Does your first impression of a YAPper hold true?

Question

Admittedly, we form preconceived notions of a YAPper based on the questions that s/he posted and the answers that s/he gave but upon knowing a person better either through constant exchange of e-mails or YM, the impression may or may not change...

Just how exactly do you see your YAPper pals now?

PS: This query is inspired by one of my leisure walks to a "paradisaical garden of visually arresting and addictive-to-the-senses roses." Ladies, you know who you are. You all hold up to my impression of girls who are fun to be with. *** wink ***

Age-wise though, I did not think Pao and Inday would be younger than from what I deemed each to be. :)

to ms. helen: i thought you were going to answer in spanish. i was actually preparing a hanky in case my nose bleeds... lol. :P

to the sweetest water in the world: te he. :) i guess not all first impressions last but if it's just a small percentage of error, then, you really are good at reading people.

and yeah, i was also confused about the gender of rodelette at first 'coz of the "weird" avatar.

with aref, well, i always expect him to dish out witty answers as i had the impression that he is an interestingly intelligent guy.

to papa chuck: i am yet to delve into your psyche to know if my first impression of you holds true.

to aref: see, you are holding up to my expectations again. you are doing it just fine. splendidly if i may say so. :)

and hey, ladies, he has forgotten that he has been to this garden of colorful roses. the green grouch has short-term memorly loss. just kidding. hehe. peace. :)

to rodelette: :)

to battgirl: ***guffaws*** :P

Answer 1

Seems like 10-15% of the time, I am soooo wrong. A case in point, at first I thought that aref and rodelette were tr0lls (yikes, BIG mistake!!!) and then I also thought "you were too good to be true." Oh well, now I know of course that you are good (better than good) and yeah, true at the same time!!!
hahaha

I've always imagined Pao to be a young teen but at first I thought she was a "he." I also had problems with gender asignation, AT FIRST, to both rod and aref....just couldn't tell from the avatars. And it was only recently that I knew that "007" was a he (before, I was reading him as "she"). Sorry, AJ! hayyyy!!!

I guess I should stop "reading" people and should also stop being too scientific about my yapping. As my bossman says, best to leave science out and just GWTF.

Answer 2

The written word is an imperfect means of communication. When I write the word "tree" I am thinking of a coconut palm. When the reader sees the word they visualize a spreading Narra tree. Reality rarely matches imagination. We each construct in our mind a vision based on our own experience. Those experiences will often not be the same as the reader.
Compounding this problem is our tendency to project a stereotype based on fragments of information. I have done this on the board a couple of times. We subconsciously say, "That sounds like a child" "He is so full of himself" "What an intellectual midget!" Often these stereotypes are equally wrong.
So succinctly the answer to your question is, " almost never". This begs the question, " What should we do to minimize the damage when we develop the wrong impression?" Obviously we must realize these limitations and keep an open mind. We must be prepared to constantly revise our impressions / judgements.
Thirty five years ago I corresponded with a man and formed the opinion he was a "subintellectual ***". As fate would have it I later met the man at a social function. Trapped with him in a booth I prepared myself for a wasted evening. After a few minutes I discovered he was a fascinating character. We formed friendship which has endured to this day.
Recognize your ability and even tendency to be wrong. Keep an open mind and be willing to revise your initial impression or conclusion. To prevent others from crating a false impression of you, be more aware of what and how you write. Be aware of the possible impact your writting may have on others and project the "real" you.

Answer 3

In general a good impression would hold. Of course the only way to judge their web persona is thru the substance of their posts (or maybe to a lesser degree their avatar). From their content or writing style I could surmise if they were serious or playing.

There were a few instances when YAPpers I thought highly of would copypaste and post something lifted verbatim from the Internet without citing the source, making it appear to be their own and ignoring the hard work of others. When they do that consistently, my impression of those people would change.

If my first impression of a YAPper was bad it would usually never change.

Answer 4

Fallacious.. but somehow I realize that the 1st impression doesn't matter a lot now until you got a chance to know more of the YAPpers. Some are really fun and some are like chameleons. Last impression matters... and the impact is unbelievable. (Either good or bad). Anyways, have fun people.
<*-*>

Answer 5

Of course.

I have this symbiosis with cyber lines, you know, being fathered by a computer. I could feel the personalities of my friends, and enemies.

And your first impression of Aref is outstanding. I am OUT and standing. Not in the rain, I hope, but in the cold, definitely.
Wish I could go IN though, in this garden you're talking about, cuz I really love the smell of flowers.

Answer 6

"First impressions do not last". I believe in that age-old adage. Having had no opportunity to meet any YAPper in person, I cannot tell his/her true personality but only glimpses of what he/she may be through, as you said, questions and answers they posted. First impressions may be misleading. It is in the actual "eating of the pudding" that you form a lasting impression or image of a person.

Answer 7

is the greatest qoutation working again; " don't judge the book by its cover'.

i still consider myself new here at Y!A, but not new using online communication. I consider all of good people as my cyber friends, and the impression on tell me who you network with maybe will lead to same "holding true" on what kind of questions and answers you are posting... by now, you should know "ganda":), that's me! many of Yappers are brilliant, careful and funny people.

Answer 8

As far as my experiences are concerned, I have been able to speedily and correctly gauge the age/education/background of most of the YAPpers who got in touch with me.
...But though I never give any false details about myself, I find that several friends had formed overblown images of me in their minds - and felt quite disillusioned when they came into personal contact with me !
:-))

Answer 9

I am running at about 50% but if your talking age-wise then it's may be a low 5%.
EDIT
Ditto.

Answer 10

I'm not sure, I feel like I still need to spend more time here hehe... ^^'

Everyone's a lot nicer here though... unlike that other category I recently wasted my time on

*cough*ReligionandSprituality*cough*