It's really odd visiting this place only one or two times a week. Reading posts, getting board because they fly onto a hundred pages. Seeing the tail end of inside jokes that have evolved throughout the discussion. Well I should say conversation, since every discussion degenerated into old members talking too each other.
I wish I could see what you all saw in this place. I take that back, I don't want to. This international exchange is something that will take over this world. Not to make you feel impowered but, hey, I don't give a shit. Most of this online nonsense is fun to look at. To guess what the person behind the pots is. I wonder how many people tell the truth on this place, I'm guessing....hmmm....maybe 30 percent.
Yeah, that seems plausible.
I wonder how many people actually believe what they say or write about, or they use this place to create their own view on the world.
Man, this is good shit, I bet I'm really offending someone here. I wonder what the response to this gibberish is going to be. I hope someone rights be off with some hate posts, that would make my day.
Shwing. Oh yeah!
Sorry, had to. But anyway, know I am rambling and filling space. Hehehe. My dog is walking away now. He's really tired.
Now think, was that a lie or truth?
Answer: Do you care?
NO!!!!!!!!!

I hope someone replies to this. Everyone always replies to other peoples', I hope people reply to me.

Empowered is spelled with an 'E'


Troll is spelled with a 'T'

He's not a troll, he's a just kid in Wisconsin trying to make sense of all this craziness.

Here's a hint: participation is not mandatory.

That is all.

quote:

---

Originally posted by pinklefoot:
...or they use this place to create their own view on the world.

---

I know I use the 'world creating power TM' of WGB everyday.

For instance, just yesterday I formed a new world with all the customisations I desired! (wombats as pets etc etc)
It was great! Unfortunately I forgot to create a functioning system of physics and my perfect world tore itself apart in the first 3 seconds.

It was fan-fucking-tastic while it lasted.

Further hint: we were all n00bs once...

Also, I suspect most of us are pretty goofy anyhow.

Hey, are you high? You kind of sound high.

I was never a n00b, I was born with a fully formed sense of internet etiquette and intimate knowledge of every inside joke in the world.

I applied for the X-Men, but they turned me down. According to them my abilities were 'wussy powers'. What a bunch of elitist assholes.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Spiff:
I applied for the X-Men, but they turned me down. According to them my abilities were 'wussy powers'. What a bunch of elitist assholes.

---

I applied too, they have a PDF file on their careers page, but I hear you have to "know" somebody... jeesh

two years ago, when the board first allowed signups, i joined and had quite a lot fun for a few weeks discussing with the 20 or so other odd freakazoids crazy enough to be puttering around and immersed in the net enough to have spotted this new nodal point. then someone told slashdot and the board grew exponentially overnight. the trauma was enough to make me stop posting for over a year when i went through almost the same thought process you lied about in your post above. one day i got over it, accepted the fact i was never going to be able to read every damn thread here, and ran with the ones that seemed the most interesting. i have never looked back, except you know, to see some bit of stupidity i might have uttered way back in 03.

Paul Feyerabend's posthumous book 'Conquest of Abundance' argues that every theory we build is some sort of attempt to cope by limiting the rich complexity of the real world down to a size we can cope with. Treat the board the same way, and you'll be fine... Or else, mortgage your Real Life(TM) and spend an adequate amount of time in here, dammit!

First, I find it interesting that the topic you chose for this thread was "addiction."

So, two things. First the insiderness comes from the same relatively small group of people talking to each other over a period of, what is it now? Almost two years? That's inevitable. If you like the conversation, all you have to do is hang around for a while, be polite, and post every so often (some of our most esteemed and cherished members have yet to post past 1000 - so it's definitely not post count that counts. I'm a perfect example as the vast majority of my posts are complete rubbish, this one hopefully not included.)

Second, I think that this board has an unusually high number of regular posters who stick pretty close to Real Life in their online musings. In the end, though, it doesn't really matter as you know all you have to know in this environment about the person by what they write.

quote:

---

Originally posted by elecktrik dragon:

...someone told slashdot and the board grew exponentially overnight...

---

Who is "slashdot"? Some blabby ass?

quote:

---

Originally posted by pinklefoot:

I wish I could see what you all saw in this place. I take that back, I don't want to.

---

Well, I'm going to tell you anyway, and you'll take it and like it. I found this place quite by accident, doing a google search for the heretofore mysterious Alien 3 screenplay. Hadn't read a Gibson novel in years. Found, to my surprise, an articulate and provocative bunch of people posting on the off-topic forum here, threw in my oar in a thread about books, and have been troll-in-residence ever since. I learn stuff here, and I get some laughs from the other members, too. It's not any more complicated than that.

Meta muse mode ON!

I think it is a very common mistake to think that Real Life and The Internet are separate things, and that that mistake is behind the "I don't understand what you see in this" complaint.

I don't visit this site because it is The Internet, I visit it because I have met interesting people here. It's not that much different from how my friends and I used to hang around in a few certain areas on campus when I was in university. It was a place to go where you could expect to meet some people you know and have some interesting conversations. This online nonsense is pretty much like that offline nonsense, no better or worse.

(Well, there is a bit of a thrill in transcending geography. I'm not trying to suggest there are no differences at all between online forums and meeting people in the flesh, just that those differences are no more significant than, say, the differences between meeting a person in a library and meeting a person at a concert or in a pub.)

You're right about this being a conversation thing and not a discussion thing, but discussions without conversations get dull pretty quickly, don't you think? I wouldn't want to go to a meeting place in Real Life to hear people air their viewpoints day after day. I'd much rather go some place to have a conversation. I feel the same online.

Most people online are about as honest as people are offline. (You think nobody lies in real life about their age, or their job, or whether they're married or not?) It's easier to lie, so perhaps people do it more often, but I have never had any problem with that. I generally find that the people I'm interested in getting to know better are also the ones who have been honest from the start.

And about your dog, no, I'm not really interested. But I wouldn't be interested in real life either, because I don't know you or your dog. On the other hand, I talk to people I know online, and I might be interested in hearing about their dogs from time to time. Just like Real Life. Because it is real life.

P.S. If you only visit a couple of times a week then no doubt some conversations are going to be difficult to follow. You should try to pick and choose which threads you are interested in so you can go back when you visit next and pick up on all the comments. It's unfortunate but what can you do? You can hardly expect the people who are here more often (for whatever reason) to hold off posting so that the less fortunate (or less interested) will be able to follow along.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: colin,

Well said Colin. I'd just like to add:

quote:

---

Originally posted by colin:
Well, there is a bit of a thrill in transcending geography.

---

I think the internet helps make the world smaller
on an emotional scale. You hear about bombings in
Spain and all of a sudden it matters because
you're wondering if JRE and his family are
alright. You hear about the earthquake or giant
lizard in Japan and you wonder about Colin and
his family. You hear that it's really fucking
cold in Edmonton and you wonder about Pauline
and the Bravii (now there's a band name).
You hear about this cool public program in
Daneland and you become envious of all those
boardmembers living there.

What's your dog's name?

now that there are a few respectable, elegant and insightful posts regarding this thread topic, allow me to now relay my own tidings of good fucken cheer.
so. pinklefoot. it appears that this forum is a pretty insignificant part of your life. well, you're pretty insignificant to this forum. i hope your above post was written in a flash of emotion or some kind of sullenness. if it's to be taken literally, then you, are an ultra-maroon. quit lowering the curb-value here and quietly get the fuck oot won't you? jackass.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mean Old Man:

Who is "slashdot"? Some blabby ass?

---

Slashdot is a website where people post (from their windows machines) about how much windows sucks and Linux rulez. Slashdot is a website where students who have never held a real IT job in their life post about how clueless most sysadmins are. Slashdot is a place where zealotry is rewarded and honesty is labeled either -1 flamebait or -1 troll. Slashdot is the most wretched hive of scum and villiany that you will ever encounter.

I probably post there at least three times a day.