the author wishes to explain more through the pictures
• A pictorial or an extra word association with the writing itself⁴
• In some cases, a simple visualization of stuff through a specific picture or a group of pictures, as an alternate to reading the entire text

Do you prefer online articles with or without pictures?

As you may have noticed from the above text, having pictures can help or can cause issues in some cases for different people. There is probably no definite answer to whether or not text with pictures is a good thing. So, do you prefer reading articles with or without pictures?

Please let me know what you think. Thank you for reading. I really appreciate it.

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Female taxi drivers: California vs. Alabama

Seeing a female taxi driver in Alabama was nice and surprising at the same time, since in California you rarely see a female driving a taxi. The last two times I told someone about probably seeing a female taxi driver at Los Angeles International Airport and how that was a good thing, I was asked “You sure?” repeatedly as if I had imagined something horrible. And they say California is ahead of Alabama in every manner. Maybe it is ahead in terms of women being expected to take a more feminine role here in many places. Of course, in Alabama, you also have to consider that many females have to earn a living for the whole family and driving a taxi may be a good solution, compared to California where for females who want to support their families there are more opportunities other than driving.

Why do you think there are not that many woman taxi drivers out there, in America and in other parts of the world? Is safety, the reason that most people cite as the answer to such a question, the main or the only reason for such a trend?

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Responding immediately

There can be several benefits of responding to non-critical e-mails immediately. Responding to e-mails immediately results in less tasks that you have to focus on, more free time, taking care of important tasks and communication immediately, not keeping people hanging on, etc.

Responding to non-critical e-mails immediately can also result in a few problems including you making mistakes because of composing a response too fast, forgetting to include something important, responding with something or in a manner that you may regret later because you responded too fast without thinking straight, etc.

Responding later

The benefits of responding to e-mails at a later date can be numerous also, specially when we respond too quickly and make some mistake or forget something. Responding at a later time can result in more time to think of a good response, more flexible time schedule that you can modify to your needs, less sense of panic or hurry when it comes to responding to others, not allowing incoming e-mail to dictate and take over your times, etc.

Responding later to non-critical e-mails can result in a few downsides also, including keeping someone waiting longer even when you did not have to respond immediately, communication between you and someone else going at a very slow rate, the other person losing interest in you or your response or the e-mail topic in question by the time they get your response, etc.

Do you prefer responding to non-critical e-mails right away?

So, do you prefer responding to non-critical e-mails right away?

Please let me know, thanks you.

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Opening a business with a friend can have the following 3 random benefits and downsides.

3 random benefits

1. More honest and open communication about issues
2. More chances of solving business problems as if they were friendship problems
3. Fewer chances of being taken advantage of by the other person in the business

3 random downsides

1. Friendship can get affected because of the existence of money and personal interest in the business
2. Existence of friendship can result in one person not taking the business or business issues seriously
3. Friends may not realize if their honest, friendly communication is satisfactory enough for the business to work properly

Opening business with a reliable non-friend contact

Similarly, opening a business with a reliable non-friend contact can have the following 3 random benefits and downsides.

3 random benefits

1. More formal and effective communication
2. More chances of both parties addressing different issues openly so that they can be satisfied, resulting in more issues coming to the spotlight quickly
3. Professional relation with the business partner means both partners will know exactly what to expect, in contrast to the confusion that may result because of a friendship

3 random downsides

1. More chances of being taken advantage of if one partner does not feel fully satisfied
2. Less chances of talking openly about one’s emotions and feelings about the business
3. Fewer chances of solving a business problem on a personal level

A business with a close friend or a reliable non-friend contact?

So, what do you think? Do you feel more comfortable with the idea of opening a business with a friend or with a reliable contact who is not yet your friend?

Please let me know what you think or if you have any questions, thank you.

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[Update: September 9th, 2007 - 2:00 pm PST] For this question, Stacee in the comments for this question asked if the friend was reliable also. I have updated the above question and added the following line in the 2nd paragraph of this article: “Last, imagine that the non-friend contact has shown reliability in other business situations, and that you do not know about the business reliability of your close friend; you only know that your friend is your close friend.” Thank you Stacee. [/ end of update]

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Viewing online and offline friends as being equal can be different than treating online and offline people equally. I know some people who prefer online friends to offline friends. I know some people who prefer offline friends to online friends. For me, online and offline friends can be equal.

I have a personal preference of wanting to move online friends a little bit into the offline realm, whether it be through face to face interaction, phone calls, text messaging via cell phones or even postal mail. That way, I have both online and offline friends and I can treat them equally and consider both to be important, while preferring the offline world a bit more than the online world, regardless of whether the friend was originally an online or an offline friend.

3 random things online and offline friends can offer

To help you figure out the answer to this question more, I am listing below 3 random things that online and offline friends can offer to you in their respective worlds.

3 random things online friends can offer

1. More privacy
2. More space
3. More ways to listen to you - you can send an e-mail or an online message to a friend anytime, even if they are not online

3 random things offline friends can offer

1. More powerful interaction
2. More physical privacy
3. More powerful ways to listen to you

So, do you consider your online and offline friends to be equally important? If you do not have online or offline friends, would you consider them to be equally important if you ever did have both online and offline friends, or would you prefer one over the other?

Please let me know. Also, if you have more things in mind that I can add to the above “3 random things” lists, please let me know and I will add them to this list and give you credit. Thank you.

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[update September 2nd, 11:35 am PST]
Simonne, in the first comment and answer to this question, said that “The online-offline split is not very clear.” I have added 2 sentences to the end of the 2nd paragraph in this article to briefly explain the difference between the online and offline friends I am referring to. The 2 sentences added are “Also, by an online friend, I am referring to friends we make solely in the online world. By an offline friend, I am referring to friends we make solely in the offline world.” Thank you Simonne.
[end of September 2nd, 11:35 am PST update]

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To help you decide the answer or give you more information about the nature of this question, I would like to present to you 5 random benefits of meeting distant relatives in person and 5 random benefits of meeting them online. If you had to meet your distant relatives in person, your choices could be to walk, drive, take the bus, horse, train, plane, ship, etc. For chatting online, you could type things via chats or e-mails, having voice chats, do webcam, etc. For this question, I would like for you to keep two things in mind.

5 random benefits of meeting distant relatives in person

1. Meeting a distant relative face to face can show your willingness to know them more. Only chatting with them online may show that you do not consider them important enough to go visit them.
2. Can result in more interaction between family members
3. An offline presence can leave a greater memory impact on many people than an online conversation
4. Hanging out with actual family members can also enable one to help them in small ways, like helping in cooking, helping clean, etc, which results in more family bonding

5 random benefits of meeting distant relatives online

1. Can removes a lot of nervousness that may happen because of meeting relatives for the first time, because of past arguments with them, etc
2. Can allow one to talk more informally than is possible online, regardless of the age of the other person
3. Saves time and money, specially if you are not rich or do not have a lot of time to go meet distant relatives at times when they are not doing anything else
4. Online, many awkward situations can be ignored. For example, one can get to know someone online a bit more and then know them online

Do you prefer having your distant relatives live virtually inside your computer, or do you prefer them living in an offline place where you could go meet them in person?

So, do you prefer communicating with your distant relatives online, or do you prefer meeting them in person?

Please let me know what you think. Thank you for reading. I really appreciate it.

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[update August 26th, 2006 - 9:30 pm PST] Ronald asked below in his comment if I meant physical or mental distance by the word “distant relatives.” I have clarified that in the article, thanks. [/update]

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1. Real name builds a name that others can remember you by in both the online and the offline world
2. Real name adds more authenticity on many levels, where you can be considered the same person offline as the one represented online and vice versa
3. Real name allows you to focus less on the differences of your online and offline representation, meaning you can act almost the same in both the online and the offline worlds and not add complication to your own life

3 random drawbacks of using real name online

1. Real name allows people to easily find you online or offline, resulting in unwanted people to find you online or offline easily
2. If your real name is associated with anything bad in either the online or offline world, it can affect your name in both the online and the offline world
3. Real name takes away a lot of privacy from your comments and posts, where you cannot say anything without both offline and online people knowing who you are

Fake online usernames and fake online nicknames may be viewed as being the same

I would like to differentiate between online and offline nicknames: having an offline nickname can sometimes be related to having your real name associated with it. That is why for this question, I would like to ask you specifically if you prefer using your real name from the offline world in the online world, compared to using any fake name. Some may consider a fake online name or a fake online nickname to be the same. I will leave that choice up to you.

A personal example of a drawback of using real name in the online world

Sometimes it is good to use your real name online, and sometimes it can result in bad things. For example, a few years ago I had participated in a major European human rights organization protest against a major international company. I talked about it online and posted a comment and a post using my real name. Last year, while being interviewed by a completely different international company, the topic of my views against the other company were brought up. Why? Because that other company, which had a history of human rights violation, was now a major business partner with the company that was interviewing me.

The result? Well, I will keep the results to myself, but you can see how such a thing can easily be brought up in different ways by very smart companies. Lucky me for having this site, no? “This site is really evil, I tell ya!” Maybe I should change all my names and names online to “hungry-dummy-101.”

Do you love using your real name in both the online and the offline worlds?

So, do you prefer using your real name in the online world?

Please let me know what you think. Thank you.

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Following are 6 random benefits of watching movies on your computer:

1. Ability to start or stop the movie at any time
2. Cheaper
3. No advertisements
4. You can do other things on the computer while watching a movie
5. You can relax at home and do other things at home while watching a movie at the computer
6. You save time by not driving or walking to a theatre

Drawbacks of watching movies on a computer instead of in a movie theatre

Similar to benefits, following are 6 random drawbacks to watching movies on your computer:

1. You are limited to staying around your computer
2. Almost no interaction with others
3. No trailers
4. You become less active
5. You miss the movie environment that the movie theatre offers you, like seating, surrounding enclosure, viewing screen size, sound, etc
6. Compared to going to a movie theatre, staying at home can still give you stress or not set you free of the boring environment you may be around, including your computer itself

I prefer movie theatres to computers, when it comes to watching movies

I watch a lot of movies, and I prefer watching movies in a movie theatre. Usually, the only exception to that is when I have seen all the movies at the theatre or when it is past midnight and there are no more open movie theatres that I can go to that very night. In such exceptions, I watch some movie I have downloaded or rented on my computer.

So, do you prefer watching movies on the computer or offline?

As for the “Regal Cinemas” picture above, I took it in Garden Grove, Orange County on March 16th, 2006, because I found the fused light for the number “6” in th sign very interesting. You can see a bigger version of that picture titled “Regal Cinemas lights out on # 6” on my Eyeography site.

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As I sometimes say, the question of whether or not one should use instant messaging over e-mail or vice versa can be answered by finding out which medium the message in question can benefit from, and what the participants of that medium can be most comfortable with also. Following are 5 random benefits and drawbacks of using e-mail over instant messages, to help you get a sense of why you may prefer one over the other, or even why you may treat both the same.

5 random benefits of using e-mail over instant messages

1. Allows more time for planning
2. Allows more serious actions to be taken
3. Allows more thought out responses
4. Allows a more thorough, permanent form of communication with more explained logic
5. Can avoid more conflicts by allowing people to focus more on issues instead of emotions

5 random drawbacks of using e-mail instead of instant messaging

1. Not as fast as instant messages
2. May consume more time, depending on the people involved, when it comes to taking actions
3. People not good at communication may feel threatened based on other people’s online communication skills
4. May make formal and informal people feel uncomfortable around each other, depending on each one’s flexibility skills
5. Can result in some inexperienced people to focus more on presentation than the actual message, specially in businesses - in my view, 99% of all the famous bloggers you see out there fall a victim to this as they tend to follow the rules they learned while in school than learning the effective and business form of communication

Do you prefer e-mails over instant messengers?

So, do you prefer e-mailing people instead of instant messaging them?

Please let me know what you think. Thank you for reading.

[update - August 23rd, 2007 - 10:02 am PST] In the original article, I had accidentally written “4″ instead of “5″ points for the above random benefits and drawback lists. I have corrected that, thanks to Jess. [end of update]

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