Talking to Strangers

I read an interesting blog about the writer's adventures in talking to strangers. She used a website called Omegle to talk to ten random strangers and see what sort of conversations she had.

Her ratio of good conversations to shitty ones was 2:8. I was interested to see if this ratio is common, so I repeated the same experiment to compare results. However, I did 15 chats because I wanted a bigger pool to choose from, to have more accurate results. Also, I had a lot of time on my hands. I didn't post good conversations, since that isn't entertaining. Out of fifteen conversations, I ended up with eight good chats (a boring guy from Iran, a nice guy named Johan, a friendly girl named Jenny, an enthusiastic girl gamer who had just gone shopping, a sad person of indeterminate gender who doesn't like people, and talks to their pet bird ("at least the bird likes me."), a sixteen year old who I reassured about being a late bloomer, a 28-year-old from Indonesia named Ifran who had just made a friend in Brazil, and the most ADORABLE little 14-year-old boy from the UK who gave me relationship advice) and seven bad chats. The 'bad' ones follow.

ONE
Connecting to server...
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
You: Hullo!
Stranger: ello
Stranger: are you an idiot?
You: Um, I don't think so.
You: Why, are you?
Stranger: what are your thoughts on transcending the boundaries of our space and time?
You: I think that any transcending of boundaries, especially those presented by such solid obstacles as space and time, should be done with great care and much forethought.
Stranger: do more drugs
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

TWO
Connecting to server...
Looking for someone you can chat with. Hang on.
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: Hi. I'm a 19 year old male who looks for a female to have cybersex with! ;)
You have disconnected.

THREE
Connecting to server...
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
You: Hello!
Stranger: hey
Stranger: from?
You: USA. Yourself?
Stranger: denmark
You: Cool, cool.
Stranger: m or f?
You: Female.
Stranger: age?
You: 19.
Stranger: 20
Stranger: do u have msn?
You have disconnected.

FOUR
Connecting to server...
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: hi 16 f scotland
You: Greetings!
Stranger: haha
You: 16? Do your parents know you're chatting with strangers?
Stranger: its just chatting
Stranger: and im 16 its not as if im 10
You: I guess. If you were my daughter, I'd probably be worried.
Stranger: why
You: Because sixteen is awfully young. You're very impressionable.
You: There are some really awful people on this site.
Stranger: i no but a can disconnect
You: I guess so, yeah.
Stranger: ok
You: What's your favorite chat you've ever had on Omegle?
Stranger: emm dont realy have one
You: Have you enjoyed any of them?
Stranger: emmm i honestly don tknow
You: If you don't enjoy the chats, why do you still chat?
Stranger: there all the same like - hows you where you from etc
Stranger: stop all teh questions
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

(Shame, I thought that one was really going somewhere.)

FIVE
Connecting to server...
Looking for someone you can chat with. Hang on.
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: hi
You: How!
You: What's up?
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

SIX
Connecting to server...
Looking for someone you can chat with. Hang on.
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: Hi
You: Greetings!
Stranger: Hey........I am Ricky from australia....you?
You: I'm Ginny, from the USA. C:
Stranger: nice name
You: Thank you!
Stranger: So can we be friends?
You: Um, sure, I guess!
Stranger: Are you student?
You: Yes, I am. What about you?
Stranger: same here
Stranger: are u on facebok?
You: Yup.
Stranger: can I add u?
You: Nope!
Stranger: ok
You: Fbook is for my real life friends, sorry.
Stranger: Just wanted to see ur pic
Stranger: :)
You: Ohh, sneaky!
Stranger: ?
You: You could've asked for a picture, you know.
Stranger: ok I ask
You: And I decline.
Stranger: fuck off
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

SEVEN
Connecting to server...
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: Any crossdresser with cam?
You have disconnected.

EIGHT
Connecting to server...
Looking for someone you can chat with. Hang on.
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
You: Greetings, Mortal.
Stranger: sweden
Stranger: haha
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

I am intrigued by the fact that the majority of my chats were good, compared to others' results, which tended towards the majority of results being negative. I think that in order for this experiment to really have solid results, MANY more chats needs to be undertaken. Also, there need to be constants, such as how one greets the other, how one reacts, etc. We also need to define what makes a 'good' conversation versus a 'bad' one. For instance, some might argue that my conversation with the 16-year-old from Scotland wasn't a 'bad' conversation at all - only a short one.

In any case, I'm intrigued not only with the results, but with this site. The concept is incredible. Expect much more to do with Omegle in this blog in the future!