How seriously do you take online communities?

On a scale of 1–10, I’d say I give the virtual world maybe a 2 or 3.

Not very. That being said, it all depends how far you distance your online persona(e) from your actual identity. You’ll probably end up needing to take some responsibility for your contributions and interactions.

I don’t burden my personal friends or family with the issues I enjoy debating here. And here is good for that because I feel this environment has reached a pinnacle of respectful dialogue between Theist’s and Atheist’s that cannot be found anywhere else on the web.

It wasn’t like this a year ago when I joined though.

The general lack of insults on this site, and lack of disrespect for alternative perspectives is something to be cherished and protected. Not like that on the other forums I frequent, those being Philosophyforum.com and Frostcloud.com. But those forums have many more members that enjoy debating the subjects I’m primarily interested in.

But still, with a tear in my eye, I wish Wis.dm was still available. I liked their layout much better.

How has it affected me? Well, it’s given me great cause to research and study my interests much more deeply than any real life casual encounter ever could. If I’m gonna talk shit, then I better know the shit I’m talking about very well, lest they lop of my online head.

For most sites, it’s a 2 or 3. But for Facebook it’s a 7 or an 8. All my facebook friends are real friends whom I interact with on a regular basis. So things that get said on there generally carry over into real-life conversation and actions. I think @Akiora hit the nail on the head… “it all depends how far you distance your online persona(e) from your actual identity.”

As seriously as a squid juggler.

Now keep in mind a squid juggler would be an impressive street performer, so I’d check it out, but I’d keep going on my way to where I was going.

I agree with @Akiora as well. I used to trust people with my real name and location and other information. When online drama erupted it got real personal real fast. Now I keep as much anonymity as possible. Nobody knows who I am. Nobody is slandering my real name. They can trash “escapedone7” the cheetah all they want. It really means nothing. If they know who I am then it does become personal, and takes my upset from a 0 to an 8 real fast. If crap shows up under my real name on google search, I call it a 10.

I even use fake names on facebook and myspace now. I am not connected to real friends, except my brother. I have a bunch of strangers connected to me because they wanted neighbors in farmville. I don’t talk to them. lol. Nobody knows who I am. That keeps stress at about a zero for me. If someone turns stalker I would just delete the name and find another place to hang out. I come online to relax, not get upset.

For all you people know I’m a midget Turkish chicken farmer named Gulbahar. My dream is to join the circus and be shot out of a cannon. Can you help me get to Amerika?

enough to participate in them.

It depends on the community. On some of my more specialized boards, I take them very seriously, almost as much as real life. Fluther comes in the middle for me. It depends on the question and the person.

Seriously enough to not be a troll, but not so serious that I go apeshit whenever something goes wrong.

Of a similar seriousness to that of Spongebob Squarepants et al. Ergo, not at all.

Enough that I maintain my natural personality. I don’t come to sites and act like the ass I can’t be in real life. Even if I want to say something mean, I usually won’t, because I don’t want people to see the case and think, “great, her again.”

Enough to try and visit them everyday but not so seriously that it interferes with my “real life”.

I’m with @Captain_Fantasy and his squid juggler.