How The Hell Do You Spend So Much Time Here

This is mostly directed at people who have been here a while.

I joined this site when I was 16 and spent a fair amount of time on it in high school. I was pretty new to the idea of internet communities back then, so it didn't ever occur to me how goddamn bizarre this site is. I honestly don't understand what is happening. I don't think I've been on here more than a couple times in the last 3 years so shit has probably changed around here, but I'm willing to bet it hasn't changed that much. This site was a pretty big influence to me back in the day, which in retrospect is weird as shit. I remember that a pretty small group of people were almost constantly online. After spending 10 minutes looking around just now, it looks like a lot of you are still here. I'm actually amazed how many of the current posts are made by the same posters that were driving this site 4 years ago.

It might just have been because I was 16 and stupid as shit, but I thought a lot of the regulars here were pretty cool and insightful. I didn't really think about it at the time much, but from what I remember, most of you core members are at least 40. (with a few oddball exceptions like jmt, capitan cannabis, and duck. Those are the only 3 young posters I remember that consistently were on and posting interesting shit) I could be wrong, but that's how I remember it. What I honestly want to know is why the hell are any of you here. There are so many bigger, better, more active forums out there. You know that, right? (I probably sound condescending, but I'm not trying to be). Like, even just X. Individual threads have thousands of posts on the day they are posted, the users democratically decide the best posts, and those are the ones you see.

With that system, you never even see the shitty posts where some lumpy, sweaty, new user posts their debut thread: "How pointy do you like your partner's nipples?" or "has anyone ever had sex in the shower and out of the shower in the same day?"

Then there's a bunch of other users with less than 10 posts who are probably all the same guy just logging in and out talking about their personal wet nipple preference. Most forums don't have this shit. From what I remember, a lot of the arguments here are either smart vs. stupid, or stupid vs. stupid. How the hell have you dealt with this shit year after year? Is it because you know people on here? Is it because you actually enjoy those ridiculous forum games? (those aren't games dude. You're just taking turns saying words. There are real video games now that you could be playing.)

Almost every thread is about nothing. No meaningful discourse at all. When something does become a discussion, it goes on for months and completely derails into lunacy. How do you put up with it. It's been fucking years man. I couldn't handle this shit anymore by the time I was 18. Who are you people? Is the reason you're here that you don't know where else there is to go, or do you actually enjoy this?

Do any of you actually think this is a quality community? Do you feel like you're getting anything out of spending time here?

 

Thank You For Your Meaningful Contribution To Our Website....



Cheers Glen.

 

Haha, If it helps, I remember you as one of the funnier ones.


I'm not just trying to be a dick either. I honestly don't get how anyone could be on the site as much as you are, and not get sick of it. Are you doing other stuff while you're on here?

 

Exciting things that could be done with a thread like this:

Merge it with the 'Why are people so fat?' thread.

Make it a commoration thread (Who will still be here 5 years from now?)

Nominate it for 'Thread of the Year' award.

Post it on X to try to boost the ego of X users.

Move it to the Whiners forum.

Close it.

Delete it.

 

i came here when i was 25 (i'm 32 now) because i needed advice on my psychedelic cacti (Peyote). i never even thought i'd stick around for anything beyond that. i don't know how i'm still here, i was away for a couple of years a little while ago...i don't know, hipforums has kind of stuck with me.

and yes, i do think it is quality community. it's more chill and relaxed somehow, and i like that. i'm not on any other forums (except one gay forum) so i can't really tell what the quality is like compared to the rest, but i like this little place. i don't need forums really, so going out and finding a new one and making an account is not really on my list. forums is just some downtime activity to express opinions and hear other opinions on anything you can think of. i also like that fact that there are a number of core members who have stuck around all this time.

 

also, I would actually love to know how you guys think this place has changed. Is it better or worse than it was 6 years ago? The layout is different. Rep seems to be gone. Did Skip go republican? Is orison a woodchuck now? Is he still in his underwear? I'm just checking in on my teenage years man.

I mean, despite being a pretty small, not super active forum, you guys have managed to keep a lot of the same people posting regularly for a really long time. The reason I'm posting this is that it's really surprising to me that this site has a ton of the same people I remember. I feel like that's pretty unusual for a website like this. Maybe this is just the only one I spent time in. But seriously, have you tried X? What do you prefer about hipforums?

 

Dude, don't get me wrong. I don't like X as a site overall. It's just a circlejerk hivemind that lives in it's own world, but it has so, so much more content and so many more viewpoints than this place. It's hard to hang out here because it can take 10 minutes for someone to add a new post. Discussions are so slow and difficult.

 

[SIZE=10.5pt]I didn’t discover this message board until I was 28, by that time I had already completed military service, college, gainfully employed, so I was ready to settle down. This message board provides a nice outlet. The previous message boards I visited were fun but chaotic. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Also, some friendly advice; keep posting messages like this and I suspect your 2001 Post Odyssey will come to an abrupt end. [/SIZE]


[SIZE=10.5pt]Hotwater[/SIZE]

 

"Chaotic" meaning too many posts?

Is that second part code for I'll get banned? I don't intend on hanging out here much. It was always weird to me how this place called itself a free speech forum, but posts that fall outside the status quo were frequently banned. Maybe that's different now, but I remember the mods being a bit sensitive. Though, this site is probably more sensitive as a whole than a lot of the internet. (which isn't necessarily a bad thing)

 

[SIZE=10.5pt]Court TV during some of the most popular trials (O J Simpson, The Nanny Trial, William Kennedy Smith…..etc) the number of posts per minute was so great it left no room for discussion. The BET message boards were under constant attack by racists, and Stormfront (black guy posing as a skinhead) lost its flavor after a year. [/SIZE]


[SIZE=10.5pt]Hotwater[/SIZE]

 

I could see that. I do remember this as a place where I felt like people would actually read my opinions. Even if it was just the few people who bothered with discussion threads. The advantage to the bigger sites is that more posts means more information. I learned a lot more and stayed a lot more on top of what's happening during the 2 years I was actively on X, but I stopped posting after a while because it's such a slim shot of anyone reading or caring about it.

 

Wait....this is an internet forum? Dang...I must have taken a wrong turn at Cyber Lane.

 

Errr, you give X as an example of a bigger(sure)...but better site...seriously

Anyway, dumb threads about nothing that go on for months, is why I come here, they are a laugh

As for being logged on all the time, blame apple and samsung for that. Stuck in a queue somewhere, i need to kill a few minutes, i know, ill whip out my phone, see if anyone liked that funny comment i made in the latest pointy nipple thread

 

All the arguments i ever hear like that go along the same plot line

Someone claims this site was so much better such and such years ago back when the had friends, site sucks now cos no one replies to them or remembers who they are

 

I'm here because I am attached to the forums and of course the fellow users. I'm not looking for bigger websites or forums.

This community has it's qualities and it's downsides. I am part of it for the things I like. If all regulars and their talk were replaced with a bunch of (perhaps really insightful) strangers in the amount of people and threads of for example X I would probably be gone in a week.

 

I don't post here anymore....

 

You’re right we often dwell too much in the past but there are some posters that leave a lasting impression.


Hotwater

 

I come her cos its the only forum me mam will let me use

Mally ( aged Ten and a half )

 

who the hell wants to belong to a ''quality community''?

not me....I prefer the ragtag bunch we have here.....''quality community'' reeks of snobbism to me

 

The pay is good.