How did you end up in CFC OT?

[cardgame]

@Synsensa how old were you when you changed your username?

 

[Lexicus]

I do recall it was more conservative and George W. Bush friendly at the time, if I can recall from memory.

Yes, I remember wandering here sometime soon after I made my account and immediately noped out after I saw how bloodthirsty people were

 

[H4run]

Yes, I remember wandering here sometime soon after I made my account and immediately noped out after I saw how bloodthirsty people were

There were lots of people back-then and there were always on going war happened, lol, it's like an open battle-field or something.

 

[Camikaze]

It never dawned on me until this post that the number in everyone's user page URL was in chronological order of when they joined.

I propose that we form a dystopian society in which people are sorted into castes based on how many digits their user has.

Two-digits like SunTzu will rule us as philosopher-kings. Three- and four-digits like Birdjaguar will be our nobility. Five-digits like me shall constitute the hearty yeomanry. And lowly six-digits like Lexicus shall be our exploited peasants.

This all sounds very fair and reasonable.

Us sixes at the top will allow you this fantasy.

I think my first debate here was telling @amadeus that vietnam was a war for petrol.

I choose to read this as you and amadeus being here so long the Vietnam War was still ongoing.

 

[Synobun]

@Synsensa how old were you when you changed your username?

I switched from d.highland to Synsensa sometime between 2010 to 2012, I think. Then from Synsensa to Vincour in... 2016? Then back to Synsensa in 2018.

I came up with Synsensa when I was 16, so 2010 is the earliest I could have switched.

 

[Snerk]

Anybody remember what my username was before Snerk?

 

[warpus]

I got on here because at first I was just reading people's posts about Civ.. was it Civ 5 maybe? Or even before that came out.. At first I was in the civ forums reading about the game, and possibly posting some questions of my own.

I used to post on TrekBBS in their off-topic forum IIRC, but then realized that place is full of morons and people I shouldn't be talking to, so I left, and I needed a new off-topic place, and there's far less morons here so I was like hey

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I think I came to OT because of the Iraq war, there was alot more conservatives around then you even had a conservative Mod. I remember a mod pretending he was leaving and when people came out of the woodwork to say good riddance it turned out he was faking so he started banning people. Can't remember his name though, I think his avatar was a kneeling woman, the place seemed fun

Does "Alcibiates of Athens" ring a bell? Some people usually referred to him as "AoA".

When I first joined staff in 2010 a few disgruntled infractees compared me to him, so I did some asking around and evidently he had a habit of banning people whose political opinions didn't meet with his approval. He was long gone before I came along, though.

(for the record, in all the years I've modded or admin'd various forums, I have never infracted or banned anyone on the basis of differing political opinions)

I switched from d.highland to Synsensa sometime between 2010 to 2012, I think. Then from Synsensa to Vincour in... 2016? Then back to Synsensa in 2018.

I came up with Synsensa when I was 16, so 2010 is the earliest I could have switched.

The first time you and I had a conversation was when you were d.highland.

*checks email archives because Valka is a packrat who almost never gets around to deleting old stuff*

Yep, May of 2010. And now that we have the proper smiley for it, please accept a long-belated .

I got on here because at first I was just reading people's posts about Civ.. was it Civ 5 maybe? Or even before that came out.. At first I was in the civ forums reading about the game, and possibly posting some questions of my own.

I used to post on TrekBBS in their off-topic forum IIRC, but then realized that place is full of morons and people I shouldn't be talking to, so I left, and I needed a new off-topic place, and there's far less morons here so I was like hey

Civ 5 wasn't out until September 2010.

Some of those same people on TrekBBS are still there, and haven't changed over the years (which is why about half of TNZ is on my ignore list). Others grew up a bit. And there's one person there whose post count is literally so far off the charts that he'd be in a usergroup by himself if they hadn't capped it at the top level of the Admiralty (I'm working my way up the various levels of the Admiralty, participating in a sometimes tense game of Hangman... tried to stump the others with quotes from the Animated Series, but darnit, there's one of them who knows those episodes as well).

 

[Synobun]

The first time you and I had a conversation was when you were d.highland.

*checks email archives because Valka is a packrat who almost never gets around to deleting old stuff*

Yep, May of 2010. And now that we have the proper smiley for it, please accept a long-belated .

Thanks, but that is unnecessary. I honestly don't know why I pretended his death was so devastating. His departure from the mortal realm was to my explicit advantage, and the worst part about it was really how my mother and sister placed the blame on me afterwards. The actual death... meh.

But this is a good thread to say that in, since I already mentioned pages before that I was insistent for most of my life to act in the way I thought I had to, and this is one of the most relevant examples of it. It sounds sociopathic, but my father was a terrible person who was, at that time, likely to cause my death within another two weeks, so him dying first is not something I can muster many tears over. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't happy about it, but it indicated a certain sense of freedom. It could have been a real turning point for my life if my health hadn't continued getting worse. Then again, maybe it still ended up being that; after all, if he had had his way, I wouldn't have lived past 16, healthy or not.

 

[Truthy]

Anybody remember what my username was before Snerk?

sweetpete

 

[warpus]

Yeah Valka, I think it was Civ4 discussions I was in here originally for. Civ5 came a bit later as you pointed out

Some of those same people on TrekBBS are still there, and haven't changed over the years (which is why about half of TNZ is on my ignore list). Others grew up a bit. And there's one person there whose post count is literally so far off the charts that he'd be in a usergroup by himself if they hadn't capped it at the top level of the Admiralty (I'm working my way up the various levels of the Admiralty, participating in a sometimes tense game of Hangman... tried to stump the others with quotes from the Animated Series, but darnit, there's one of them who knows those episodes as well).

Don't get me wrong, not everyone there was toxic, from what I remember anyway. It's just that 98% of all threads devolved into one of 2 things:

- Idiotic American left vs right arguments using the exact same tropes every time. That gets old sooo fast and you know they will never agree so it's a waste of everyone's time
- Idiotic conversations about what is and what isn't canon

The people there were so passionate about both of these stupid topics I had to leave

 

[Birdjaguar]

There was also lots of chatter about god and religion back in 2005-7.

 

[Snerk]

sweetpete

It was?? Omg I'd forgotten about that! But I am a pete so it checks out. I only remember that it was Sneerk for a while before I changed it to Snerk.

 

[Traitorfish]

There was also lots of chatter about god and religion back in 2005-7.

This wasn't CFC-specific, either. It's as if every Creationist in North America suddenly got an internet connection at the same time. (And given the rapid increase of domestic internet access during that time, that may not be very far from the truth.)

 

[amadeus]

Does "Alcibiates of Athens" ring a bell? Some people usually referred to him as "AoA".

Yes! There was another forum, closed to the public, that him and a few others had for a while. I don’t know what became of it though since the page has long disappeared from the web.

 

[Hygro]

Althenae

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Thanks, but that is unnecessary. I honestly don't know why I pretended his death was so devastating. His departure from the mortal realm was to my explicit advantage, and the worst part about it was really how my mother and sister placed the blame on me afterwards. The actual death... meh.

But this is a good thread to say that in, since I already mentioned pages before that I was insistent for most of my life to act in the way I thought I had to, and this is one of the most relevant examples of it. It sounds sociopathic, but my father was a terrible person who was, at that time, likely to cause my death within another two weeks, so him dying first is not something I can muster many tears over. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't happy about it, but it indicated a certain sense of freedom. It could have been a real turning point for my life if my health hadn't continued getting worse. Then again, maybe it still ended up being that; after all, if he had had his way, I wouldn't have lived past 16, healthy or not.

*sigh*...

@Synsensa, when someone tries to say something nice, the appropriate response is "thank you" instead of making the person feel stupid for saying something nice.

I don't know how much you recall of that conversation, but it was not about grief or lack of grief, except that I advised you not to let anyone try to pressure you into hasty decisions (advice I have given lots of people over the years). I've been there myself twice - funeral homes and medical bureaucrats trying to take advantage of people under stress to pressure them into expensive decisions they can't really afford, or even want. With my grandmother's death I realized that I had to be strong both for myself and my dad, because he wasn't dealing with the situation very well. With my dad's death, it was a case of 'been there, done that, know the tricks and manipulative ways they have' and told them very bluntly that it wasn't going to work.

I offered the because I understand the stress of the situation. How you felt about your dad was your own business and nobody gets to dictate your emotions (or lack of them) but you.

Yeah Valka, I think it was Civ4 discussions I was in here originally for. Civ5 came a bit later as you pointed out

I remember getting into a few Civ IV threads. Things got quite contentious over the question of whether Canada should be among the civilizations. I spent a lot of time in Civ II before migrating to OT. I still post in Civ II occasionally, particularly if someone has a question or comment about Test of Time strategy.

Don't get me wrong, not everyone there was toxic, from what I remember anyway. It's just that 98% of all threads devolved into one of 2 things:

- Idiotic American left vs right arguments using the exact same tropes every time. That gets old sooo fast and you know they will never agree so it's a waste of everyone's time

They split the American election threads off into their own subforum when things get busy, and I avoid that part of the forum.

- Idiotic conversations about what is and what isn't canon

The people there were so passionate about both of these stupid topics I had to leave

The arguments about canon are still going on.

Althenae

Thanks. I had it partly right.

After finding out what shenanigans he pulled, I absolutely did not appreciate being compared to someone like that. Infracting and banning for personal reasons and not because the infractee is breaking the rules is just wrong.

 

[Synobun]

I don't recall the PM convo at all, beyond that it happened. I recently re-read the thread I posted about it, though, and it prompted me to reflect. There's no need for you to feel stupid; I figured the hug was based on compassion for what is meant to be a grave loss, so it was unnecessary in that sense since I don't truly feel that it was a loss. But if it's just a hug, then, well, who am I to say no?

The legal stuff surrounding his death was pretty straightforward. His workers comp case got won just after he died so we (well, my mother) received a windfall from that, and he had a small life insurance policy. We also just had him cremated and put into the most basic urn they had. The benefit of him being a cult leader is that he saw himself as being above the conventions of humanity, so there was no pomp to contend with. Another benefit is that I had the final word on that since the rest of my family expected to be plucked off of Earth in a Rapture shortly after his passing, which, of course, never happened. All the stress from the situation came from my family and not really any of the outsiders.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Anybody remember my previous username? Yeah, probably because by the time I got here I was dialed in.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Anybody remember my previous username? Yeah, probably because by the time I got here I was dialed in.

Timbuckstoo