This is how I choose to portray myself to the world on this site and with this in mind I have a question for you all. My eldest daughter has just discovered the delights of ‘Skype’ as a close friend of hers has just moved abroad to work and they can keep in touch using the video version of Skype so they can see each other while they chat, at no charge as it comes via Broadband on the PC or Mac. We have used it a few times and found it to be very good, seeing the Grandkids and Mrsoldmovie’s brother in Cyprus as two examples. Now it occurs to me that we all rub along pretty well on this site and I’m sure there is a programme out there in software land that would enable us all to ‘video chat’ on some giant conference call type facility….but would you want to? Would the magic melt in a flash as you literally come face to face with reality, could you bear the shock of having your hopes dashed as the stark truth is revealed in the form of a pot bellied, wrinkled, scarred, cauliflower eared, bloodshot eyed apparition looming and leering out of the screen in front of you, and some of the men on here could be just as bad! As the Stones once sang, ‘Be careful what you wish for”.
Boadicea's Chariot 
OMG, that is a cruel, inaccurate description of me and I am hurt! It’s just that I shy away from Botox and I can’t wear corsets. If I wear my hair long you can’t see my ear. My sunglasses are tinted to protect the nervous.
Just as I wouldn’t put my ‘real name’ on any open site – I wouldn’t put my face on such a site either!
“…as the stark truth is revealed in the form of a pot bellied, wrinkled, scarred, cauliflower eared, bloodshot eyed apparition looming and leering out of the screen in front of you…
Speak for yourself, OMG. That’s not what I see when I look into my mirror in the morning! Well, maybe tomorrow morning, or next week after a twelve hour shift, or the day after seeing my mother in law, or perhaps even now….
Bugger it, lets just type nice messages to each other, oright!
Full vis is ok between friends and relatives, OMG but not sure about a public site like this.
There *is* a magic about imagining what people are like. It’s a fascinating way of getting to know people – like a load of pen friends, really. As I said before, the perfect complement to this site would be a section where anyone on line could stop for a quick chat.
Sorry OMG. 😦
Nothing to do with Skype, but I have just found a picture of myself on Google Maps. I remember seeing their van in the area some time ago and a neighbour said she had found me whilst searching for her house. Spy in the sky and all that.
I gave up on Skype some time ago. Firstly, it caused some problems with my PC. Secondly, due to the various time zones, mates always wanted to speak to me at the wrong time. Thirdly, with the nutters around on the internet I would never put up a pic of myself.
Bearsy
No need to say sorry mate, I was just interested in the reaction of others to the idea. Me? I think I would rather live with my fantasies and the way my mind tends to work means that the fantasy image would far outweigh the reality.
TMI OMG.
OMG – you seem to me personified in the character depicted in your avatar! part of the fascination with these blogs and comments is that we are “freed” to speak with charm, unfettered by an image of a fat potato or a wrinkled carrot!
I saw the fall out from this last summer at that dreadful lunch when James Wolfe was rude to sabina and the ensuing nonsense. When fantasies go wrong they go quite hideously wrong.
So the answer is definitively NO!
One very good reason to put a current photo as one’s avatar. No surprises and no disappointments.
This excellent site lets me get as close as I wish to all my ‘friends’. Don’t forget, fish, family AND FRIENDS all stink after 3 days’ exposure.