Getting Old On The Internet

[milly balgeary]

Ain't that a trick? Check out SilentSigh. She was a teen when she started writing posts here and now she's in grad school I think. We are GETTING OLD ON THE INTERNET. We are seeing fads come and go in this digital life. Some people have gone, over the hills and far away, some people have stuck around in a limited fashion, some folks have become more truthful representations of their true selves. I know I count myself in both the second and final category, like an ugly street terrier doberman mix.

I was looking for my lighhouses passing in the night post from 2008 because the girl I referenced as a co-worker who was a ship that was passing -- and I are pretty close these days, and I was struck dumb by it all.

Someone needs to write a history of a bunch of weirdos posting to a web forum. Anyways:

What memories/what phases/ of this forum do you remember with the most fondness? What fluctuations and changes, and what moments did you like the best?

My favorite was when Andrew TSKS and I got in a fight over the publishing industry and we both went shankfucking mad. I also liked when Marie and I pretended to be brother and sister.

[The_Tourist]

one of my fondest memories of this forum wasn't actually this forum, but the IRC channel that was going for a while.  i can't even remember when that was (2006?), but me and AK and morgan and whoever else would chat it up pretty regularly while it lasted.

[Anne the Man]

I liked that girl who wouldn't sit next to mackro on the bus because of his hormones. That thread seems to be lost now, but it was funny.

Lots more, good thrad, will post again later.

[clare]

I dunno, I was already old when I started posting here, and all I've done is got older...but it is interesting to see people grow up, for sure!

[Chet]

I was 20.
I am now 25.
Crazy.

[elpollodiablo]

I've been posting here seven years as of August 3rd. 

[Nick Ink]

Since I joined this board, I've had a child, moved continent, had two ops on a brain tumour and one hip replacement, bought a house, celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary and become increasingly steadfast in my dedication to ambient drone.

[FreddyKnuckles]

Yeah I'm coming up on 7 yrs nov 1.  So yeah I was a sophomore in college and I partied a lot and played a lot of video games... uh. I lived in a shit hole of a house.  Then about a year later I moved to an apartment that had a squirrel and fun neighbors and hot neighbors and I'm still dating one of them... yeah, but college and law school done while an lptjer.



oh yeah but do you know what freaks me out a little?  When parents make a FB page for their infant and then post pictures to it and stuff.  So what happens?  Like when the kid turns 12 or whatever the appropriate age is they just take over the premade account?   Could the next generation have their entire lives catalogued online from birth to death?  Or at least from age 12 to death?   

[peacocks]

haha Nick that is a LOT of growing and changing!

I was 19 when I started lurking/posting, now I'm less than a month away from 27. I took several long breaks and changed a lot, I think. Reading my old posts sometimes I want to facepalm and other times I have no recollection of what or who I was talking about! I lost my virginity, became a vegetarian, really almost dropped out of college, graduated college, had 8 jobs, moved a bunch, bla bla bla. My musical inclinations and general attitude about music are really different now. Its like shedding skin.

[elpollodiablo]

When I started posting here, I was doing a shitload of cocaine.

[hannah]

I remember when I got really mad at pollo about something he said about Yale.

(He was right, though.)

[coldforge]

7 years ago I was about to drop out of college, though as I remember it my first heavy LPTJ usage really took off when I was living in Porland. Since then—I guess I've wasted most of my time since then. I've been working, I kind of got into clothes, I started and finished a long relationship. I got some more tattoos. I started my band. I dunno. Still leaning towards monkhood.

[nonotyet]

6 years ago I was a general wreck of a human being. When I first started posting here FK thought I was a dude, and I found this forum having very little idea of who the host was, but I followed Blucas from another forum because I knew him there and we was internet friends. When he took posting hiatuses I was all "where the fuck you been" and he was all "here." I can't remember if that was before or after I met him and his wife and they drove me sight-unseen to see (meaning they had never met me before and were like "sure, we'll spend two hours in a car with you") the host of this website play in Madison, but that is one of my favorite things that happened as a result of being old on the internet. I just went back and read my first few posts and I kind of want to die now.

The other thing I just learned is apparently I have been bitching about my tits for a really long time.

And the most important thing is that I am less of a wreck now.

 

[jm]

While I've only been here two years, I've certainly been on "internet community"/UGC sites for, damn, ten years now. Made lots of friends on one of those sites, dropped out of school, moved states away to live with some of those people twice, been in several bands, followed a couple of those internet friends to this site, lost one, and now here I am.

[El_Josharino]

I've been here for 7 years also. Shit. In that span of time I'm on my 7th place of employ (although 4 years at the current one) and about to move into my 9th address. I didn't have a beard and was skinny when I started posting here.

[Johnp]

7 years yesterday, apparently, but I skipped town for years, during frère's pomp. Same lady, same small apartment, worse job, fatter, grumpier and... father of two!

[Bernard]

Since I joined this board, I've had a child, moved continent, had two ops on a brain tumour and one hip replacement, bought a house, celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary and become increasingly steadfast in my dedication to ambient drone.

Crikey.

[mixed cats]

I have also only been here for two years. Uh, I made my cat a small-time internet celurbity, cut my hair one time, got married, I guess that's it. Oh and made a lot of promises to myself I never followed through on.

I didn't really follow anyone here; it was just a trail of blog posts.

[Bernard]

The other thing I just learned is apparently I have been bitching about my tits for a really long time.

why I believe I am about to have a new sigfile, thank you rockme

[Thermofusion]

Started posting in my college days, 7 years on the 26th. In that span:

Places lived: Winston-Salem, Boston, Asheville, Charlotte, Charleston, Wilmington NC, Southport NC
# of jobs: 5
Years of meaningful work experience: 5
girlfriends: 5
student debt incurred: $26k
future outlook: decent? thinking about going back to school for a hydrogeology degree

[peacocks]

I work with hydrogeologists and do some things they do! It's fun!

I came here because the edit0r is my ultimate hero and I wanted to read everything he wrote- found the zine, saw that there were forums, read the forums, liked the people, started posting. Yay!

[Thermofusion]

I work with hydrogeologists and do some things they do! It's fun!

Our company fired our one full-time hydrogeologist because they couldn't really afford to keep him on any longer. Now we consult when we need one. They make ridiculous cash though!

[coldforge]

I came here because John misspelled the name of a metal album. Yep.

[davy]

When I attempt to explain to IRL folks what this place means to me, I always talk about the outpouring of support my family received when Finn was in the hospital. Shit got real.

Also formed a pretty swell band with an LPTJer I didn't know prior to posting here. And I'm basically still in that band, though he isn't anymore.

Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that before that happened, LPTJ got me kicked out of a much more popular band...

[jm]

Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that before that happened, LPTJ got me kicked out of a much more popular band...

whathuh?