have any forumers influenced you

[enfield]

not just here but from anywhere. and who were they?

i don't really get influenced very much. after four years on internet forums im basically unchanged. a few people have influenced me, but that was only after i got very obsessed with them. and even obsession with someone that's no joke doesn't guarantee that they will impart influence on you. there's only a range of ways you can be influenced in and that person might be out of your range of influence (i try to avoid obsessions with the people there's no chance of me being influenced by, while i direct my obsessions towards candidates who could have some influence, but sometimes i'm just too tempted to read about the ones who can't change me; sometimes it's the fact that they can't change me that makes them appealing; they're too great to ever have any influence on me but that makes them perfect for fawning over and admiring).

there's a lot said of bad influences i notice. but are people influenced badly. i don't really think so. if you join a "bad" crowd you won't be influenced by them, you'll just succumb to its vices that give it the reputation of being bad like anyone else who joins it will. to stay away from the bad influences is to stay away from the vices, and thereby away from the people who could expose you to those vices. but no ones influencing the person you are. you can always recover from the influence if you weren't too permanently damaged by the vice. that's called rehab.

and do schools influence you? richard rodrieguez says not really.

Instead, one hears proposals for increasing the self-esteem of students and encouraging early intellectual independence. Paragraphs glitter with a constellation of terms like creativity and originality. (Ignored altogether is the function of imitation in a student’s life.) Radical educationists meanwhile complain that ghetto schools ‘oppress’ students by trying to mold them, stifling native characteristics. The truer critique would be just the reverse: not that schools change ghetto students too much, but that while they might promote the occasional scholarship student, they change most students barely at all

i think the outlook is just as bleak for forums with the one advantage that the *potential* to be influenced is higher (plainly because there's more people and less barriers between them).

[merc]

I was going to say no, but the answer is yes. However, this was a forum for parents of children with anal rectal and spinal defect issues. When I had problems with my daughter I had no one to ask a question or for advice. That forum saved my life and helped keep my sanity when I truly needed it. I used to be more involved with it, answering questions that new parents with babies with birth defects and I know that I truly helped a few people as well as received help.
I think this is different than what you mean. But I had to learn that just because my daughter's situation, wasn't as bad as say a kid with VATER. It was still something that I had to grieve over. She wasn't the perfect baby of my dreams. She needed a lot of care. Each surgery she regressed a little. I thought she would never potty train!!!
People on the spin bifida web forum say the most difficult part of their child's defect is the bladder and bowel issues anyway. Their children in chairs are very mobile. I've seen some kids in waiting rooms clobber their siblings with their crutches when mad.
This particular forum I'm not so sure, but it helps to understand that I'm not the only tounge tied mutant wierdo walking around and that people, here, kind of understand and may have had worse experiences. I've always tended to brush off my anxiety, beat my self up and force myself to do stuff as in interact with people.

It has been getting harder for me instead of easier to do this as I've gotten older. I just kind of accept the fact that no one will talk to me if I say go to this event. Just a few years ago I would try so hard to greet smile and be pleasant. Now I will go to a school function, sit alone listen to the presentation, talk with the teacher and then go home.
At work I talk with the people I work with daily and a few of the people who seem to like me, but do not go out of my way to smile and greet others. Also I'm older and it just seems strange interacting with the younger kids who work there. I say hello, but I really don't want to hang out with them and I'm sure they don't want an old lady talking with them too much either. At home I see my kids husband and my neighbor. I also go visit my parents. The exciting extent of my social life.
I kind of wish this place would influence me in some positive way, but it's not going to change the world and the things I hate about people.

[Chantellabella]

I have been influenced by every person I have crossed paths with, both offline and online. People in general inspire me to be a better person, to continue to learn, and to reach out to others.

I truly believe that each individual is more fascinating than the next. Human behavior is sort of my hobby. What makes us separate from animals who drive on pure instinct is that we will never fit into one mold. Just when you think you have people figured out, an out of the box thinker comes along and messes up all your past theories on behavior.

[Rawr]

A couple that I befriended. Some I've befriended but saw a different side to after talking though. Private messaging compared to forum posts are pretty different.

[Heelsbythebridge]

Yeah, I've spoken to and became friends with some really great people. Depending on the medium, some posts can also be high quality and profound- Reddit is like this, I find. There's a lot of crap but thanks to the upvote/downvote system, the good stuff is right at the top.