Most of you probably don’t know me, and those who do probably don’t remember me, but I used to participate on this board pretty regularly. I actually vaguely remember being on the old AOL board back in the 90’s, but don’t retain much about that experience. I rediscovered the Dope in 2004, and was around until 2010, when I drifted away.
I came back for reasons I’ll get to in a moment. Ironically, I recovered my account around the same time Arnold Winkelried reappeared, and posted a snarky comment in his return threadonly to be one-upped by AzRaek who hadn’t posted since 2005.
I sometimes forget that the Internet is still a New Thing. In the early days it seemed like we were excited to be the first people to use this medium, but now I’m realizing that we’re also the first people to grow old using the medium. Coming back to the SDMB has made me think about a new aspect of our online lives - the unique ability to see the actual conversations we participated in years ago, to revisit who we once were and compare those people to who we are now. But there’s other ways to do that, like high school yearbooks and such. I started asking myself what was different in this case.
So I decided to start a thread, and invite other old geezers like me to join in if they like. The question is, what brings us back?
I don’t expect this to be a very lively thread, might go years between posts. But that’s ok. The question persists. Why return to the dope years after walking away?
While we’re on the topic, what changes have you noticed? How does the place seem different?
To answer my own questions: I recently parted ways with the company I had been working for. It was a brutal job with at least one 16 hour work day per week (usually two or three.) And the pace of the place was intense. It was like being onstage in front of an audience every minute. Walking to the bathroom took me twenty minutes in each direction, because of the number of conversations I would get pulled into just going by people’s desks. I live with my wife, we have a great relationship, but she told me I was having about two conversations with her per month because the rest of the time I was working. Our one vacation I spent on the phone.
When I got away from that place I was completely and utterly drained, spent about a month on the couch like a zombie. Then I started asking myself if I really wanted to plunge into another job like that again, asking if this was really me. That led me to doing some self examination, and at some point I found myself looking up my old posts on the SDMB. The guy I was sixteen years ago was energetic and confident. Had a lot going for him. SDMB helps me remember who I am, and that will hopefully help inform me on where I go next. If not, it’s been an interesting diversion.
What’s different here now? I personally find I am less interested in participating in threads that I know, just by reading the title, how they will go. I miss reading posts about Sampiro’s family. It’s weird that Cecil and Ed are gone.
Someone rezzed your nearly dead dog thread from 2005, not sure if that was coincidental or what…
Welcome back! Would you like some eclairs? They’re delivered by drone now (much more successful than the old tennis-racquet method).