Saturday
Jan262008
Smaller worlds and online conversations
Saturday, January 26, 2008 at 1:26AM
In the grand scheme of life people come and go, be they personal friends or just folks you follow for one reason or another. Occasionally, if you are lucky you can catch up with them later in life. With the whole online social networking thing happening that is far easier than it has ever been.
A case in point since signing up to facebook I am now in touch with a younger cousin who I had not seen since she was 6 or 7, a couple of friends I used to go to school with and a couple of guys from uni. Not bad really when you think about it.
The other thing that social networking sites have done is give people a perceived insight and connection with people they would not normally get to speak to. If you think about the actors, sports stars etc that use these sites - how often would someone feel that they could get in touch with them?
For these guys though it is not all roses - I am sure that they get a ton of rubbish and abuse through it but hey at the end of the day they do have that contact with their fans.
With my interest in MMA I have ended up on myspace looking at the pages of some of the fighters that I have been interested in. More from a what are they like, what are they doing point of view. Now normally I would not even consider sending someone a letter about something they have said/done but a couple of these guys said something that I really respected so I dropped them a line - and to my surprise they got back to me. This communication with these guys has meant that I have felt a little more of a connection with them and what is happening in their strive to be the best, and, as a direct consequence of this I have felt like they deserve to have my support.
So what does this all mean - well not a lot other than the idea that the world is getting smaller by the day and it is no longer odd to be in touch with someone who is on the other side of the world.
Anyhow one of the guys I have followed for a while - through his ups and downs, has been Evan Tanner. The one thing you can say about this dude is he has lived a very colourful life. in his posts he looks at what he has done, be it right wrong and then talks about his thoughts on the whole experience. He tries to make sure that when he encounters failure he rectifies the situations that caused it and tires to talk about his thoughts. He has not always been this way but he is trying and you have to respect that. Throughout the years he has had some ups and a lot of downs. He has had issues that he has not handled well, he has made himself ill and then fought his way back to healthy. He has ran up debts and paid them off, made and lost friends, and talked about it all online. So anyhow Evan has posted about things when they were going well as well as not so well and people have followed him sending messages of congratulation or support as and when they have felt the need to do so. Sometimes these have not gone down well but other times they have. A lot of the guys the pick up his blog have been in contact with each other and they are spread across the world - showing that it really is a small world after all.
Evan is not the only guy that does this - a lot of the other do and I have to say that they are all pretty happy to answer the mails they get as well as keeping the conversation going. There is no onus for them to get back to anyone - but they do and it is usually with more than a simple thanks.
Anyhow today I checked out Evan's site and followed the link he posted, and for the first time in a number of years Evan will be back in the ring in March and I am actually excited. I saw the photo and the match details and it made me smile.
Why do I feel an investment for a guy who I have chatted to online briefly. To be honest I don't know but I do. I have seen some of his successes and heard about his failure from the man himself and now in a way, knowing what he pins to this fight I feel that I have to send as much good thought to the guy as possible so that is what I will do. Do I know for sure he will win. Nope. Will my thoughts it change anything, unlikely, but sometime folks just need to know that there are people there wishing them well, no matter what the outcome will be, and they also need to know that come what may - those same people will still be there for them. Even if they are on the other side of the world
A case in point since signing up to facebook I am now in touch with a younger cousin who I had not seen since she was 6 or 7, a couple of friends I used to go to school with and a couple of guys from uni. Not bad really when you think about it.
The other thing that social networking sites have done is give people a perceived insight and connection with people they would not normally get to speak to. If you think about the actors, sports stars etc that use these sites - how often would someone feel that they could get in touch with them?
For these guys though it is not all roses - I am sure that they get a ton of rubbish and abuse through it but hey at the end of the day they do have that contact with their fans.
With my interest in MMA I have ended up on myspace looking at the pages of some of the fighters that I have been interested in. More from a what are they like, what are they doing point of view. Now normally I would not even consider sending someone a letter about something they have said/done but a couple of these guys said something that I really respected so I dropped them a line - and to my surprise they got back to me. This communication with these guys has meant that I have felt a little more of a connection with them and what is happening in their strive to be the best, and, as a direct consequence of this I have felt like they deserve to have my support.
So what does this all mean - well not a lot other than the idea that the world is getting smaller by the day and it is no longer odd to be in touch with someone who is on the other side of the world.
Anyhow one of the guys I have followed for a while - through his ups and downs, has been Evan Tanner. The one thing you can say about this dude is he has lived a very colourful life. in his posts he looks at what he has done, be it right wrong and then talks about his thoughts on the whole experience. He tries to make sure that when he encounters failure he rectifies the situations that caused it and tires to talk about his thoughts. He has not always been this way but he is trying and you have to respect that. Throughout the years he has had some ups and a lot of downs. He has had issues that he has not handled well, he has made himself ill and then fought his way back to healthy. He has ran up debts and paid them off, made and lost friends, and talked about it all online. So anyhow Evan has posted about things when they were going well as well as not so well and people have followed him sending messages of congratulation or support as and when they have felt the need to do so. Sometimes these have not gone down well but other times they have. A lot of the guys the pick up his blog have been in contact with each other and they are spread across the world - showing that it really is a small world after all.
Evan is not the only guy that does this - a lot of the other do and I have to say that they are all pretty happy to answer the mails they get as well as keeping the conversation going. There is no onus for them to get back to anyone - but they do and it is usually with more than a simple thanks.
Anyhow today I checked out Evan's site and followed the link he posted, and for the first time in a number of years Evan will be back in the ring in March and I am actually excited. I saw the photo and the match details and it made me smile.
Why do I feel an investment for a guy who I have chatted to online briefly. To be honest I don't know but I do. I have seen some of his successes and heard about his failure from the man himself and now in a way, knowing what he pins to this fight I feel that I have to send as much good thought to the guy as possible so that is what I will do. Do I know for sure he will win. Nope. Will my thoughts it change anything, unlikely, but sometime folks just need to know that there are people there wishing them well, no matter what the outcome will be, and they also need to know that come what may - those same people will still be there for them. Even if they are on the other side of the world
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