Rapid Switching

[redrainstorm.livejournal.com]

When in a chatroom with alleged multiples, they seem to switch very quickly between their mates. In one comment they're a little, and two seconds later they're a big, and three seconds after that they're an "angry alter", etc. For many reasons other then this though, I believe they're faking. But just wondered if this is possible for others.
I've tried to have my group better at rapid switching where we can switch out quickly and be completely separate while fronting because I think it would benefit certain situations, and I can't do it that fast.
Cofronting is even difficult... Our thoughts are kind of meshed... Or come out as one thought between the two of us. But they don't come out "I want to go!" "Me too!" All in one blurb.
I was wondering if people can truly switch as fast as these people in the chatroom do, because we can't do it even when trying!

Comments

[linnai.livejournal.com]

Have you ever heard of or thought about trying to co-run? Not sure if there's a generally accepted term for it, but that's what we do. Co-running, when several of us are near the front, but no one is in full and complete control. Works well and I guess to someone who isn't familiar with it, would seem like we were faking or doing overly rapid switching.

[ridetothesea.livejournal.com]

I think rapid switching works best in small groups where everyone is really co-conscious and close to the front.

Only if it is the entire House that is switching, I think. Because then it would be difficult to have everyone co-running together in a large group. But smaller groups within the larger group can co-front together just as easily. It is the norm for us, actually.

[lightdestiny.livejournal.com]

We can't switch anything like that fast.

What we can do though is have two or three people up or close to front at once without necessarily getting blurred together. Or we can have one person at front and others throwing comments in from further back, without actually switching out. So if we were in a chatroom and had three people co-fronting, it'd be easyish for us to type thoughts from different people in rapid succession. So, we could easily be typing stuff like "Steve: I want to go!" "Jim: Me too!" "Mabel: Nah, it sounds stupid, I'll skip it" - but we wouldn't have actually switched at all in that time, we were just labelling which thoughts came from which people, because in a chatroom (unlike in real life) it's possible to do that easily. So, uh, maybe that's a possibility?

[inner-clique.livejournal.com]

We switch alot when we're talking with other people but don't say when we're doing it so they think it's just one of us most of the time. sometimes like a person speaking for an age group. some times we let people know but if we had to say who we were all the time it would get crazy so we just don't do that. and most times there are a few of us at the front at the same time and not just one person any ways. LeAnne

[pthalo]

we can switch fairly easily, but if someone's having a conversation then we try not to do it too much during the conversation. on the internet, it's usually - okay, it's my turn to do my stuff, okay, your turn. we even use seperate accounts on our computer, seperate browsers, seperate cookies, etc. if we were in a chatroom, i think if someone else came out because they'd want to talk, they'd want to stick around to have a conversation, not saying two words and then leave.

but some systems are more co-consicous than we are and are able to do several things at once.

[pthalo]

we do do a few things co-consciously, but it takes effort and we don't like doing it around people. for example as children we'd play with dolls and everyone would pick a doll. or we'd play uno or monopoly through dolls. i think our kids still do that, but we don't like doing it around other people.

aside from stuff like that, there aren't many things that most of us are interested in doing all together.

it's kind of like when my friends say "it must be great being multiple! you get breaks!"

yeah, I get breaks from playing on the internet, playing with kitties, watching tv, watching a movie, playing cards, eating pizza... are we seeing a pattern here?

people are generally a lot less interested in giving whoever's out front a break from a migraine or bad period pains.

so if something is sufficiently fun and interesting, we'll have more people interested in taking part. but if it's a conversation, whoever's interested will talk, and we might switch when the topic changes, if whoever's been out got bored and someone else is interested.

[browncoatrebel.livejournal.com]

We only do revolving-door switching when we're really stressed and upset. However, in writing, we all speak. Whoever's fronting writes/types, but anyone who wants to can chime in. So it's not switching, but in a chatroom setting it would enable lots of us to talk. Maybe that's what you're seeing.

Kate

[kiya]

That's pretty much how it works in here. What actually led to my conceptualising the system as plural was a sudden switch.

Most of our life is conducted as a fluid semi-integrated state; at most given moments there will be two and four sharing front and contributing nuances, but the low-impact ones drift in and out without affecting much, and the active ones drift down to low-impact fairly readily.

I don't like the fast switches. They tend to leave me feeling discontinuous.

[refined-mirages.livejournal.com]

We're prone to switching around a lot esp. when stress or bipolar disorder are getting the better of us. We're all very conscience of one another and often times it does lead to conflict which does encourage 'switching'. We also notice that certain words bother each one of us. When talking with someone, certain words that person says can cause switching because one of us is irrate, etc. over an aspect of the conversation.

~Amarantha

[catskillmarina.livejournal.com]

We switch fast sometimes rarely without some sort of
co-consciousness. Most of the 'fast switches' are 'pop-throughs'.

Sometimes we wish we did not switch quickly and sometimes we
wish we had a little less co-consciousness.

--- Miri

[amigone.livejournal.com]

*grins*

Miri is our guardian's name :)

[kangetsuhime.livejournal.com]

This is an impersonation, but very frequently we ((have)) been ((know)) to ((talk)) like ((this)). It ((can)) be ((very)) confusing ((so)) we ((don't)) let ((people)) know. We can also talk 'as one' which is kinda neat, but we've been known to 'switch' several times in a sentence because for us it's not really 100% black and white.

Both Chloe and Michael can be sort of 'typed for' even when they haven't switched full out, so they can 'type' instantly. And even then the worst of them only takes a few lines to take over, though Michael has been known to take longer if he's tired/not interested, and neither stand a chance if my music's on.

[asterism.livejournal.com]

Locke doesn't front yet at all but I can type out his comments if he comes close to the front and hold a conversation at least in the short-term that way. Easier to do it in slower-response stuff like LJ and e-mail than a chatroom or IM window, though.

It's the same with Albi, but a bit easier for her to front, but also harder for her to stay focused.

[fadingtogrey.livejournal.com]

It isn't uncommon for one of us to be having a conversation via AIM with one person while someone else in the system has a conversation under another screen name with the same person or another person. (Trillian is a handy program for multiples!) It's easiest for us to co-front online--much easier than face-to-face.

[kangetsuhime.livejournal.com]

Oooo. We used to do that, but we had to learn to very carefully 'balance' co-fronting. Several times we tried it while more actively switching and got pretty sicky x_X

(Trillian is the win. we have four AIM IDs going at once, plus everything else. Awesome.)

[thehumangame.livejournal.com]

We do that all the time in chats, though it isn't full 'switching'. We're not getting pushed completely away in rapid succession; rather, the two of us are both around and contributing and it's just who has their hands on the keyboard, so to speak, that alternates.

[kyouketsusha.livejournal.com]

95% of the time, it's me who does the typing, even in her journal, but at any time if she wants to speak she can just tell me what she wants to say and I'll type it in for her. Only once or twice has she really fronted specifically to type.

[chorus-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

I"ve had some situations were a group of us were co-concious or fronting as a group abd something happened and we all started trying to say something at the same time...sara wanted to say crap, j'endra wanted to say fuck, i wahed to shit and it just sort of came out in thuis blurt of a mid mash of all of it at once. Usulaaly when we are playing ivdeo games or somehing like that.

[matrexsvigil.livejournal.com]

I guess we co-front, cause really, only a few ever want to talk and/or front. We've learned to switch colors and even fonts quickly on the internet to let people know who's talking. It's harder to let people know who's talking off the computer but most of my friends can tell the differences.

-P.C.

--"Off the Pink."--

[pengke.livejournal.com]

I would say probably not. If someone were physically switching over control of the body that rapidly, everyone's thoughts and responses would end up kind of meshed together. At the very least, your thought processes would get confused from being interrupted constantly. It's like playing one of those rapid exchange word association games where by the end you're going so fast that no one can keep track of who went last and which person said what. The responses would end up being more uniform if they were changing as rapidly back and forth as you're describing.

That's not to say that they're physically switching control of the body. Dictating to one person typing makes it very easy to go back and forth between speakers, especially if the typist isn't participating in the conversation. It's also pretty easy to go from dictating to someone to physically typing yourself and then back again. It's just not one second this person, next second a different person, oh look the first person's back. There's flow.

They could be faking sounding like the little or the angry alter; possibly because they think they need to be distinct to be taken seriously or the typist is trying to recreate how the person is speaking.

[our-menagerie.livejournal.com]

We have always been able to have rapid switching. It started that way for us and the difference is now most of the time we can control it. I think what your seeing probably is real because being around other multiples would tend to bring that out at least in us because everyone would want a chance to talk to everyone else's people you know? It is rare that we are not co-conscious while this is happening though and lots of times we will end up cofronting because if two people want to talk it is easier that way for them both to listen. I dont know what the other reasons are you mentioned, but I have to say dont think someone is faking just because of rapid switching it does happen.

[ques-nova.livejournal.com]

While rapid switching without co-front give us headaches, we'll often relay messages for each other. I have two in particular who are close to a friend of mine and so they will hold conversations with her, by me relaying messages for them, so that I can continue what I'm doing as well. It's possible the people you see are just multitasking as such or that they are in fact rapid switching. If need be, we can switch front rapidly, like I said, it just give us headaches.

[cyanocitta.livejournal.com]

We tried a sort of rapid-switch years ago, during a Monopoly game with a couple of friends. Two of us played as separate pieces... it was pretty fun, but not easy.

[posywink.livejournal.com]

It's very rare for us to pull off a complete blink-of-an-eye switch. Either a few of us share driving duties, or else one person drives while one to three more people ride shotgun. Think of a television interview during which a group of people sits on couches or something. The interviewer directs a question to the group, and any member of the group can answer it. Conceivably, more than one person will contribute a response. You won't see two or more members of our team talking in unison, although people might be battling to squeeze a word in edgewise. :) And we sometimes finish each other's thoughts.

-- Kara, Patrick, and Zoe
(Kara typed; Patrick and Zoe sat alongside her and contributed)

[ridetothesea.livejournal.com]

We tend to front in groups, usually of about three people. Rapid switching between those already at front and co-fronting together is easy. However, if we tried with others, it would be wildly confusing and would cause problems. We could do it, but not for long because it would be too uncomfortable. Mostly I think because three is the most we've gotten used to handling at one time. It's our personal limit.

And I agree with the concept that relaying messages to the front is not switching, though in text it can appear to be.

[comixologist.livejournal.com]

As Navi mentioned in our intro post, some of us seem to be median in that we switch very rapidly between a small group of us - Kelly and I swap out a lot, and occasionally Syd and Sky will do the same type of rapid-switching. In these cases, for us, it's that we do tend to co-front, in a sense. It can happen very quickly, but I don't think that it takes place as quickly as you're describing, for us, unless we're under extreme distress. And then, it's less that one of us is pushed out of the way completely, as that the other gets a few words in edgewise. When speaking with others in-person, many people don't realize that we're co-fronting at all. In text, we tend not to identify who is speaking in particular, unless it seems really, vitally important to differentiate (as with incongruent opinions during a discussion, speculation, etc).

For a lot of us, when talking in person, it's disorienting because there may be a moment of lag between realizing whether or not the co-fronter used the body's mouth to vocalize, or whether it was more of a whisper in the back of one's mind. In text, we have less disorientation because we are always looking at what's being typed, and online we have more a sense of contributing as part of a group. Does that make any sense?

Jo.

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

A lot of the time what happens with us is that various people hanging around near to the front are commenting and the person at front types it, not that people actually take turns using the body.

So it might look like we're switching a lot, but actually it just means internal communications are running very well (and that a lot of people feel like being social).

One of the possibly "odd" things about us is that the person talking on AIM or whatnot may not be the one who's using the body-- sometimes that person is typing it for them. (Or this may be really common; I haven't asked enough to get a good idea.)

We aren't very good at switching at will-- there are times when it seems to be more or less random.

[ricktboy.livejournal.com]

we're really good at switching out fast, and co-fronting, with sometimes all of us at once(although, since we have voices that are distinct, it can get muddled in RT conversations)but online, it's easy for us to switch out quick, and we do it frequently, where wolf will be talking to his boyfriend, I'll be chatting, and Tara will be writing fic with someone, Faith talking with someone else, etc...

we've been doing it for a long time, and role playing helped us hone it, because myself, liz, faith, tara and wolf all used to play in an online rp as different characters...so it kind of helped us get used to it.

Rick
Pack Collective

[meirya.livejournal.com]

From what I've observed of the boyfriend's system - normally they can't switch quickly (how quickly they switch depends on how close people are to front and how close of attention people pay to the front, I think); it'll take a few moments, and it doesn't look easy. But occasionally they'll be in "revolving door" sort of states, where they'll start doing rapid switches and it's like no one really has conscious control over it, or the "grip" on the front is loose so it's really easy for someone to poke their head out. This generally happens when either everyone's interested in what's going on "outside", or when no one wants to be up front.

It gets confusing when you're associating with someone who's in revolving door state. I'll know I'm talking to one person, and suddenly it's different mannerisms and everything and I'll be very confused, and as soon as I figure out who it is - someone else is out! @_@ When it's really bad, I just give up (generally with their blessing) on trying to identify who's out when (in those instances, anyway).

So yes, I've seen fairly rapid switching, though not nearly as rapid as you seem to have seen. I'd place my bets on the theory most people have put forth, that one person is typing all the comments from the peanut gallery.

[hetchel.livejournal.com]

Pretty icon!

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Crist-Erui is lightning-fast - he 'flickers' in and out of corporeality all the time, often for just a few seconds. He can be so subtle about it that I don't even realize he's done it until I go to talk or move, and find I can't because he's 'taken the helm'. Then he'll laugh at me, flicker out, and I have volition once more. It can get pretty annoying when I'm trying to do something.

He isn't online, though. He won't even look at the computer screen when he's 'up' (though he can see it, as we determined by posting photos of his puppy online); when he flickers in while I'm typing, invariably he gets up and walks away from the computer.

I'm pretty fast myself - at least, when one of my 'brothers' relinquishes the helm, I can take it over without much of a hesitation, although it's harder to do if I've been incorporeal for a long time. Still, I don't think the pause would be noticeable to anyone who didn't already know what was going on.

Kír's fairly slow, though he's gotten faster in the past year or so. Partly it depends on what he's doing - it takes him longer to be ready to talk, type or stand up than it does for him to drive, for instance. He likes to drive, and he's good at it - yeah, better than me, I admit - so he does a lot of it when we're alone in the car, or on long road-trips when all our passengers are asleep or being quiet.

He's able to 'switch in' very fast, but he's only done it three or four times - the first time was in November 1971, in a serious crisis, and that was the only time he took corporeal form until February 1998. It's a painful and very disorienting thing to do, so he doesn't do it unless it's really necessary. What he prefers is to take form while sitting quietly with his back straight and supported, so he can take his time to get used to corporeality before he has to try moving.

Neither of us are willing to 'take dictation'. I do a fair amount of relaying (brief) messages for him verbally, because I'm 'up' a lot more than he is - it doesn't make sense for him to have to go through the whole process of taking form just to say "hello" when I'm already there and can just say "Kír says hello". I'll help him type, as best I can, but I won't type for him, because that just leads to tedious disputes between us, especially if the topic is a controversial one. Nope nope - I won't be responsible for his opinions or whatever, and he's sure as heck not responsible for mine; we speak for ourselves alone.

Heh, I guess one could say Crist-Erui speaks for himself alone too, but not because we disagree with his opinions (to whatever extent he actually has them.) He used to not speak English at all, so the only way we had to understand what was going on with him was through emotions and impulses, and that wasn't very clear. He still doesn't really speak it to us, except a few words he uses to express his desires ("mine dog", "echo dark", "berries", "north") but he's gotten to where he can hold a somewhat-comprehensible conversation with his friends.

By 'comprehensible' I mean there's enough English in it that one can more-or-less figure out what he's saying, though what he means by it may still be completely obscure. His sentences tend to be something like this: "Mine a [unknown] is a go, mine Kírusai say [unknown unknown], I take it, is a thing say no, is a big bird [unknown] fly in a place mine, I jump on a water, hoo, is mine a cold, mine Kírusai say no no, hah! so bad me!

LOL, Kír says I'm exaggerating, and I guess I am, but only a bit. There's no WAY I would ever sit and try to 'take dictation' for that kind of stuff - it would drive me crazy, it would make no sense to a reader, and everybody except his realtime friends would think it was faked bullshit. I totally don't see how adults in 'systems' with children can stand to sit there and watch them type in Lilspeak.

If I'm talking to one person in a 'system', I'm talking to that person, not to the whole 'system'. I don't appreciate other people popping in to take over, any more than I'd appreciate it if I was talking to a singleton and the other members of their household kept grabbing the phone or keyboard away without warning to stick their $.02 in.