Have you ever gone back and read some of your earliest threads?
There were some in there I had no memory of starting. I’m looking at them and thinking, “Hey, that’s a darn good question! I wonder what the answer is…”
It helps if they were more than 5 years ago or so. For some of us with terrible memories, a couple years will do.
Sidebar: I have also done this with past college essays and such. I read them and think “I wrote this? I have never heard of this subject before in my life. Did I pay someone else to write this?”
I’ve never been one to start many threads, but I’ll occasionally dig up one of the earlier threads I’ve been involved in. I find that there are some folks who have the knack for consistently asking good questions.
Rarely. Like RandMcnally, I find little of worth in my earliest threads. My contributions were rarely useful and my thread questions were inane or so poorly asked the resultant info was worthless.
I get depressed at seeing how many threads I started that sank like a stone without a single reply. So, yes I’ve done it, but it hasn’t been a joyful experience.
Very often I’ve read an old zombie thread and wishing I could go back in time and explain things to those idiots. I’m often gratified to see an earlier version of me saying exactly what I wished I could go back in time to say.
I do once in a while. I usually run across them if I’m bored and doing a google search of my email address which was part of my signature when this board first started up since that was my AOL user name. Mostly I’m surprised at how bad my grammar and spelling was back then. Also, for obvious reasons, I asked a lot more questions that related to what I was studying at the time. Now, I’m not all that concerned with Advanced Calculus. Hell, some of those threads I can’t even understand anymore. Seriously, I would have to study my ass off for months to be able to read this thread…that I started.
On occasion. I used way too many smilies back then.
Although this thread did inspire me to pull up my retrospective, which lead to about an hour of reading back.
It also made me realize that I need to find a new web host, stat. My contract with IX Web Hosting expires in six days, and while there’s no way in hell I’m going back with them, I don’t want my tales to suddenly have dead links either (it’s bad enough most of the Littest Briston pic links no longer work, I don’t want things like I’m Very, Very, Very, Very, Very Sorry to lose their punch).
I was reading through one zombie the other day when I thought “that guy makes good sense” then noticed in was from me. Blush. Turns out, I agree with my own views!