Crikey. I knew the anniversary was coming up, but it wasn't supposed to actually arrive. Great to see some old faces... Wait, that sounded bad. Happy 10th, ya'll.
I remember clearly as 10 years ago I got my dui, refused the breath test and spent a year not driving. I went on a road trip with my brother to his and was crashing at his place in Florida when I tried logging into the RMMB only to be blocked.
I always imagined Nitwit as a giant pervert in a gorilla suit. Was that his avatar? It used to really mess me up when people would change their avatars around.
Have any of y'all given any thought to the fact that he might be dead? Hear me out. He's not on here anymore. How many times did he get banned, and then come back? Binary once told me that while yes, Ballsack was permabanned, he didn't get an IP ban, meaning that he could come back here under a different guise. I was in the can when whatever bullshit culminated in his final ban, but I do remember these details about him before I left: 1) His marriage had just fallen apart 2) He was very disenchanted with his career and life situation in general 3) He had started taking anti-depressants, the side effects of which can sometimes be suicidal thoughts and tendencies (talk about irony...) 4) He had a history of substance abuse 5) He had said multiple times over the years that this place had kept him from committing suicide several times. Add all of that up, and it may have pushed him over the edge. If he was still out there, I have a feeling he would have eventually begged Nett to let him back on here if he played nice (although I doubt Nett would have done that). Or who knows, maybe he just outgrew the place. Anyway, I want to say "Welcome back" to all the members who returned here because of the email; can you returning members tell us why you left for so long? I think I speak for everyone when I say that we've been curious.
He struck me as the kind of person who would make sure to tell anyone who ever wronged him before he killed himself. Most likely he was posting on a dozen other boards and became someone else's problem. Who knows, maybe he is now the sanest poster at ResetEra.
Well, I know why I left for a couple of years... I just needed a break. So many people on here were just doing more of the same bullshit, and it was like being stuck in Ground Hog Day or something. Same fucking shit day after day after day and it was just so boring and loud and that was it, I just had enough, and one day didn't check in. Then that day turned into 2. Then 3... the next thing you know it's 2 years later and I got drunk, started to go through some old bookmarks that I hadn't gone to in a long time... and ran across this. Then I saw the place kind of falling apart, and yet there was @shegirl just fucking hammering away, not giving up, doing her best... and it woke something inside me, and then I came back in and did a big tech update, and have hung around ever since. So really, probably the biggest reason I can think of that this place is still around is her... she refused to give up, and motivated and inspired me to do more. Ever since then I think we've really hit a new stride, and have tried to branch out with more mature content like the gardening, cooking, woodworking, home repair... all that shit that most of us 10 years ago would have scoffed at. Really, that's what keeps me around now... sharing that kind of real life shit with a bunch of strangers that you've known for 10 years.
I disappeared right after RMMB unexpectedly went down and this place and FreakSafari spun up. I honestly didn’t think it was going last and didn’t come back for about two years. Glad to see old members popping by.
I think I had a span where I just one day didn't stop in and then like Nett said, another day passed, and another, and so on. I was more of a lurker anyway. I don't remember what jogged my memory of the site, but then one day I checked in, then started posting more, and now it's a regular part of my daily online rounds. I have a forum site of my own and sometimes people just inexplicably drift away. It sucks when it's a formerly hardcore member, but I've learned there's really nothing you can do to get them back. It is what it is. That said, I'm really interested to see who is prompted by the mass e mail that went out.
This forum is more or less the only place where I know I can have conversations with reasonably intelligent adults. Nearly everyone I know IRL is a moron, and as the internet collapses into nothing beyond social media, it's hard to find the sort of communities that used to exist with forums and IRC. Hell, I'm currently building a coffee table for my living room that I'm kind of proud of, and I'll probably post it here because everyone else in my life will ask why I didn't just buy one.
A quick Google search says that he appears to be alive and well. His employer still has him listed as an employee. I don’t know him, but he put enough information about himself on here to figure out his identity pretty easily, if one were paying attention.
I just walked outside for a smoke and someone in the neighborhood was playing "Popeye the Sailor Man" over and over again on a saxophone. WTF?
I was a "member" of the board when it first started, and I was so happy to see the email about the 10th anniversary. Had some good times with some good people here and I'm hoping to re-kindle that flame.
Well, Well, Well. I was way more active on RMMB than here but it's cool to see I still have an account and it's been 10 years.