Different RL and on line personality

[Attheheart]

An acquaintance of mine through a shared interest. Face to face he's lovely (though not attractive and far too young for me, before you start ) always supportive, positive, helpful etc, never has a bad word to say. Recently told me he finished with his last GF after a family dinner because he was horrified at how right wing she and her family were.

Online he is constantly picking fights, really quite obnoxious, criticises everything and his posting history tends towards the right himself.

The online personality is most likely to be the real one? Or not?

Sitting behind a computer or other device allows a person to voice their true opinions but also gives them a sense of bravado in that they be aggressive or argumentative when in the flesh they wouldn’t be so.

He is a mixture of whom you know in person and who he is online.

You can display more than one persona. The one you use at work, for instance, is likely to be different from how you are at home, or down the pub.

I know lots of people I've met online and it is strange how much they differ. Some are really sharp and funny online, I've looked forward to meeting them in person and they're just dull. I was sat at a table of dreary twats at a party and was thinking that these people are always a really good laugh online.
I've also had it the other way round too. Obviously I'm amazing all the time.

I suspect he's a bit of a troll online, god knows why but some people thrive on it.

Some people just aren't very good at writing things down. Also the tone can be easily misinterpreted. I met my DP online. There were a few things he wrote at the beginning that made me raise an eyebrow but I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Thank god I did! He didn't completely change his views though, just wasn't particularly good at setting the correct tone.