Beyond Cybersex †The Search for Intelegent Life on the Internet :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Beyond Cybersex – The Search for Intelegent Life on the Internet Big Beautiful Women, 25 Bi & Curious F4M, The Tavern of Goth, BBW 4 Sexy Chat, Naked M Needs Help Stroking. These are just a few of the "tamer" examples of user-defined chat rooms I popped into in my search for interesting people to talk to online. Fortunately, I found that there are people online who are looking for more than cybersex. From World Wide Web based chat rooms to personal programs such as   ICQ (short for "I seek you"), there are many avenues to meet people online. There are also many different types of people to meet. One can chat with people sharing specific interests, but for the adventurous, random chatting is also possible. Having several friends who enjoy chatting online, I have heard many stories about interesting people they have met. On the other hand, I have also heard stories about all the people who are simply looking for cybersex. Sensing my skepticism, a friend of mine told me about someone he met online, and still talks to frequently. My friend works for a prominent Internet firm, and his responsibilities include popping in and out of the chat rooms as a silent monitor. However, once in a while, his love for chatting takes over. One evening he entered a chat room and decided to try some cheesy opening lines to see who’d bite. He picked a user with "angel" in her screen name. "What makes you an angel?" he asked. She answered, I feel as though I need closer guidance to God." Automatically, my friend thought she was weird, but as the conversation went on, he learned things about this woman that made him want to know more. He spent seven hours talking to her, and after their conversation they became online pen pals, who now consider themselves "cyberbuddies." Given hope to find somebody interesting, I sat down at my computer and connected to the Internet. Since I had already used ICQ to communicate with friends, I decided to use the random chat feature it offers. Within minutes, I received a message from someone who asked if I was male or female. When I responded that I was male, he didn’t write back. Hmm . . . I wonder what he was after. A little discouraged, I added a note to my personal profile on ICQ that said I was a male college student writing an article about the people one can meet online.