When I first found myself here, I was a 29-year-old lunatic who had just gone online. I didn't know much about viruses and internet privacy, so I ended up posting under my real name (especially since Josh Max and Ned Sonntag did it that way). I was using a Sega Dreamcast instead of a PC to connect, which made everything on the screen seem so transitory.
In those days, I didn't know much about message boards (and Dim's old one was a beaut, designed not to be very user friendly, but then again, all boards used to be like that). I remember deciding I wasn't going online for very long (in case the money ran out), so I hooked up my VCR and taped all the pages I went to.
Finally I settled in for the long haul, got a PC about ten years ago, and started posting more regularly. Now most of my online activity had switched from eBay to browser RPGs. I started capitalizing my name at the end instead of the beginning.
It seemed to me as if there was a war on in Dim forums, to be the one who posted the most in the last week. After a bit of that, I realized it was pointless to get on the leaderboard, and started making more intelligent posts.
After that, my short-lived website had lots of FA stories on it, and I started doing the thing every writer ought to do-- become my own editor. This had the benefit of forcing me not to make trolling posts in every thread, and I'm sure people were grateful for that.
I used to post under several different names. This was when we didn't have accounts like we do now. I was the Duke of URL, Arnold Layne and several others I don't even remember now. It was always fun to switch personae to make a joke funnier or a response more meaningful. Sometimes I think people should have that kind of freedom, but it does cause confusion in the end.
I remember there was lots of drama and comedy in the old days on Dim forum. I was always grateful for a place to espouse my FA views without too much gagging from the bleechers. It was nice to hear things from the SA community's "celebrities".
I felt sad when Dim stopped being published, because it never really had a replacement with articles and stories and whatnot. In many parts of the country, Dim was considered pornographic (and that was the only way I could get a copy without subscribing or ordering back issues from the website). But when it was stopped, the Dim board became the new magazine, with the readers supplying the content.
Then the board was changed. I was really happy with the result, but yet again it meant losing much of the old content (even though we regularly lost most of it anyway due to server resets, bad backups and awful software). And I started posting as Zoom, which is now a regret because I got tired of that name last year.
I don't know what the future holds (probably lots of suffering), but I am grateful to our beloved Webmaster and his efforts, for keeping the dream alive. And thank you all, everyone who has stuck around and given us a sense of community and camaraderie we can all take pride in.
(No, I'm not going anywhere, just wanted to say thanks.)
In those days, I didn't know much about message boards (and Dim's old one was a beaut, designed not to be very user friendly, but then again, all boards used to be like that). I remember deciding I wasn't going online for very long (in case the money ran out), so I hooked up my VCR and taped all the pages I went to.
Finally I settled in for the long haul, got a PC about ten years ago, and started posting more regularly. Now most of my online activity had switched from eBay to browser RPGs. I started capitalizing my name at the end instead of the beginning.
It seemed to me as if there was a war on in Dim forums, to be the one who posted the most in the last week. After a bit of that, I realized it was pointless to get on the leaderboard, and started making more intelligent posts.
After that, my short-lived website had lots of FA stories on it, and I started doing the thing every writer ought to do-- become my own editor. This had the benefit of forcing me not to make trolling posts in every thread, and I'm sure people were grateful for that.
I used to post under several different names. This was when we didn't have accounts like we do now. I was the Duke of URL, Arnold Layne and several others I don't even remember now. It was always fun to switch personae to make a joke funnier or a response more meaningful. Sometimes I think people should have that kind of freedom, but it does cause confusion in the end.
I remember there was lots of drama and comedy in the old days on Dim forum. I was always grateful for a place to espouse my FA views without too much gagging from the bleechers. It was nice to hear things from the SA community's "celebrities".
I felt sad when Dim stopped being published, because it never really had a replacement with articles and stories and whatnot. In many parts of the country, Dim was considered pornographic (and that was the only way I could get a copy without subscribing or ordering back issues from the website). But when it was stopped, the Dim board became the new magazine, with the readers supplying the content.
Then the board was changed. I was really happy with the result, but yet again it meant losing much of the old content (even though we regularly lost most of it anyway due to server resets, bad backups and awful software). And I started posting as Zoom, which is now a regret because I got tired of that name last year.
I don't know what the future holds (probably lots of suffering), but I am grateful to our beloved Webmaster and his efforts, for keeping the dream alive. And thank you all, everyone who has stuck around and given us a sense of community and camaraderie we can all take pride in.
(No, I'm not going anywhere, just wanted to say thanks.)
