Into the Ether

[Vman455]

A comment on another thread, about a once-frequent user who "went dark" two years ago, vanished, never to return (so far), got me thinking about the ephemeral nature of forum users--not just this forum, but any. I suppose one day the persona that is Vman455 (and it is that--a persona, not exactly myself if only because it is the expression of that self through a drastically different medium than reality) will go dark as well, as it has already on several forums. I sometimes find myself wondering what happened to these users, especially the ones who had high post counts and seemed committed and then suddenly--*poof*, never to be heard from again.

[mcrews]

...they disappear.

[mcrews]

I was on an infiniti forum when I had my Q45. probably the most prolific poster and never realized it (at the time). I was cross-posting my eco stuff along with my other mods and pics.
When I sold the car I kinda disappeared for a while. tried to go back but there was no activity.

[redpoint5]

I wonder about that from time to time too. The majority of my forum time used to reside at the Slickdeals Podium forum where religion and politics are debated. Somehow I went from spending a couple hours per day in there to never even visiting. I still wonder about the regulars and wish I could have met these characters in person.

This is where I spend the bulk of my forum time now, mostly because I find reason to be in higher supply than other forums. I appreciate that the mods allow my tangent philosophical musings, and don't abuse their authority by censorship when ideas are counter to their beliefs.

[Frank Lee]

No doubt some have simply croacked.

[user removed]

Been there and left on a few forums. Flight sims, motorcycles, Insight forum, Clean MPG forum, Civic forum. Been around here longer than any other, but don't post as much as my experience fades in relevance to newer cars. Pop tuns 95 this May so the croaking option may be awhile.

regards
mech

[jamesqf]

Sometimes it's a policy or web page design change that drives me away. Like for instance having to log on with a Facebook account, which I don't have.

[Fat Charlie]

The focus that made the forum relevant went away, most times. Or something that made it easy to check in and spend time changed.

Once I got a warning from the admins that a post (in their lounge) had been considered offensive by someone. Someone had been sad that a world figure had retired. I said "His biggest legacy was concealing horrific crimes. I guess that got too strenuous. Anyone at all in their system would be better in that job." And I was being offensive? I logged out and never went back. Pity.

[mcrews]

old tele man july 2009 5682
frank lee jan 2008 11,233
aerohead jan 2008 7862
Neilblanchard mat 2008 6244
mcrews oct 2009 3201

tele man, your just warming up!!!!

[Xist]

The only other forums in which I was active was www.ClassicTW.com - Index page and it (and the game) seem pretty dead now. I always think about going back, mostly because someone wrote me a script that I had tried to figure out.

It is an old text-based space game that has not necessarily changed much since 1985. People learned how to automate horribly monotonous parts of it, which some people hate, and are banned on some servers.

Some guy harassed me because my script blew him up. I was on a mission while deployed to Afghanistan, with at least a two-second lag each way. He improved his method, I revised my script, and blew him up again.

Sometimes, I just sit and talk with people in World of Warcraft, but I have never cared to write about it off-line.

My local friends rarely seem to want to talk in-person. Now that work is picking up (I went from four to ten hours last week. This week should be even better and continue improving!), hopefully I will finally be able to make new friends.

I appreciate you guys tolerating me.