I have found another point that Donath touched on- a very sensetive point in the paragraph titled "Identity in Voice and Language". She brings up Ervin Gothmans classic work "The Presentation of self in everyday life" and his theory on "exspressions given" and" exspressions given off." In the world it is hard to disguise your "exspresions given" and your "exspressions given off". through body language, eye contact and verbose your exspression and inteintion is not easily disguised, mis-interpreted or intetionally manipulated by one's self unless you have practiced at becoming some-one your not. Why would someone want to be somone their not? I suppose that is an inherant question that perhaps Frued could answer if we were able to probe him in this day and age. I assume it is for the same reason go to college, because they have to become someone society expects them to be. They can choose a career that reflects who they truly are perhaps one is a good-doer by nature and will choose an alltruistic profession such as working as a doctor for a Non-profit organization or maybe that same person will be pressured to meet the status quo and become a doctor to recieve status in society and approval from their peirs and society, to live the white-picket fence life and recieve their approval from their precieved life. In the online community you can be come anyone you want. Your fantasy of yourself can become a reality in your own mind and you can recieve affrimation from from the response of the online comunity from your "exspression given off". Just like in the case of UlimateEgo, perhaps she is a middle aged has been sorroity girl who has become a desperate housewife and recieves a daily ego-boost from offering her condesending expertise on wedding ettiquite in 2011.

When she logs on to UseNet she goes from being boring to brilliant and here life now has meaning as an wedding espert. In the online world lines of ones self exspression are manipulated into what they desire even if their identity is ambiguous or honest.

I totally agree that you can become whoever you want in the virtual world but I believe in the online world people are "judged." Take the simple fact of Facebook for example. Everyday on Facebook I see people posting status updates that are dramatic or a million self pictures. When I look at these people with all the self pictures I think to myself wow they must really like themselves. What if in reality they are doing this for the attention of others because they really don't have that confidence? Sometimes I do believe that you can become anyone you want but in the same sense I also believe people are going to create their own identity of you and form their own opinions. You can't hide behind a computer living the fantasy life forever. Maybe people really aren't virtually practicing to become someone they are not maybe they are just more comfortable with who they truly are while they are sitting behind a computer!
I like your opinions Majed! I think we all seem to form the same ones!