Did you ever wonder about buddies?

[PrincessPerky]

If you click the poster name it comes up and asks if you want to add them to your buddy list (other more useful options also appear)

I am slightly curious to know just what happens if you add someone to your buddy list what happens anyway?.........

Does it send you a note when your buddy has a birthday?

Does it send them a note saying you added them, which would then spark them being guilted into adding you to theirs......

Does it send you a note when they are online? or when they post?

Or does it just take up space in the system? A list purely for the sake of a list?


I decided to test it.......anything to avoid a lesson in flash....some people will do anything to avoid work!

So if you get a note saying you are my buddy, please let me know so I can put the burning question to rest

[Mathew Green]

"Buddy List" usually means "Instant Messaging Buddy List", and that in turn means your IM software will tell you when they're online and let their instant messages come through when you're only allowing 'Buddy' messages.

BTW: Your avatar doesn't look at all like a "Princess Perky" to me. I expected an avatar similar to the princess the Mario Brothers are always trying to rescue.

[PrincessPerky]

Heh, I actually had to go look up mario brothers princess....she is someone my daughter would love, princess peach, but I am afaid not at all ike me!

[poundwise]

Originally Posted by Mathew Green

"Buddy List" usually means "Instant Messaging Buddy List", and that in turn means your IM software will tell you when they're online and let their instant messages come through when you're only allowing 'Buddy' messages.

In this case, "Buddy List" has nothing to do with IM. Except that in both cases you are creating a list of people you want to keep track of for friendly purposes.

I believe the buddy list you create here at the forum is simply to provide a means for you to more easily: (1) send PM (private messages through the forum) to a buddy or group of buddies, (2) view posts made by buddies.

[Mathew Green]

Originally Posted by poundwise

I believe the buddy list you create here at the forum is simply to provide a means for you to more easily: (1) send PM (private messages through the forum) to a buddy or group of buddies

Private Messaging? Hmmmmm.... I remember seeing something about that when I became a member but I didn't turn it on. It's turned on now and I'm going to add Perky to my buddy list to see what effects it has.

[PrincessPerky]

oooohhh I get to be Matts buddy! I feel so special now

[Mathew Green]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

Heh, I actually had to go look up mario brothers princess....she is someone my daughter would love, princess peach, but I am afaid not at all ike me!

Oh well. So much for my mental image of you.

How do you like my avatar? Bambi is the "inner me", an innocent who still wants to believe that fate, mankind, and the universe are basically good...in spite of ample evidence to the contrary.

When I was young, I used to practice walking like a deer: Lift foot slowly, move it forward quickly, put it down very slowly. You can walk quickly and silently like that. You can even walk silently in dry leaves if you practice enough.

(Now I've probably wrecked your mental image of me! )

[Mathew Green]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

oooohhh I get to be Matts buddy! I feel so special now

Tell me if you get a PM or something saying I put you on my list. After all, the point of this thread is to figure out what the Buddy List actually does.

[PrincessPerky]

Well tell you what, take peachy girl, change the hair to red, double the length (yes, I mean double) and throw on a pair of ripped jeans..there, now it is just like me

except instead of a toadstool dude hanging on I have three short kids

as for you..honestly I always pictured you in a suit...not innocent, but nice, smiling....

oh yeah and I used to try walking like that too...failed, but tried.

[Mathew Green]

Hey, I like the Private Message function. It lets you send a message to someone without revealing your email address.

I left it turned off at first cause I thought it would be a popup window like IM and I'd rather read messages when I'm ready, not when they happen to be sent.

Perky,
The last time I wore a suit was in 1986. I seldom wore one before that and will probably never own one again. I have a keen interest in the stock market and in philosophy, and that fools people into thinking I'm white collar, but I'm really a 55yo warehouse worker with a GED. I only shave once a week (for church) and I always wear T-shirts or polo shirts.

You're right about the nice part though. I'm a nice guy at heart. Of course I do have a very high opinion of my own opinions and a stuborn streak a mile wide but I'm also one of those people who picks up rusty nails while walking around the neighborhood, just so no one will get it stuck in their tire. I also love helping people any way I can, but after all this time I still haven't figured out if it's altruism or ego.

[PrincessPerky]

Just goes to show you never know who you are talking to!

[rob62521]

Originally Posted by Mathew Green

Oh well. So much for my mental image of you.

How do you like my avatar? Bambi is the "inner me", an innocent who still wants to believe that fate, mankind, and the universe are basically good...in spite of ample evidence to the contrary.

When I was young, I used to practice walking like a deer: Lift foot slowly, move it forward quickly, put it down very slowly. You can walk quickly and silently like that. You can even walk silently in dry leaves if you practice enough.

(Now I've probably wrecked your mental image of me! )

I'm curious on the need to walk silently!

[jodi]

Funny, Mathew, before I learned more about you in a previous post, I pictured you as a young twenty-something kid

[Mathew Green]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

Just goes to show you never know who you are talking to!

"The nice thing about the internet is that no one can tell that you're a dog"

[Mathew Green]

Originally Posted by rob62521

I'm curious on the need to walk silently!

It was the early 1970's, I was in my early twenties, the Kung Fu tv series was in it's first year, and the Taoist/Buddhist philosophies expressed in that series were a life-changing revelation to me. So I tried to learn more by reading the very limited books on the subject available at our library and by putting into practice what little I could learn from them about meditation. (It wasn't much! I learned a lot more from the tv series.)

As an aid to my meditation attempts, I spent a lot of my spare time sitting or walking in the woods at a nearby state park or sitting on a hill that overlooked the deer petting area on the edge of that park. On the back side of that enclosure, away from where the people were, the deer could be observed acting in a fairly natural manner and my observations of them led to an obvious comparison between the way they walked and the way Kwai Chang Caine (the Kung Fu character) walked. So, as a physical and mental exercise I began imitating them. Since it proved useful both in my meditation and in everyday life, I continued and became quite good at it. Prior to that I had always stomped around like any typical teenager, but afterward I walked quietly without even thinking about it. The downside is that even after all these years I still have to speak as I approach people to avoid startling them. Folks just aren't accustomed to other people being silent and moving quietly.

[rob62521]

Originally Posted by Mathew Green

Folks just aren't accustomed to other people being silent and moving quietly.

Isn't that the truth! Silence is terrifying to a lot of people.

I was wondering (before your explanation) if you were referring to: "Walk softly and carry a big stick." Guess I'm showing my age!

[Mathew Green]

Originally Posted by rob62521

I was wondering (before your explanation) if you were referring to: "Walk softly and carry a big stick." Guess I'm showing my age!

Well, Kwai Chang Caine certainly did (metaphorically) "Walk softly and carry a big stick," even though his preference was always to avoid or deflect rather than confront. And I must admit that in my 20's I certainly wished I could kick a** like him, because it would have made me feel a lot more secure, even if I never had to use it.

Now, in my 50's, I realize what a double-edged sword that kind of fighting ability is. It's easy, though frustrating, to turn away from a fight you know you can't win. It's a lot harder to ignore an insult or injury when you know you could easily flatten the jerk. So, knowing myself as I do, it's probably just as well that my abilities run more to Henry Thoreau instead of Bruce Lee.

[rob62521]

Originally Posted by Mathew Green

Now, in my 50's, I realize what a double-edged sword that kind of fighting ability is. It's easy, though frustrating, to turn away from a fight you know you can't win. It's a lot harder to ignore an insult or injury when you know you could easily flatten the jerk. So, knowing myself as I do, it's probably just as well that my abilities run more to Henry Thoreau instead of Bruce Lee.

And it's good that you are wise enough to know what's best!

[Mathew Green]

Originally Posted by rob62521

And it's good that you are wise enough to know what's best!

From verse thirty three of the Tao Te Ching:

Knowing others is wisdom;
Knowing yourself is enlightenment.

Mastering others requires force;
Mastering the self needs strength.

From verse thirty one:

Weapons are instruments of fear;
they are not a wise man's tools.
He uses them only when he has no choice.
Peace and quiet are dear to his heart,
And victory no cause for rejoicing.
If you rejoice in victory, then you delight in killing;
If you delight in killing, you cannot fulfill yourself.

and Carl Jung in speaking about the universal "hero's journey" myth said something like this:

In chapter one, he sets out to conquer the universe.
In chapter two, he learns that the universe is not about to be conquered by the likes of him.
In chapter three.... [etc.]
In the final chapter he comes to realize that now, at last, he has conquered himself.

I think I'm still stuck somewhere around 'chapter six'.