How often do you guys form an opinion

That's what we're here for.

as often as necessary

Some people really think I'm a pirate, and look like my sig guy

Yargh! You mean you're not a pirate??!!

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't form an opinion. Like you say, its nearly impossible to really tell what a person is like IRL just from their online personna.

Some people adopt an online personality that is quite incongruous with who and what they're like in person - for whatever reason. Fantasy, roleplay...call it what you will. Some like to make themselves out to be larger-than-life, making up for shortcomings in their own real lives.

Others still are timid when it comes to posting publically, afraid to ruffle feathers or disseminate an opinion in case it comes under attack and they're unable to defend themselves.

I've pre-judged a few people online over the years, wound up meeting them at a convention or social function, and found myself wrong just as many times as I was accurate. A few I've met were dead on-the-money in reality as what I imagined them to be.

Sometimes I get a real 'sixth-sense' about some folks, though - a real solid impression of them online, an element of either genuine goodness or downright malevolence...that I just know deep-down I wouldn't get along with IRL.

I rock ,

most people think my real name is fris :p

Don't fret..some people think my real name is C-unt, could they be right?