Absence from the forum

[The Gopher]

I'm leaving, too depressed to put anything in and I'm not getting anything out of being here.

 

[Grayman]

I'm leaving, too depressed to put anything in and I'm not getting anything out of being here.

You get me!

 

[EyeSeeCold]

^ Exactly. Why do people need to cut themselves off completely? Just post when you have to, it doesn't take that much time. People are just drama queens around here imo "GUYZ I HAVE TO LEAVE BYE I'M SORRY I LOVE U ALL *sobs all around* attention whores. Jeez. Just stay already. Do your shit if you have to do your shit. You don't break up with your partner if you have to work.

 

[Fukyo]

Good to see you ESC.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

Thank you Fukyo.

I thought you guys could use a break.

 

[Tannhauser]

I feel unless I make a formal exit, I'll just keep coming back.

Think about it:

Days left as per life expectancy: maybe around 20,000 days.
Days left with optimal mental and physical function: maybe around 3,000 days (mental and physical degeneracy starts at around 30)
Lower bound on time until unexpected death: 0 days, 0 hours and 0 seconds.
Lower bound on time until becoming debilitated by various circumstances: 0 days, 0 hours and 0 seconds.
Time needed to learn, implement and accomplish stuff: a lot.

Given the reality of that, I have to say:
Au revoir, les infants!

 

[Sinny91]

I feel unless I make a formal exit, I'll just keep coming back.

Think about it:

Days left as per life expectancy: maybe around 20,000 days.
Days left with optimal mental and physical function: maybe around 3,000 days (mental and physical degeneracy starts at around 30)
Lower bound on time until unexpected death: 0 days, 0 hours and 0 seconds.
Lower bound on time until becoming debilitated by various circumstances: 0 days, 0 hours and 0 seconds.
Time needed to learn, implement and accomplish stuff: a lot.

Given the reality of that, I have to say:
Au revoir, les infants!

I won't hold this formal exit against you.. See you soon

 

[Jennywocky]

.... maybe it was the anxiety from nearing the 4-digit post count.

 

[Absurdity]

Upper bound on number of formal exits: ???

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

Number of formal exits cannot be bounded, it approaches infinity. <--- Says a frail voice that once was a strong mathematical heart.

 

[Hadoblado]

Mmmm... Bye Tannhauser. Sad to see you go. Good luck with numerically representing things arbitrarily and for fun

 

[Hadoblado]

I'm locking myself out of the forum until semester's finished. Can't afford the time sink I'm afraid

Cya o/

 

[Pyropyro]

I'm locking myself out of the forum until semester's finished. Can't afford the time sink I'm afraid

Cya o/

A wise choice. See ya Hado.

 

[Jennywocky]

okay the coast is clear for Mafia now

 

[Grayman]

I have no motivation with forums right now. Other interests are calling my name.

 

[Tannhauser]

will you return as white Gandalf?

 

[Lot]

You are making a good choice Grayman. I come here when I'm bored. I don't find most people mentally stimulating anymore, and it's pretty much the same old place with not many people actually evolving as humans. The ones that do, spend less and less time here. Hell, even the mods spend less time here than they used to.

 

[Auburn]

I don't find most people mentally stimulating anymore, and it's pretty much the same old place with not many people actually evolving as humans. The ones that do, spend less and less time here.

...aye. this is the bottom of the barrel, where the unactualized brew and fester. a cespool of society's would-be intellectual potential.
mmmmh mmmh <3

Spoiler

[bimgx=300]http://imgur.com/5re6ub2.png[/bimgx]

 

[Gather_Wanderer]

I just remembered this thread today.

I'm definitely one that takes absences from the forum and have numerous times over the years. I checked back in recently because I wanted to see what some of you folks thought about the presidential election and debates. After Hillary wins the next president is elected in November I'll probably take another absence, for at least a month to finish out this semester and then fly back to Chicago for the Holidays.

 

[ProxyAmenRa]

I'm leaving, too depressed to put anything in and I'm not getting anything out of being here.

That's not a positive attitude.

 

[The Gopher]

That's not a positive attitude.

It only lasted two months or so. Although my presence here is dramatically reduced still.

 

[Pyropyro]

Gotta let go of the forum for now:

There's a freaking Chinese nuclear-capable bomber parked near our country. Our president will probably lick Chinese butts instead of keeping us safe.

I''m going to spend my time finding permanent ways of getting my family and optimistically speaking, my parents, out of this shithole.

 

[Hadoblado]

I'm going to take a break for a bit. Every time I cull distractions, this time is funneled into other non-productive behaviour. Eventually I'll run out of time wasters and be forced to face my workload.

I'll prolly be back on in three weeks or so.

I'm still reachable via DM on discord if there's anything pressing, but I might take a day to respond. You behave yourselves now

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

Excuse this raw and unrefined thought. One of the good things about it is that I don't have to care of how I word this emotionally charged rant, the prevailing is my feeling of resignation.

This place is so hopelessly empty and frankly there is nothing new to find here. Dozen or so active users, out of those most are overbearing Australians . With whom I share no life perspective in common so they end up sounding like whiny rich kids.

Faith, introspective and typology seem to be the only topics that spark any discussion and I always found those to be rather dull and inherently subjective parts of life.

When I joined I was attracted by how the diversity of the groups and attitudes represented and how the flamboyance of the users was accommodated. This place could host anyone. I don't agree with some of the bans, but I realize that this place does attract neurotics and nutcases so removing them was unavoidable. However the ranks were never replenished enough with recruits.

Whatever it was, I liked it more when I came here.

I don't like the eternal combativeness of Redbaron, I would say he is a shitty mod but that would imply there is anything in this empty hall that would call for modding. More shepherd than sheep.

If you played Dark Souls, all the hollow lifeless places come close to the impression I get from intpf. All the characters in that game are also on a pointless pilgrimage or cling to the fading embers of what was.

I don't mean to guess or ascribe any motivation to you folk staying here. It's just my subjective.

Also don't mind the verbiage which I use to paint this picture. It exposes my limited exposure to common day speech. I don't really strongly mean most of what I wrote. Most aforementioned would require more precise description.

This is how this place feels.

 

[Palodoblado]

frankly i just come here nowadays because i was banned in other places; mostly because same thing: i wasn't getting anything positive in any of those. still i like to talk and i guess it's a cheap lazy form of being creative without much effort.
i guess time makes deep conversations as meaningful as weather talking, at least talking about low pressure systems don't make you more right than another person or more wrong, it's something that's there and everyone knows it's going to rain.

 

[redbaron]

peace

 

[QuickTwist]

Delete.

 

[Puffy]

Excuse this raw and unrefined thought. One of the good things about it is that I don't have to care of how I word this emotionally charged rant, the prevailing is my feeling of resignation.

This place is so hopelessly empty and frankly there is nothing new to find here. Dozen or so active users, out of those most are overbearing Australians . With whom I share no life perspective in common so they end up sounding like whiny rich kids.

Faith, introspective and typology seem to be the only topics that spark any discussion and I always found those to be rather dull and inherently subjective parts of life.

When I joined I was attracted by how the diversity of the groups and attitudes represented and how the flamboyance of the users was accommodated. This place could host anyone. I don't agree with some of the bans, but I realize that this place does attract neurotics and nutcases so removing them was unavoidable. However the ranks were never replenished enough with recruits.

Whatever it was, I liked it more when I came here.

I don't like the eternal combativeness of Redbaron, I would say he is a shitty mod but that would imply there is anything in this empty hall that would call for modding. More shepherd than sheep.

If you played Dark Souls, all the hollow lifeless places come close to the impression I get from intpf. All the characters in that game are also on a pointless pilgrimage or cling to the fading embers of what was.

I don't mean to guess or ascribe any motivation to you folk staying here. It's just my subjective.

Also don't mind the verbiage which I use to paint this picture. It exposes my limited exposure to common day speech. I don't really strongly mean most of what I wrote. Most aforementioned would require more precise description.

This is how this place feels.

I agree with you on the overall vibe here. I think it's reflective of a downward spiral that's been observed collectively by mods & others for a good few years. It's only gotten progressively worse which is an interesting lesson to me in just how hard it is to reverse collective malaise & stagnation when it takes hold.

When the collective environment you're swimming in is dense, muddy & dark, so to speak, it takes a special effort & self-consciousness to not do that, to shine a light, and in so doing potentially inspire others to do the same and start shifting that collective energy to something lighter & freer. Even then it might not and the light gets immediately snuffed again in the mud.

For myself, I think checking in isn't reflective of a hope of change and more out of familiarity, comfort, and resistance to moving on from whatever brings me back here. If I had to guess it's having a touch-point with the outer world throughout periods of isolation & loneliness with others I perceive to connect over that loneliness.

But holding onto that is resistance to finding connection elsewhere that is more meaningful and in honesty I feel like what I've connected to here historically is in part a cause of what isolates me elsewhere, "I'm INTP and so I'm different to x, don't have a place in x, am misunderstood by x, can't relate to x", etc.

I feel like the people here who might have a future relationship with me outside here already have my email, let me know otherwise. Will probably stick around for a week or so just to write a few pms. Wishing you all lasting happiness - lots of good memories. xx

 

[Jennywocky]

I resonate somewhat with what you're both saying, Puffy and Blarraun.

And people do change, or at least their needs change. The forum here was what I needed at the time I joined. Eventually it became something that wasn't what I needed per se, or maybe my needs changed (or both). That coupled with life (I'm still damned pooped from my job change in May) leads me to invest my energy in different pursuits.

I'll say it was also very important to me in my early days of forum'ing (and this is in the 2006-2010 era, I guess) to (1) find people like me to talk to, or who at least could understand what I was saying and vice versa and (2) affirm to myself who I was as a person because I spent much of my existence in unsupportive atmospheres and/or being pressured to doubt my own interests and inclinations. So this site and the others I joined were like unfolding revelations into my own identity and really firming up my sense of self.

Eventually that changed, and my self-understanding pervaded my external (non-virtual) life. I no longer needed the affirmation nor the exploratory ground to figure myself out. In some ways I also think I became less lonely... although I still wonder whether it's because I either developed more relationships offline / some relationships moved from online to offline, or whether I just toughened up and felt less wounded/lonely in general and didn't need as much contact, or ... something else I just managed to forget while I was typing all that. *sigh. Damn.* Of course, some of it is also that the site here changed in terms of the types of conversation and the self-exposure people were willing to offer, so the interactions didn't feel as meaningful either.

... Hey, we'll always have Mafia.

but seriously, time changes everything. Nothing stays the same, life is organic and constantly mutating to survive. Things grow, live, then die. Forums included. The forum is what it is now. Maybe it'll die, maybe it'll mutate and thrive again for awhile. It doesn't mean the membership stays the same, but maybe members leave and can still return if the form changes to suit them in the ways they have also changed. one never knows.

 

[onesteptwostep]

Well if we're gonna start confessing stuff I might do one as well ^_^

I have a sense of a family-sense relationship with this site- like some of you I consider as my atheistic bad brothers and sisters, the girls who smoke weed and the smart intellects with curious minds and so on. I don't come on this site to find a sense of collectiveness (don't think I have a lot of friends or "allies" on this site lol....) per say, but just to see what you guys are up to, since we're all just around a campfire talking about the things somewhat important in life. People come and go at the campfire, but hey, we're here together so let's be chill and try to really understand each other yeah? I understand where most of you are coming from and I just indulge and love trying to get to know people from other parts of the world. I can tell who've been affected by the trends of their respective nations- Serac for example was obviously influenced by the ridicule of the Swedish state church which is why he's a strict rationalist when it comes to religion while the Aussies like Cog and Baron were influenced by the Australian satire comedians of the late 00's- Tim Minchin and that munkin looking old white guy... forget his name George Carlin? I mean people say that they're using intellect to say that they're going against theism or whatever but it's really the media trends that they're following. This interests me because Australia has a diverse Christian polity (like Hillsong is from there) which really interests me how this ecoverse of religious/ideological/philosophical thought can exist. I also really empathize with Jenny on her life journey and her struggle against the vestiges of her ex-religion (btw I really miss your detailed writings!). And CHEESE! everyone loves cheese! <3 one of the few people on this forum who can actually understand what the hell I'm blabbering about sometimes.

Meh speaking of which I should really get in touch with more of the newer members here, I've been a bit too selfish and skimming in posts way too much. Either way, I have more to write but I seem to have writers block at the moment. Love you all!

(And bye Puffy, Blarra :[ I'll miss your slavic anti-theistic mindset, oh and Puffy, loved your selection of music!)

As for me since midterms are done, will be putting more effort into my posts! (though baron probably thinks they were all worthless anyway, that sly kangaroo)

 

[Grayman]

Me, I just got too much going on. Like organizing my sock drawer finally after 30 plus years and mowing my lawn to 3" instead of 5" which takes way longer to bag!

 

[EyeSeeCold]

A lot of times I think I only hung around because of the women, and expecting to get something from them. Minuend I always saw as someone cheerful on the inside and dry on the outside like a comfortable igloo as shelter in the cold tundra. Fukyo I was jealous of, I never got to see her face naturally, and there was a woman into memes as much or more than me? How cool was that? It's true confidence is attractive. Plus i was afraid to admit how much I liked anime trying to appear mature, something I held over from gradeschool. Adaire was mysterious and rational, impartial even, how can you not be intrigued?

I am surprised Corona hasn't made the place more active.

 

[peoplesuck]

At its best, this forum is like a weird friend you never expect much from, but they end up being genuinely decent and expanding your views, helping you mature. At its worst, the forum is a cesspit.

hopefully all of the older users head out, on their own adventures, and new users can repopulate, its sort of the natural cycle of things.

It really makes me wonder how much good insight one could find, sifting through forums.

imo, this is the sort of thing the internet should be used for. Massive amounts of low risk social interaction, where people can get honesty, since most people are too spineless to be honest in person, allowing us misfits to learn from our mistakes, and to have some sense of community.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

At its best, this forum is like a weird friend you never expect much from, but they end up being genuinely decent and expanding your views, helping you mature. At its worst, the forum is a cesspit.

hopefully all of the older users head out, on their own adventures, and new users can repopulate, its sort of the natural cycle of things.

It really makes me wonder how much good insight one could find, sifting through forums.

imo, this is the sort of thing the internet should be used for. Massive amounts of low risk social interaction, where people can get honesty, since most people are too spineless to be honest in person, allowing us misfits to learn from our mistakes, and to have some sense of community.

Honesty?

You mean how Mike Judge was spot on about this scene as a young boy practicing kisses?






"hopefully all of the older users head out, on their own adventures, and new users can repopulate, its sort of the natural cycle of things."