Online Persona

In society there are certain social 'rules' which everyone abides by. These rules are not necessarily stated, they are purely what society recognises as the correct way to act or the 'norm'. Online we also have these acknowledged 'rules', for example, we understand how to present ourselves in emails, and we are aware of how colloquial or formal we can be.
Because of this accepted form of online writing how are we able to present ourselves as individual from others over the net? People build an identity through their persona and how they show themselves to others online, whether through a nickname on a forum, a photo on a personal page etc.
The Internet is, to many, a wonderful thing, but it is still restricting. Online chat rooms and forums allow connections between people via typed words, there is no speech and no body language/facial expressions. It is therefore unsurprising that many people form an 'identity' online to make themselves differ from the masses. However, there are extremes to this online identity creating.
Lister et al suggests that "the Internet facilitates the development of different experiences of identity and different experiences of group belonging". It is correct that the Internet allows identities to be formed at such ease, unlike in real life, there is no one "left out" online as everyone seems to be accepted. For example, if you are homosexual you are able to meet in certain forums and meet other people like yourself etc.
For many, forming an online identity allows you to make your mark on the net, to be more than just typed words, however there are many people who use the Internet to form a whole new form of identity for themselves, one which differs completely from their real life person.
Critics may call this, forming of an online identity, a way for people to hide behind what is real and the problems in the persons real life.

I think that forming an identity online which is completely different to your own self could be dangerous and may get out of hand, how can you be aware that the person you are pretending to be is not just a stereotyped form. People online can not be seen or heard, and if you do not tell anyone, no one knows who you are, this sometimes gives people the confidence to say exactly what they think, something which could potentially be harmful to the person reading. This is unlikely to happen in real life because we hold these conventional 'rules' and social norms, we are bought up knowing that we cant just be rude to someone in real life.