The Chat Thread (Read OP)

[PikeStance]

Time flies. I can still remember the day I signed up for prodigy (early 1995) later switching to AOL. Debated politics and sports from the get-go. It was much more fun then; people weren't so pretentious.

[Diamat]

Oh, I remember those AOL chatrooms with the red and blue. Good times. I was like 13 when I used that, doing stupid things, like pretending I'm a Nazi to French Jew. I was a stupid teen who deserved to get the kicked out of him.

[AqD]

What's wrong with that?

Pretty much the entire human history is about killing, unless you prefer to cosplay a slave miner or dirty poor serf

[PikeStance]

Yeah, in that mod 90s chats were definitely all the rage. There was literally a chat room for any interest imaginable. Before myspace and Facebook people made websites either on AOL, angelfire, etc... We had a weblinks (remember those) where you connected with other similar sites including personal sites. We had our own icq channel. Listservs were also a big thing. Oh, getting "emails" were cool as well. Until you join enough of those email groups and you were inundated with 100+ emails a day. It is not surprising that message boards became so popular so quick. In those days, message boards has ToS but there wasn't anyone to enforce them. Political forums came and then went almost as fast as they appear.

As a former AOL member, I am glad I am no longer being booted. There was nothing worse than being booted while in the midst of a serious chat. of course, it always took you forever to get back on. In those days I went by many different names, Plebeian, Yeoman, The Salient One, Dr. Brain, eventually settling on Pikestance. (BTW, the inspiration for the name was the Swiss Pikes- I was into Pike Shot era at the time.).

[Morifea]

You`ve got Mail
Those were fun times, I had ICQ really early.... no one else I knew had it, so I got rid of it again.... long time before it became popular, but I never tried again

[AqD]

I got over 100 emails today, my first day in Finland! It appears they started sending mails even before my arrival!


Anyone remembers USENET/newsreader? There used to be huge discussion places, like giant forums. Some are even used for file sharing.

[Stone Cold Shogun Panther]

Oh, I remember those AOL chatrooms with the red and blue. Good times. I was like 13 when I used that, doing stupid things, like pretending I'm a Nazi to French Jew. I was a stupid teen who deserved to get the kicked out of him.

I had AOL shut off our internet so many times for me getting into trouble!

I was a stupid 8 year old at the time. Used to "flame" with people in chat rooms and give out my number. Then I would go play Neopets lol.

[Diamat]

Who else here had a tamagotchi?

[Niles Crane]

Before myspace and Facebook people made websites either on AOL, angelfire, etc... We had a weblinks (remember those) where you connected with other similar sites including personal sites.

Yeah, nobody has their own website anymore. The concept of a website just doesn't really seem to exist unless it's for a company. Some people have blogs but I don't think it's really the same thing.

As for nicknames, I've had a few over the years. I was known as Dondos on the old TES forums and Lord Kahn on other gaming forums (now all gone) in the early 2000s. Sometime in 2003-04 I settled on Octavian. My name on TWC has changed numerous times, but Octavian is the one I always go back to when I'm creating an account for something. I don't know why. He's not even my favourite emperor, but it just somehow feels like 'me'.

[PikeStance]

I got over 100 emails today, my first day in Finland! It appears they started sending mails even before my arrival!
Anyone remembers USENET/newsreader? There used to be huge discussion places, like giant forums. Some are even used for file sharing.

i wasn't referring to spam. You also didn't get spam back then either. Mail was mail.
I do remember Usenet.

Neopets lol.

tamagotchi?

I have no earthly clue what these are...LOL

[Aexodus]

The future is now Pikey

[Diamat]

Failure to use proper punctuation. Result: Pikey = our future.

[PikeStance]

At the moment, it is the present, but by the time you read this, it will be the past. However, it will be your present. When you respond, it will be the past, but your response will be your present and my future. The future is always what follows.

[Diamat]

That's the most Hegelian thing I've ever seen in this thread. Rejoice.

[Aexodus]

Who is Hegel and why is he important.

[AqD]

At the moment, it is the present, but by the time you read this, it will be the past. However, it will be your present. When you respond, it will be the past, but your response will be your present and my future. The future is always what follows.

But you can change the timezone to read something from the future. The perception is all that matters to humans.

[Diamat]

Who is Hegel and why is he important.

He represents the end of all philosophy.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[PikeStance]

The present is always what you are currently experiencing. The past is always something that have experience. The future is what you have yet experience. Whenever you read a post, it is in the present.


Forum are unique is that you can read a post in contextually in the past but it is in your present. Time has no boundary here. I can know a member who has not posted in 5+ years simply by reading a post written in the "past." Ironically, I can "know" this person better than a current member on the site.

[Diamat]

This is essentially Hegel's concept of AUFHEBUNG.

[Sir Adrian]

Who else here had a tamagotchi?

I did. Or at least one of those EE knock-offs where a newly born gerbil had 80 kilos. Stopped playing with it once I got my first Terminator 7 console.