Just Curio.us

Before I get swept up in the whirlwind of my Myspace long-term affair, I had a brief embrace with an interesting and entertaining site. I was introduced to it on one of the many threads that appeared on Knight’s blog during our daily time-wasting sessions, but unlike the others that merely tippled I became somewhat of an addict.

JustCurio.us describes itself as “Strangers helping Strangers” and that was it in a nutshell. The simple concept was that you posted questions anonymously and then others answered them, about anything and everything. It offered complete anonymity apart from revealing your location. In general it was a hive for general teenage drivel and lots of spam but occasionally thought provoking debate was started. The more I frequented it, the more I noted that in fact there were some intelligent and clever people from around the world, oh and a curious character called RED who not only spammed but also could change his country through various hacks.

I soon became enthralled in the randomness of the whole place and the 24/7 nature it evoked with the international audience. It was this that lured me into late night internet talking, improving my touch typing no end! And the more you answered and read the more the anonymity drifted away; soon I could identify a few characters just from their location, unique style of writing and question posed. There was a diplomat from Serbia, a house-wife from mid-Texas, a mature mystical lady singleton and a Canadian music fanatic. In the midst of the anonymity we began to not only recognise and learn about each other but also had tricks for signalling to each other. So questions would draw us in and our conversations would then roll into topics completely unrelated. Unfortunately the nature of the site meant that any information you did share was forever up there for all to see, so there was little way to form contact outside of the realms of this ever evolving site.

One particular character singled me out, I think we shared many common interests music, a fascination with the world and a general positive outlook. The Canadian made sure to flag to me every night and when the site eventually filled a server or two and was on the verge of being brought done for maintenance, it was he  who threw me a rope and pulled me into a forum where many of these intelligent people had congregated to discuss things free from the prying eyes of others. It was all elaborate and one had to pass the stringent rules of the Serbian diplomat to even be allowed to sign on.

Unfortunately once I entered this world the anonymity was pushed away swiftly and almost too fast for me. Discussion was more directed and it was evident that many did not approve of my age or feel I had a sound contribution to make. But one stood by me, he messaged me frequently on there and we exchanged emails. All I knew him as was the Koala and all he knew me as was Donks. I found out more about him, he was in his forties, single and a real music buff but the general negativity I felt in the forum saw me drift quickly away.

I say negativity, it was probably more a need for me to be the centre of attention and feeling I had no contribution to make. They discussed world issues, music from before I was born and a lot of debate over the role of women in society, and I wasn’t ready for seeing the bleakness and social corruption in countries like Serbia. It was a world away yet it tore at my heart!

So time passed and I became embroiled in the Myspace rise, but once again the ever gallant Canadian bear tracked me down there. Long exchanges occurred and he would reimerge every so often, even aroused some male envy but I never saw him as anything but a sweet and intelligent virtual friend. In some of his messages I thought he may be a little too interested in a girl half his age, but I realised that actually we had shared some pretty enlightening moments and he wished to show he cared.

Still to this day we chat on facebook occasionally and he leaves me a little message or a “LIKE” and I know that that Canadian Koala is still around and smiling.

A beautiful indication that a long friendship out of the depths of the internet world can be sparked when you are just curious...