Are you all real people?

I'm real too - been here since the start as well. I am with NanKate and keep off contentious subjects as much as possible - Politics being the main one, and stick to a broad spectrum of threads where I can't get into too much doo doo. I can't believe how incredibly bolshy and rude some posters can become if their opinion is not paramount. I don't agree with a lot of what is written, but I wouldn't dream of being insulting just because I have a different opinion. I suppose because most of us are 'virtual' it is deemed ok by some to do so and a small minority join these online chat groups in order to cause trouble, though luckily there aren't too many on GN... None so queer as folk, as my Mum would have said . I too have met up with quite a few Gransnetters over the years - Marelli being the first. There's an example; we don't agree politically but are the best of friends and never let our differences come between us.

Rosannie, you cannot have reach an age to be considered a "Gran" without soaking up a lot of knowledge, possibly not academic but certainly life experiences.
Rarely will any Gner be criticized for their comments, all views are valued. In the odd occasion when controversy has become divided, there are always supporters on both sides.
Don't be afraid to start a thread on something that interests or aggravates you, there will be others with opinions on the subject.

Roseannie hello I don't think I've seen your name before. I have spells when I'm very quiet on here and other times when I feel more chatty. I'm like that off Gnet too. Just chip in whenever you feel like it.

Give or take!! ( fat fingers this morning)

I've been here since the beginning, too - well, givevorctake a week or two, and have met up with quite a lot of Gransnetters. At the start, many of us thought that it was perhaps not a good idea to meet up, and just to keep ourselves 'virtual', as it were. Then, curiosity overcame us and the first meetup was in the Northwest (I think). Along eith bags, Elegran, and Elizabeth1, I met Katek a few weeks ago, up in Aberdeen.
So, I can vouch for the (probably more than 20) Gransnetters I've met so far - they ARE real. Not too sure about me, though, as I often receive the remark, 'you're not real!!'

Well I am probably one of the very least knowledgeable grans on Gransnet -Rosannie but it doesn't stop me from having my pennies worth.

I think jo1book is joking!

Some of us are in our 50s, and shock horror, are not grandparents. [Only about 1 in 7 threads are grandchild related, I soon worked out].

Rosannie. As you may know I have only been on here 5+ months myself. What sort of comments are "in" comments?
Personally I have never been to a meetup, so I wouldnt recognise anyone at all. I agree that some of them know an awful lot.
I think that it would be great, if you, and others liked you, chipped in more.

JO1book, I hope, if you have learn't nothing else from our site, we are not OAP's, in the accepted sense. We are not all old (in our heads), not all pensioners, OK age we cannot control.
We all have opinions and are more than willing to express them, sometimes passionately.
We are happy to discuss subjects that would have been taboo a few years ago. When they were 15, who of us could think of our Grans talking about anything from budgie smugglers to philosophy.
There is no doubt in my mind that to coin a phrase we are all "game old birds" up for anything (nothing sexist implied)

....or are people just not posting controversial threads because they upset some members?

Sometimes the people on Gransnet seem more real than real people.

Don't know what that says about my state of mind but hey - who cares.

When I was a kid I got great comfort from Alice in Wonderland and her words "curiouser and curiouser."

Like the Cheshire Cat - definitely creepy.

I too am genuine.

As for my relationship with GN - it is the first thing I look at when I drink my first cuppa.

I like having someone there when I have a question or need a chat.

I love all the games - word pairs etc.

I don't like the way if I mention something political, such as the return of grammar schools, I am rounded upon in what I feel is an aggressive way. So I have decided to keep to non contentious subjects.

I too am (sadly) real. I mean for goodness sake if I was making a character up especially for Gransnet I would have tried to at least create a more beautiful, intelligent, happy and rich persona.

Getting to the point, who in their right mind would make me up?

Real!? Online!? Get real!

Alternatively, dream on...

I am - don't know about the rest of you!

I have been here from the first.

I'm very real and have had a full and interesting life but I don't feel a sense of belonging with gransnet.
I always feel outside of the 'in' comments and don't understand the politics and undercurrents between the 'Supergrans' who seem to know everyone and everything.
Sometimes I chip in, most times I keep quiet, but always I'm the real me.

But are you also Deep Blue?

(Numpty warning, that may not be the right thing, re Deep Blue )

If none of you have noticed yet, I must have passed the Turing Test.

Well I'm real.

How do I know?

Because I just stubbed my blasted toe on the bed base. [bug--rithurtemoticon]

I will admit that I haven't read every post on this thread, but I am totally real!
I was one of the first to sign up when GN was launched (and as a result of the draw for start up members received a Nintendo DS XL) I would;d just like to add that I have never changed my name, apart from the politics survey last year, were those selected to take part were allowed to use a different user name, solely for that purpose.

DAMN I have disclosed that I have had another identity! I may have to shoot you all, or at the very least bribe you with cake!

PS I have also met with a lovely bunch of members, Ariadne, Granny Fran and Grannyactivist, and I'm sure they will vouch for me, even though I was the only one at the meet up wearing a sou wester and carrying a pineapple

PS And you wonder why my doctor wants to send me for a scan!

I am discumbobulated

I know where you are coming from whitewave.
It is sort of like real, but not quite real.
I also think that the amount of regulars on here, leads the forum to be a bit odd. If it had more regulars, conversations might not feel quite as personal. But if it had less, it would be more personal. I think that gransnet is a bit inbetweeny in that regard.

I should imagine it is the same on other internet forums, but I am not on any others, so I cant say for sure.

In real life, I largely agree with many people. And rarely have conversations, or certainly indepth ones, if I disagree.
And in real life, if you regularly dont agree with someone, you end up spending less time with them out of choice.
But on gransnet you have to talk to everyone. Whereas in real life, conversation is generally done in smaller groups.
And if someone is having a bad day, you have no way of knowing.

One final thing. Are you feeling ok? Sometimes, we can feel a bit weird, if we are feeling a bit under the weather ourselves.

I've just pinched myself and yelped so I think I'm real?!?

I don't come on Gnet to have heated debates, arguments or to solve world hunger, I see it as light relief with some wonderfully humorous conversations but also interesting/thought provoking threads. i have enough to deal with in the real world without getting embroiled in any unpleasantness in the virtual one.

Off to look in the mirror to see if I have a reflection.........

Well J10 if you imagined me at the last meet up...I want a glass of what you were drinking !