This post is written in response to Benfox's thread:
Benfox,
What you're talking about is not completely alien to Barbelith. When I first came here that's what I thought this place was (and that's what I was told this place was): A place with adults who treat each other with respect and have a kind of wisdom that only age and experience can give. A place with some threads where people can discuss their problems and other threads that are just needless funny drivle.
It sounds a bit cheesy, but you get the point.
I have two private forums that I regularly visit - One where we've all known each other for many years and are all ridiculously, and (quite honestly) sickeningly kind to each other (and I love it!). And one where we have a rant forum, where the leading member of the forum (the guy who pays the bills) posts goatse pictures and extremely poor-taste Hitler jokes (I tend not to post here so much, and just read the funny posts and rants).
To anyone who was offended by my "Do we need a rant forum?" thread, and this includes you, Sir Real - I'm truly sorry. Especially in the language that I used - I had probably just come from that second private forum, where the word "nazi" is commonplace and not considered to be as offensive as in most other places. But that's no excuse for the post that I made and Bedhead was right to chastise me for it.
After a while of seeing that the thread wasn't going in the direction that I had originally intended, I (and those who joined in) decided to go over-the-top and turn it into a satirical joke of itself.
But I hope people know, and I'm sure that most do, that I'm not the person that I portrayed myself to be (as a joke in the end) in that thread.
---
My first post on Barbelith was met with great response, and after making a good first impression, I didn't feel that I could top it. And since I don't really post much on any forum that I visit, I didn't try and simply lurked around here every once in a while: reading other people's posts and occasionally contributing to threads like "What video games are you playing right now!?!?".
So, for anyone interested (and I know you all aren't), here's my deal:
I'm 22, I have just moved to London and I want to meet more people. I've got all of my siblings down here, my girlfriend, and two of my closest friends, but I'm still interested in meeting more people. I'm told that this is a symptom of moving to London that everyone suffers from, but hey - I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. I post on forums in the hope of making real life connections and, where possible, some day meeting the people who I talk to through text and code. And since it seems as though there are so many people here who live in or close to London, I thought this might be a good place to start.
But I realize that I couldn't simply post "Hey, you guys wanna meet up in London!?!?" without posting a little more and getting to know people around here.
This is my explanation and these are my intentions here on Barbelith. And while I believe there's nothing wrong with simply chatting with people on forums and never meeting them - There's a certain bond that you gain by meeting the people that you spend so long talking to, learning from, and confiding in online (and in many cases, getting blind stinking drunk with them), which makes chatting with those people online that much more fun and enjoyable, even if you only ever meet them once or twice. |
