Getting Old On The Internet

[ellaguru]

One LPTJ moment I think of a lot is that essay Arlo wrote about us, it said a lot of the things about why I like this place.

I'm not sure I remember this. Is there a link, or do you have a copy?

He wrote it for that library sciences degree for which he never set foot in a library, and gave it the excellent title "Why is the girl hugging a chicken?". He uploaded it at the time, after a bit of prodding to do so, but the link's probably expired by now. I may or may not still have a copy, but honestly, I kinda figure it should be up to Arlo to decide whether it should be re-uploaded or not.

The link did expire, because it was a drop.io, and drop.io expired. Here it is, though.

My protestations at the time were mostly just that it was researched and written in, like, two days, while finishing off another paper at the same time, so it's not up there with my finest work. In the world of things written that fast, though, it's not really that bad, I guess.

 I've been here nearly six years, in which time I've moved twice and gotten a second graduate degree (I've now clocked 12 years in university total). I'm with Jim, though. I ain't planning on gettin' old any time soon, on the internets or anywere else.

[kyle]

I've been posting off and on for four years, which is sort of strange.

It felt hard to break into the circle, to even get people to reply to my posts. I like this board, but I've never really felt like I've been able to contribute much.

Whoa, just realized like that sounded like a pity request. I'm not bummed about it, just think it's interesting. Like if I had spent 4 years on another board I would've been a much larger presence.


Alternately, I don't really remember or was involved in many highlights of this board. Like, I always logged on a week or two after something big went down and then I'd have to backtrack and read 10 pages of a thread just to get it.

[alex]

alex, the jean froissart of lptj

Was he famous for procrastinating on the internet when he should have been writing the conclusions for his dissertation? Because yeah, that's me.

[Nick Ink]

It felt hard to break into the circle, to even get people to reply to my posts. I like this board, but I've never really felt like I've been able to contribute much.
 

I feel bad really because I'm someone who is nowhere near as good at replying as others are here (to me). IRL, I think I'm quite good at showing interest and listening and so forth, but a lot of that is non-linguistic and doesn't translate comfortably to a message board. So often I'll be interested in what someone has said, or sorry or sympathetic or whatever, but after a couple of tries give up on a reply because I can't really phrase it in a way that doesn't sound inane, trite, platitudinous etc.

In other words, kyle, I think you're great and should have replied to many of your posts!

[alex]

Also uh kyle you could contribute by making me a mix cd!

[jebreject]

Fuck me, I just wrote something that got all et up by the internet.

[Greg Nog]

I don't even know what to say about this; I feel like a massively different human being compared to the person I was when I started posting here.

[jebreject]

Let me try again.

One thing I have learned from LPTJ: Alex is really good at making mix CDs. (So is Nick Ink)

Another thing I have learned: I am really bad about making mix CDs in return.

I'm also bad at responding to emails and private messages, and in general in maintaining off-board relationships.

Anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk about. What I wanted to say was that, like Grace, I've also been a little more reluctant to share as openly as I once did. I think part of this is growing up, yes, but I also really do feel like a big part of it is how LPTJ has changed in the last few years. It's not as open. It's not as safe-seeming. Or, at least, I don't feel like I can be as open as I once was. In some respects, that's probably good, but it also bums me out a little bit too. I know I'm not the only one to notice this, and I don't mean to make a big deal of it, but it seems worth mentioning that there are reasons other than just "growing up" and having a different conception of what's okay to talk about in public. The climate has changed. It's not necessarily a bad thing, just a thing.

[coldforge]

Kyle, I think you're great because I love the name of your soccer team. Even if it's just the name of your restaurant and then the letters FC, it remains a certified LPTJ Moment for me.

[peacocks]

I'm pretty sure LPTJ gives the best advice. I never got involved in any flamewars and I don't remember many of them. For a while there were a lot of new posters showing up and it was fun but I can see what kyle is saying about being lost in the crowd. It's not a bad thing, though. About the sharing of information- looking back at my older posts I put so much detail into them but they feel detached from what I know was actually going on with me. I feel like I'm more myself now-kind of how milly was saying in the first post- and am better at sharing what is really happening rather than minute details. Maybe in 7 years I'll look at this post and roll my eyes.

[justinh]

I have been particularly on and off with this board, and as such I think I've missed out on about 90% of the in-jokes and recurring themes. 

One thing I have noticed after taking the last long break was that LPTJ is a lot slower than it used to be.  Back in 06 or so it was impossible to keep up.  It seems much more sedate these days, which is a good thing imo. 

[jm]

I wish there was a way to make the place more inviting for new members.

This is interesting to me–maybe because I've been all up in the internet community shits for a minute–but I felt like this was probably the most inviting community I've happened upon.  One of my first posts here was a jokey reaction to people actually genuinely apologizing to each other for getting too heated and being a dick about it.

[kyle]

Also uh kyle you could contribute by making me a mix cd!

Can you resend me your address? We can try this again.

You're mix was great, but being in my car, which was my only place to listen to cds, took it's damage.

Also, I knew that my post would get a lot of "Hey no! You're great!" I understand that I don't spend a ton of time on here, and so haven't really carved out a niche, but I still enjoy it. Knowing Andrew_TSKS here and then in person has been incredibly over the years for a number of different reasons.

[Anne the Man]

I found it both friendly and intimidating for a long time. Granted, I was 16 at the time, but it does take awhile for people to start answering your posts and such. I don't think I was quite completely completely sure of my presence until about mid-2009.

[alex]

Also uh kyle you could contribute by making me a mix cd!

Can you resend me your address? We can try this again.

Done! Also I hope that that didn't come across as being impudent - I was mostly joshing there. Though it would be cool to get a mix some day, of course.

[kyle]

Also uh kyle you could contribute by making me a mix cd!

Can you resend me your address? We can try this again.

Done! Also I hope that that didn't come across as being impudent - I was mostly joshing there. Though it would be cool to get a mix some day, of course.

Not at all. Hopefully in the mail soon! i have a mailer and everything!