Waxing nostalgic? Waxing Poetic? Well, I’m waxing something here.
OK fine, it’s a cheap ploy. But 99.999 to the googleth power % of my threads seem to crash and burn and I wanted people to at least read this one so I went with a sexual innuendo. Sue me.
This is my 2006th thread here at the SDMB. It has no significance whatsoever except that I’ve never felt the need to celebrate post milestones merely for being post milestones and Polycarp said in This thread “I look forward to post #2006” so here I am. I’m hoping not to disappoint.
This could be long. I’ve tricked you into coming, but no one’s forcing you to continue reading, so enjoy my take on what I feel the SDMB means or click onto another thread. Whichever.
I’ve been around for 11 months now and at times it seems like it’s been forever and at times I still feel like a newbie. The phrase “no matter how good you think you are, there’s always someone better” never hits home quite like when you’re trying to post to the SDMB. Whatever the subject, there’s always an expert here with 10 years more experience than you and 10 times the research to refute your ascertation.
I enjoy Science Fiction, but I feel like an illiterate compared to many of you on the boards. I enjoy writing, and there are a number of published authors on the board. I enjoy chess but I’m around a 1400 and I know there are a few 2400s floating around here somewhere. I’m just beginning my study of law and there are numerous lawyers watching and posting in every law related thread out there. And heaven help me if I try to post on something I’m actually less familiar with. Boy will I get called to the mat in those instances. It’s daunting to see such a wide range of expertise.
At the same time, it’s refreshing. This is the most intelligent, thought provoking, kind and sensitive forum on the entire internet, bar none. The concept is to fight ignorance and that’s exactly what happens here on a daily basis. I remember one time I posted a GQ question about a KS politician from 40-50 years ago. I needed to find out his name and I had searched for close to an hour through every search engine and government website I could think of to no avail. I posted my question on here and within 15 minutes I had an answer with a link to a website I hadn’t yet tried. That simply astounded me.
This is a community. IRL, I’ve only met three of you, but I feel as if I know so many many more. I don’t post too often in flirt threads or misery threads or happiness threads or even attend that many Dopefests. But I read and I remember. I learn about you and your life and it’s interesting to watch the changes. It’s interesting to see the changes that have gone on in my life in just the past 11 months and how much that was influenced by the SDMB. I’ve bitched about my job and contemplated my existence and questioned my direction and shared my discoveries. And I’ve learned. And I’ve changed
One of the things that stands out the most as far as changes is my stance towards homosexuality. Don’t get me wrong, I was never against it. But I was never for it either mainly because there was no reason to be. “Some of my best friends” were not gay. I went to a fairly liberal college but I never made friends with any homosexuals. It wasn’t that I shunned them, I just never made friends with any. They weren’t part of my life. But they’re a part of the SDMB and I’ve learned through them. I’m beginning to understand because you can’t be part of a community made up of so many homosexuals without being tolerant. Plus it’s easy to be gay over the internet. You can proudly proclaim “I’m gay!” without worrying about any physical retribution like you may get in real life.
There are a lot of things that are easier to do over the internet than IRL. You know the old saying “never fire until you see the whites of their eyes?” I think the exact opposite is true on the internet. “Keep firing until you see the whites of their eyes.” It’s so much easier to be rude through a written medium. It’s so much easier to be a badass and pithy and GOATFELCHINGFUCKINGSHITHEAD screaming than it is to confront someone in real life. Because here it’s not “real.” The person at the other end isn’t “real.” You don’t have to stare into someone’s eyes, to look into their soul, and tell them the things you can easily do when you’re writing it. That’s a blessing and a curse. It makes it easy to speak your mind, to be honest to someone when they need to hear honesty. It also makes it easier for trolls to mess with people because it’s fun and they’ll never have to meet the people they’re trying to hurt, face to face, eye to eye. Strength in anonymity.
I’d like to thank the mods and admins for cleaning up after the trolls and the daily running of this message board. I don’t think you get enough thanks for the shit you do, for free, every day. This is fun for me and a HUGE time suck out of my day, but I’d never want the responsibility that you take on just to get crapped on for everyone who thinks it’s your fault things aren’t perfect.
I appreciate those that have posted in threads that they’ve laughed at things I’ve written or e-mailed me to say they enjoy what they’ve read from me. Sometimes I feel that put too much importance in “instant gratification.” Why sit down and write a story in the hopes of getting it published a year later when tappity tap, click, I’ve just published it myself, right now? But I love making people laugh and I’m always glad when I do.
Who knows what the future holds? I start school again this week and lord knows that should take up the majority of my time. Theoretically. I’m completely addicted to this board, but I really should wean myself from it for the sake of my studies. But the fun thing is that I can learn so much more on these boards than I’ll ever find in a textbook. I’m paying for school and these boards are free. Go figure.
That’s it. I’m done sentimentalizing. Get back to your regularly scheduled lives, already in progress.
;j
or not…either way.