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Why we post on Internet forums


Orogun01

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To be honest after 2 shots of whiskey i'm a little bit tipsy, which it's probably why I got enough courage to do this.

 

After a recent (the last 2 hours) self reflection I've been wondering about the need for a human connection and how that relates to internet posting. I feel a sense of community in here, people I know and may agree or disagree with, people we've lost, and this place allows me for an outlet that my ordinary life doesn't.

We are social creatures; even when isolated, we validate ourselves through the reflections of others and I ask myself why do others keep coming here? Now I ask you, why do you keep posting on the net?

I'd say the answer to that question is kind of like the answer to "who's the sucker in this poker game?"*

 

*If you can't tell, it's you. ;)

village_idiot.gif

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hm. given some of the repetitive arguments that can spring up... the 2am answer that springs to mind is "intellectual masochism" :mellow:

"Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."

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hm. given some of the repetitive arguments that can spring up... the 2am answer that springs to mind is "intellectual masochism" :mellow:

Well said! :teehee:

 

As to Oroguns post, I participate in three or four boards including this one and I lurk on a few others. As for why, I guess it is jst for the "conversational" value. I've been posting with some of the folks here all the way back to the BIS days, more than 10 years now. Unlike the other boards I visit there are a lot of folks here from Europe, Austrailia, New Zealand and other places so you get to hear a wide range of opinions and life experiences which is really what appeals to me about this forum.

Edited by Guard Dog

"While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before"

Thomas Sowell

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I just get along really well with quite a few posters here. It isn't that we all share similar opinions or lifestyles, but something just makes it easy to converse with the folks here. I don't have many really close friends that I talk about everything with, other than my wife, but I find myself being able to do that here. It's great.

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Because I enjoy being around people I despise. Why I work with the English, after all.

Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

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This is one of the few places that I feel I actually have a connection with people. Granted we may disagree, I feel like there's an unmentioned respect for one another. There's also a nice blend of intellect, seriousness, humor, and fore... horse play.

Stand Your Convictions and You Will Walk Alone.

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Guest The Architect

I'm here for one reason only - to make Shryke's life a living hell. :mellow:

 

I post on here because it's therapeutical for me. I can talk openly about my problems on here with confidence because I know that even if I am ridiculed, the anonymous nature of the internet doesn't allow for the same consequences as it would for opening up to people more in person. Also, I've been an external student for nearly four and a half years. Apart from two Winter school classes, I haven't had the chance to meet new people, so it gets... lonely isn't the right word, but dull. Your curiosity gets the better of you and you want to learn more about the people who post here, because some of them get your attention, in ways that some people couldn't in real life because it's not uncommon for people to act differently on the internet than they do in person.

 

Reading topics on here, making fun of people and occasionally venting is all good fun for me. I've learnt a lot about life and people on internet forums. I've lurked on quite a lot of them, joined a few, but this one and BigFooty are the only one's I'll always stick around for. I don't think I could have learnt the same things from interacting with people in person, because of how vaguely I disclose personal information. People usually want to give as good an account of themselves as possible, but when you feel that there are things about you, or things that have happened to you, that make you feel inferior, or like some kind of loser, you can understand why a person would keep tight lipped about their past. My experiences with socialising in person have always been very superficial, people are very reluctant to talk about their problems, or anything touchy like your views on medicine, politics, or spirituality.

 

I've been made fun of for being quiet, my somewhat androgynous looks, my medical condition (acute idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, which means that I usually have a low platelet count and am advised not to play contact sports). I've done some really stupid things, too, so all this has affected me more than people know, but I've never once complained or opened up to people about it, except for my mum (and not to the full extent), and the internet, of course. It provides a secret outlet for me that I don't have at my disposal in person, but I don't think it's right to lay all your baggage on a person anyway. Of course, you have to be careful about where you tell people personal stuff on the internet, but on a site like this, it's all good.

Edited by The Architect
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I'm here for one reason only - to make Shryke's life a living hell. :shifty:

 

gotta try a bit harder then Archie. coz so far hell's pretty sweet :*

 

i initially started posting here because of baley. i was lurking and saw a silly ms paint thread he made

i was bored, and needed a good laugh, of which this place has provided many :)

when your mind works against you - fight back with substance abuse!

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Socialization is mentally tiring & does not typically energize me. Even w/spouse or best friend, if away on a trip (that constant togetherness) you can literally set your watch by when I start to get cranky & impossible to get along with if I can't be alone for a while. Ppl who need daily (or even weekly...) contact/validation in order to feel 'close' aren't ppl who remain friends for long.

 

But internet interaction doesn't tire me out in the same way (you can choose the level of interaction/involvement) & since even folk like myself still like to talk/interact, it's a nice way to get a bit more of that on a daily basis w/out it equaling a need for extra mental recuperation.

 

Beyond that...I like helping people (answering questions on topics I may know) and I like sharing...both seeing what others have to share and sharing my own things when I have some. I'm one of those people who has a difficult time keeping creative motivation if no one is going to *see* the result. I don't care how many see it...just that someone does (or the illusion that someone has), if that makes sense. :shifty:

“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts
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"Now I ask you, why do you keep posting on the net?

"

 

Fun.

 

Volos day is not complete unless he has driven at least one person nuts. :shifty:

"While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before"

Thomas Sowell

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To be honest, I enjoyed the forums more in the heyday of awesome posters like Baley, Musopticon, Schmart and Pixiesrock, around the time of the Atomic Danger Squad. Nowadays I'm here more out of familiarity that anything else. There are quite a few cool guys from that time that still post here, but it isn't the same to me, any more.

 

Nevertheless, I still game, and to me Obsidian is the only mainstream developer that seems to be trying to take narrative game anywhere interesting. I wouldn't mind seeing Obsidian do an actual spiritual successor to System Shock 2.

 

 

Baley was really an awesome poster. The kid could actually write.

"My hovercraft is full of eels!" - Hungarian tourist
I am Dan Quayle of the Romans.
I want to tattoo a map of the Netherlands on my nether lands.
Heja Sverige!!
Everyone should cuffawkle more.
The wrench is your friend. :bat:

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R00fles!

 

 

Searching the members list isn't too hard.

"My hovercraft is full of eels!" - Hungarian tourist
I am Dan Quayle of the Romans.
I want to tattoo a map of the Netherlands on my nether lands.
Heja Sverige!!
Everyone should cuffawkle more.
The wrench is your friend. :bat:

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To be honest, I enjoyed the forums more in the heyday of awesome posters like Baley, Musopticon, Schmart and Pixiesrock, around the time of the Atomic Danger Squad. Nowadays I'm here more out of familiarity that anything else. There are quite a few cool guys from that time that still post here, but it isn't the same to me, any more.

 

Nevertheless, I still game, and to me Obsidian is the only mainstream developer that seems to be trying to take narrative game anywhere interesting. I wouldn't mind seeing Obsidian do an actual spiritual successor to System Shock 2.

 

 

Baley was really an awesome poster. The kid could actually write.

Yeah....if talking about this forum only, I'm pretty much the same.

Does anyone ever hear from some of the 'missing' old-timers or are they completely gone w/the wind?

“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts
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