Playing On My Fears With The Chat Room's Background Feature

[Joshua_Belyeu]

RoboOp,

Yesterday afternoon, I was carrying on a conversation in the Bible Study room of the Chat app. When I casually mentioned I was afraid of snakes, someone (I don't don't who) immediately switched the background to a coiled rattler. I immediately screamed, freaked out, and left (which I'm pretty sure was their intent). This evening around 8 PM Texas time, it happened again, to an image of a hooded cobra. I was so terrified, I had to block my monitor entirely, and force a shutdown of my PC by holding down the power button.

It is my honest belief that no true Christian should ever purposely increase the genuine fears of another, even in supposed jest. I no longer feel safe in the room, and I ask that you track down and discipline the people who did this. Thank you for your time.

 

[patience]

You can close out of Images , there a X that you click on, But to do that you have to look at your screen for a bit. But there is a X on the right hand side click it then it will close for you.

 

[GaryA]

RoboOp,

If you want to make sure he sees your post, you need to place an '@' in front of his nick/site name like this: @RoboOp

 

[Mem]

RoboOp,

Yesterday afternoon, I was carrying on a conversation in the Bible Study room of the Chat app. When I casually mentioned I was afraid of snakes, someone (I don't don't who) immediately switched the background to a coiled rattler. I immediately screamed, freaked out, and left (which I'm pretty sure was their intent). This evening around 8 PM Texas time, it happened again, to an image of a hooded cobra. I was so terrified, I had to block my monitor entirely, and force a shutdown of my PC by holding down the power button.

It is my honest belief that no true Christian should ever purposely increase the genuine fears of another, even in supposed jest. I no longer feel safe in the room, and I ask that you track down and discipline the people who did this. Thank you for your time.

Your awareness that this fear is irrational, as common of most phobias are, will help you 'face' it and tell yourself, 'This picture cannot harm me.'

 

[Magenta]

RoboOp,

Yesterday afternoon, I was carrying on a conversation in the Bible Study room of the Chat app. When I casually mentioned I was afraid of snakes, someone (I don't don't who) immediately switched the background to a coiled rattler. I immediately screamed, freaked out, and left (which I'm pretty sure was their intent). This evening around 8 PM Texas time, it happened again, to an image of a hooded cobra. I was so terrified, I had to block my monitor entirely, and force a shutdown of my PC by holding down the power button.

It is my honest belief that no true Christian should ever purposely increase the genuine fears of another, even in supposed jest. I no longer feel safe in the room, and I ask that you track down and discipline the people who did this. Thank you for your time.

I am sorry that happened, and I can understand your distress at seeing something that is so disturbing to you.
And I do agree that it certainly was not loving at all for another Christian to do that. One thing you could do if
you would like to return to the chat room and make sure it never happens again, is turn all images off in your
browser. You could just to it while being in the chat rooms, and then turn them back on again. To block images
in your browser, go to Settings > Privacy/Security > Site Settings (or Content Settings) > Images, then select
"Don't allow sites to show images," though dedicated extensions like uBlock Origin offer more control
across browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, providing easier toggling.

 

[Joshua_Belyeu]

Your awareness that this fear is irrational, as common of most phobias are, will help you 'face' it and tell yourself, 'This picture cannot harm me.'

With snakes in particular, its a very deep-rooted fear that goes all the way back to my school days. I think I was in a museum or something, casually passed by one's cage, and it struck at me without any warning. I couldn't have been more than 10 years old, but inside I was half that age. Ever since, I can't stand 99% of snake-related images, be they moving or not. They stay frozen in my mind and heart too, repeating like a broken record.

I am sorry that happened, and I can understand your distress at seeing something that is so disturbing to you.
And I do agree that it certainly was not loving at all for another Christian to do that. One thing you could do if
you would like to return to the chat room and make sure it never happens again, is turn all images off in your
browser. You could just to it while being in the chat rooms, and then turn them back on again. To block images
in your browser, go to Settings > Privacy/Security > Site Settings (or Content Settings) > Images, then select
"Don't allow sites to show images," though dedicated extensions like uBlock Origin offer more control
across browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, providing easier toggling.

The only problem with managing the image settings, is I was really enjoying using the microphone. How could I know if others were seeing me? if I couldn't see myself?

 

[Mem]

With snakes in particular, its a very deep-rooted fear that goes all the way back to my school days. I think I was in a museum or something, casually passed by one's cage, and it struck at me without any warning. I couldn't have been more than 10 years old, but inside I was half that age. Ever since, I can't stand 99% of snake-related images, be they moving or not. They stay frozen in my mind and heart too, repeating like a broken record.

I have a distinct memory of when I was young skipping home on a country road overgrown with weeds on both sides and a snake slithered out from them onto the road. It froze me in my tracks as its body winded across in front of me to the other side. It didn't seem interested in me. It's likely it was on the trail of a field mouse or something. Nonetheless, I ran the rest of the way home I kept my eye on the edge of the road but only noticed a turtle in the marsh after that.

Years later, a friend, even know my hesitance about snakes, placed a little ball python right my shoulders, and again, I froze. He gave to me for a pet, and my daughter loved it. Tho that doesn't necessarily mean I still wouldn't freeze in my tracks if I saw a snake. But, one day, he (I think it was a he) came up missing out of his aquarium and I couldn't find him until I separated a crack in the sectional. He was curled up between there and move his head to look up at me. He was frozen because the sectional was sitting next to the patio doors and it was the deadest of winter and his body temperature is regulated by the weather. Every time I picked him up, which wasn't as often as my daughter didn't mind, I still had to 'prepare' myself and this time wasn't any different, but I could let him freeze to death, so I picked him up and wrapped in my skirt tails until his internal temperature rose back to a more comfortable level for him.

As I think of him lifting his head toward me when found in that pathetic state, the only word I can think of my sentiment for him is, "so adorable.' After all, he is one of God's creations.

With that said, I'm rushing out to get another pet snake.