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coaxmetal

Meeting people from the internet is weird

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I just ran into Chris and Jake and Nels at a bar/brunch place here in the mission that I like, and said an awkward hello before running away. I'm not really sure what to do in that kind of situation, the easy thing, and what I almost did, is just leave and not say hi. Jake also asked me how I started listening to Idle Thumbs and I couldn't remember. I've been a reader for years though, backed the kickstarter an whatnot.

 

Anyway, whats the etiquette in that sort of situation? Also Hi guys.

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Oh that's rad. Nels is in SF atm too? Cool times.

 

First time I met Steve Gaynor I was walking through the lobby of the hotel we were both coincidentally staying at and I recognised him. I went up, introduced myself, then had places to be. That was cool, then we kept meeting throughout GDC (eventually recording a pod wooo). Then I saw Jake in a different hotel lobby, freaked out and said nothing. Then I met Chris by the Gone Home booth and was like OH HI OH CRAZY.

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I met Chris, Jake, and Sean at a Thumbs meetup at PAX East in 2011. Then when I started working with Jake and Sean, I didn't know if they would remember who I was, so I didn't know if I should introduce myself, so I didn't, and it was really awkward whenever they were around. Eventually they hand-delivered my Kickstarter rewards and I think that mostly sorted it out. But I still don't actually have that much direct interaction with them at work and know them better as Thumbs than as coworkers, so it's still pretty awkward. (Also I have pretty bad social phobia to begin with, so that doesn't really help.)

 

Also I saw Chris and J.P. LeBreton at a party one time and I was wearing an Idle Thumbs shirt and Chris was like "nice shirt" and again I didn't know what to do because he probably didn't remember that we'd met before. I think I just said something about a funicular.

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You should surprise hug them from behind and whisper into their ear "I'm a reader", then take a long deep smell of their hair, or if its Jake plant a lingering kiss on the back of his head

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PS: I attended a talk that Steve Gaynor gave at the Center for Fiction in New York.  In that situation I guess it's appropriate to go up to the speaker and say, "Thanks for your presentation and I listen to your podcast,"—right?

 

I told him I liked the sound of disgust he made in episode 44.  So...that' s something that stuck with me that I have no expectation that would stick with Steve or anyone else.

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Meeting anyone who you know of but who you don't know is weird. The Internet just adds another realm that lets you know of people without getting to know them.

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Yeah, but it can get really intimate with podcasts. It's like I overhear a two-hour conversation with Chris, Nick, Jake, and Sean every week. My brain totally processes them as my friends as a result, but it's completely monodirectional and there's no way to get around it. I like in the Midwest, so I doubt I'll ever see any of the Thumbs in person, but it's still something that weirds me out.

 

I think this came up in a reader mail a couple dozen episodes ago? Jake said basically the same thing.

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I've organised to meet people from the Internet. First time was super akward, but the rest were full of drinks or brunch and were delightful.

Every time I see a Sikh I get closer to listen if it is this guy who was in my Wow guild, but it never is:(

Anyhow, you should have challenged them all to a thumb war obviously.

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My friend's mom is Swedish and his cousin lived down the street from Notch.  He sent me a picture of him on his phone and sent it to me when he was in Sweden visiting, but I wasn't sure if I believed him so at PAX in 2011 I asked Notch if he knew Niklas Hedlund (my friend's cousin) and he said he did, but it was really awkward because I don't know him so the conversation just stopped there.  It was like a second level of talking to someone who you know but who doesn't know you.  Also my friend went back over Christmas and I guess Notch has now moved.

 

Another thing at that same PAX was I saw Troy Goodfellow, but couldn't muster the courage to say anything to him.

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I currently live like a fifteen minute drive from a dude I've known on the internet for years, but I've never met him in person. I'm always nervous about meeting internet peeps in real life.

 

I definitely have that weird dysphoria that comes with listening to the cast every week and registering the thumbs as friends, then realizing that they don't know who I am. I get the same way with Retronauts, since I've had occasional contact with Jeremy Parish and Kat Bailey.

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Yeah, but it can get really intimate with podcasts. It's like I overhear a two-hour conversation with Chris, Nick, Jake, and Sean every week. My brain totally processes them as my friends as a result, but it's completely monodirectional and there's no way to get around it. I like in the Midwest, so I doubt I'll ever see any of the Thumbs in person, but it's still something that weirds me out.

 

I think this came up in a reader mail a couple dozen episodes ago? Jake said basically the same thing.

Yeah I have this  too, its like friends I know except they don't know me at all, and that makes it really strange.

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I ran into Chris at GDC and was the most awkward!

 

I've met one other person from the internet (aside from the Idle Thumbs GDC meetup, which was easier, because it was a group), and it went all right. Granted, it was a bidirectional relationship. We'd been talking online for years.

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Two of my friends met each other via a forum in high school, like they went to the same school already and were friends for a while and eventually found out they went to the same school and were just a year apart.  I knew them both before they knew each other too, one of them I was actually really good friends with since middle school and the other I knew via my other friends older brother. 

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When I listen to the cast, I always talk and laugh along with them, so it's like we are together.

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When I listen to the 'cast I'm always naked, so it's like we're all in a poly relationship.

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hen I listen to the 'cast I'm always naked, so it's like we're all in a poly relationship.

 

You've either completely ensured that no one will ever bother you at future industry events or it's going to back fire in a big, big way. :-P

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I've met the Thumbs as a whole once and Chris twice, both at a PAX.  I've also met several other people I previously only knew on the internet at PAX.  To keep things consistant, we just refered to each other by our screennames instead of our real ones.

 

Yeah, but it can get really intimate with podcasts. It's like I overhear a two-hour conversation with Chris, Nick, Jake, and Sean every week. My brain totally processes them as my friends as a result, but it's completely monodirectional and there's no way to get around it. I like in the Midwest, so I doubt I'll ever see any of the Thumbs in person, but it's still something that weirds me out.

 

I think this came up in a reader mail a couple dozen episodes ago? Jake said basically the same thing.

 Listening to the podcast is a strangely voyeuristic thing.  I always told myself that if I ever met someone famous, I wouldn't gush all over them.  Then I actually MET Famous and gushed all over him.  It was gross.  Now I'm doing creepy stuff like sending them candy and keeping track of how often they mention my name.  It feels like when I was in high school and the cool kids would say hi to me, except now the cool kids are all video game nerds.  I think I may have said too much.

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During the earlyish (pre-teen I suppose to anthropomorphosise) days of the WWW ('93) I used to spent a lot of time on the online real-time 'talkers' based on the Ew-too code. Called Foothills, Surfers and a myriad of others, but those were the two I hung around on. Foothills was US based, Surfers UK. Anyway, it was really cool as I got to talk to actual people around the world!

 

So there were a couple of meets organised, and as Reading University had a fairly large Surfers presence, the first meet was held there. I think around 30 people made it down/up/across. That was pretty weird, as you may imagine it was mostly geeky types that turned up. I found it all very uncomfortable in the main, trying to get along with people IRL when previously it was so easy to do so in text form. There was a lot of posturing and geeky showing off. Not much fun.

 

Now I'm a bit older, I can appreciate meeting folk from the internet - it's a lot more common now, so people have got used to doing it and 'know' how to behave. If you follow.

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Whoa, welcome to "we are all awkward: the thread." We are all apparently super awkward. I am the worst at meeting people I only know online, and somehow even worse than that at being normal when someone actually recognizes me.

Also: Scott I know who you are!

And: Derek/Ronald if I had known you were the guy with that one Twitter avatar I would have recognized you immediately. Sorry that was weird. It was mostly a surprise to be identified by our voices in a bar.

Bonus fact: The owner of that bar (Dear Mom) is a Thumbs listener as well.

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I thought the only correct way to approach Jake in public is while riding a big dog?

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I thought the only correct way to approach Jake in public is while riding a big dog?

That is the preferred way, yes, but saying "hi!" "hello!" "hey Jake" "whoa, hey I heard your voice on the internet!" or "[looks scandalized, throws drink in my face, punches me]" are all acceptable in a pinch.

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Haha, I didn't think to mention my twitter avatar (a grainy Johothan Frakes making a weird face with his tongue out). It was also weird to recognize people by their voices in a bar, don't worry. Dear Mom is really cool, I only started visiting recently, but i've lived nearby for a while.

 

Also if it was just the voice I probably wouldn't have said hi, but I recognized you guys as well from seeing livestreams or giant bomb appearances or something.

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God DAMN but we're a load of squirmy weirdos.

 

(I am not very good at interacting with people.)

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In order to get people to read my blog posts on GiantBomb, I drew some of my GDC experiences as comics.

Still nobody read it >:C

 

Not pictured is me waiting behind Lovers In A Dangerous Space-Time for somewhere between 5-10 minutes, watching two guys from Revision3 play it and talk to the developers.

Then I picked up a controller and they said "Let's all go get lunch!", and I stood at a game that does not start without a Player 2, and swivelled around looking for a friend for a while.

This game had been FULL for the passed TWO DAYS, I don't know what the fuck-...

As they were leaving I said "Hey that Rev3's pretty good!" and Anthony Carboni said "Thanks!"

 

Also on that day, I crossed the road next to a guy, and then 5 seconds later thought "Wait was that Jake Rodkin?"

Then at the awards show he got onstage in the same clothes and I said "Oh fucking god damn it."

 

I usually don't wanna just step infront of people and say "HEY IT'S YOU!" but at GDC I decided I'll do that and see what happens.

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