Actually, skaught, I think the journey into fantasy land is yours in this case. For good or bad, people do, in fact, come here, they do get upset, and I would wager that from time to time they even receive a modicum of happiness as well. (of course - sci, happiness - in the same sentence... well... anyway...)Quite the opposite. Anyone who would come here and get upset about things and take this place and what goes on here seriously obviously has mental health problems.
People also pick up knowledge, socialize and even engage in rational discourse. (no really, it has happened, remember that one thread a couple years back? You know, the one where people were calm and rational, traded knowledge and built upon ideas? Yeah, that one...)
Regardless, Sci does affect people's lives, whether it "should" or not remains open to interpretation.
Without getting too deep into what constitutes "reality", I would ask you this. If you walk away from your computer, how many members of Sci can you name from memory? 25? 50? How many of those can you ascribe attributes to? SAM for example? Or maybe James? Do those name evoke any sense of understanding or knowledge of the person behind those monikers?The only people who can hurt me are the people in my life that I love and care about. What do I care what a group of people on the internet, who I will never meet, think or say about me? Anyone who would get hurt or upset about something done here must really consider this place part of their reality.
Regardless of whether they are on-line "personas", or a reflection of an actual personality, these "people" do influence us, probably even you Skaught. Afterall, when the day is done, what we have here is simply another means of communication. We are talking with our neighbors, whether they be next door, across your continent or half-way round the world. And our neighbors, do, in fact, influence us - they always have, today, yesterday, last year and a millennium ago. Why should it be different now?
Instead of questioning one's sanity for allowing the internet to affect our thought processes, instead I would question someone who is not affected by the ability to talk to people world round, to develop friendships, to feel sad when things go bad for your friends and to be happy when they marry, graduate, lose their virginity or acquire a couple of new kittens. What say ye?