Reply #129: Of course it has changed... [View All]

Gather 'round kiddies...Grandpa's gonna talk about the "old days".

I joined back in 2002, after lurking a bit. It was a smaller group then, so it was easier to form friendships, attachments and, let's face it, rivalries. We had gatherings, and many of us became close outside of the message board. There is still kind of a "war buddies" feel among the old guard.

A lot of people lurked back then, watched this group of people get close, and joined later, expecting to instantly become part of the same vibe. But it doesn't happen instantly. It takes time. Some people get downright pissy when instant gratification is denied.

And frankly, I ran out of cranial hard drive space to store all the names of people I knew and liked or disliked. All of the new names became a blur, and only the strongest personalities stuck out.

As the numbers increased, so did the amount of cool people. But naturally the number of loons increased exponentially. And loons tend to stick out.

So it's not that there are more disruptors. I think I'm only able to see the loons as clearly as I used to see my friends.