how did you learn there were discussion forums?

[kali Wylder]

Nobody I know in world these days seems to know about the forums any more. 

My first av made many of her best friends in SL from first knowing them from the forums. That was back when you used to see the top 3 threads latest entries on the first page of the dashboard.  Without that I wouldn't have known the forums existed. I've often wondered why they stopped doing that. 

[Fritigern Gothly]

Having been in SL for over 12 years now, I have known about the forums, but just wasn't interested in them for a long time.

I don't remember how this changed, but it happened earlier this year, and before Bellisseria happened.

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

14 minutes ago, kali Wylder said:

Nobody I know in world these days seems to know about the forums any more. 

My first av made many of her best friends in SL from first knowing them from the forums. That was back when you used to see the top 3 threads latest entries on the first page of the dashboard.  Without that I wouldn't have known the forums existed. I've often wondered why they stopped doing that. 

Hmm, I don't remember, it was during my first year in SL, back in 2010 during the days of epic forums threads that went on for YEARS. Like you, I made a lot of friends here, and by extension at the Forum Cartel hangout (which I learned about here).

I guess I found out about the forums from the Dashboard. This was before the introduction of the SL feeds, so really the forums were the place to be and they were very active!

I used to post a lot, then when the forum software changed and many of the old-timers seemed to leave, I lost interest as well. I recently got interested again with the release of the new Linden homes.

[Bitsy Buccaneer]

It might have been through the Dashboard. That seems logical, I used it as an entry point most of the time. But I might have come across them through searching or a friend might have told me. Those were the two main ways I learned about SL things. I honestly don't remember which it was though.

[Ted McGregor]

I got fed up with verbally fighting @ infohubs and just barged in here. 😜

[Selene Gregoire]

33 minutes ago, kali Wylder said:

Nobody I know in world these days seems to know about the forums any more. 

My first av made many of her best friends in SL from first knowing them from the forums. That was back when you used to see the top 3 threads latest entries on the first page of the dashboard.  Without that I wouldn't have known the forums existed. I've often wondered why they stopped doing that. 

Do you really expect me to remember how I knew about the forums 15 years ago? 

This time it's actually an easy answer. I knew without knowing because back then every VW (yes there was more than one or two!) had one so it stood to reason SL did as well. And yep... there it was. As far back as 2003.

Edited July 16, 2019 by Selene Gregoire

[kali Wylder]

21 minutes ago, Sylvia Tamalyn said:

Hmm, I don't remember, it was during my first year in SL, back in 2010 during the days of epic forums threads that went on for YEARS. Like you, I made a lot of friends here, and by extension at the Forum Cartel hangout (which I learned about here).

I guess I found out about the forums from the Dashboard. This was before the introduction of the SL feeds, so really the forums were the place to be and they were very active!

I used to post a lot, then when the forum software changed and many of the old-timers seemed to leave, I lost interest as well. I recently got interested again with the release of the new Linden homes.

Yeah, I think when they changed the forum software, they dropped showing the the top topics on the dashboard.  I wondered at the time if it was to discourage us as we were such a contentious bunch and the forums were frequently subject to those Flame War threads.

[KanryDrago]

I am always active in forums whether games i am playing or virtual worlds

[Bree Giffen]

I used forums before and looked for SL's forum soon after joining. I knew enough to ease myself into the conversation slowly. It was quite  an incendiary forum back then.

[Madelaine McMasters]

Just now, Bree Giffen said:

It was quite  an incendiary forum back then.

...sets you on fire.

[Fionalein]

Forums (not just these ones) are soooo 2000s - they are a web 1.0 relic  - the new generation* prefers to discuss their stuff below mansplaining video tutorials on YT... 

*generation used here as the area people got familiarized with the interwebs - it is loosly corrrelated to RL age but not neccesarily.

Edited July 16, 2019 by Fionalein

[Lindal Kidd]

2 hours ago, KanryDrago said:

I am always active in forums whether games i am playing or virtual worlds

Me too!  And also for products or hobbies that have an active user forum.  I have purchased expensive items based largely on the fact that they have a dedicated online group of users for advice and support.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

2 hours ago, Bree Giffen said:

I knew enough to ease myself into the conversation slowly. It was quite  an incendiary forum back then.

I wish I'd been that clever.

When LL first began to toss around the idea of changing the sim rating system, a friend of mine decided to use the forums to ask a question about LL's attitude towards depictions of violence against women (she was the founder of one of the in-world feminist groups I help administer). The forums in those days were not, I think, very used to articulations of views like hers, and what developed was a massive flame war. She asked me to leap in as backup, which I did.

A little while later, I started a thread entitled "Inclusive Communities and Representations of Violence," in which I floated the thesis that a community that permitted role play built around misogyny, racism, and homophobia was by definition not very inclusive. It was a tendentious thesis, and I knew it (it's not one I would present now), but I also wasn't making an assertion as such: I was hoping for discussion. And I got that: the thread went over 50 pages, and made the previous flame war look like a weeny roast.

My friend decided that the forums were not a particularly fun place to be, but for reasons that now escape me, I decided to stick it out. And after quite a few months of being treated like something of a feminist troll, I finally managed to convince most people that I wasn't actually a reincarnation of Andrea Dworkin. And, eventually, in turn, as I learned how to be more intelligent and diplomatic in my postings, and demonstrated that I was actually reasonably open-minded and willing to concede points, I was able to initiate discussions that didn't turn into massive sh*tshows, but resulted in the worthwhile exchange of ideas

And along the way, I discovered that the old RA forum, and then the new forums, harboured a really worthwhile and fun community, full of people I liked and wanted to spend time with.

[Selene Gregoire]

4 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Andrea Dworkin

I'd forgotten all about her. I had to google. *sighs* Wish I hadn't.

I used to read some of your posts back then. You never even came remotely close to being like her.

[Peony Sweetwater]

Interesting question, and interesting answers too. Made me think hard about my own journey here, because I don't think I knew it was on the dashboard back in my early days - it's certainly not easy to find on the dashboard now. From memory I was Googling a building or scripting issue, and came across the forums while searching.

[Blush Bravin]

I've always been a forums junkie; however, I was a reader and not much of a poster. I think my first post in the SL forums was back in "08 when I asked for advice on how to remove facelights from a hair I had just purchased. I hadn't ever tried to edit any hair up until then. I got great advice and cheers from several who didn't much like facelights either. 

I tend to read the forums instead of the "newspaper" with my coffee in the morning. This has been a habit of mine for many, many years. It was my quiet time before heading off to school and my hectic classroom and morning duty. The habit followed me into retirement where I still take my coffee with the forums.

Forgot to mention how I found the forums. I think I most likely googled Second Life Forums. 

Edited July 16, 2019 by Blush Bravin

[Scylla Rhiadra]

1 minute ago, Selene Gregoire said:

I'd forgotten all about her. I had to google. *sighs* Wish I hadn't.

I used to read some of your posts back then. You never even came remotely close to being like her.

Thank you, Selene. I think I needed to learn how to sound less . . . militant? Positive and sure of myself? Something.

Andrea Dworkin . . . such an intelligent woman, and a really superb writer, but with some real issues which were, in part, the result of her own very unhappy experiences. She could have been an absolute beacon. Instead, sadly, she managed to make herself poster child for most of the very worst tendencies of 2nd Wave Feminism.

[Eva Knoller]

Despite being a long-time SLer of sorts, I only just discovered the forums this year. I am pretty sure it was via the dashboard.  I lurked for a couple of weeks to get a feel, then started posting. It’s been a great way to fill down time at work, and keep up with stuff happening in-world. 

[Maitimo]

I've been using the internet since 2002.  The first thing I look for on any new thing, is forums.

[Rolig Loon]

I generally ignore forums elsewhere, but I discovered the Texturing section of these forums very early on, in 2007, when Chosen Few was the guru there.  I think it was because of something that was posted in that very helpful creation blog (What was her name-- the mermaid? My mind is like a sieve today.)  From there, the leap to the Scripting forum was easy.  I started hanging out there to learn what I could from Void Singer, Strife Onizuka, and the other grand masters of the day.  As far as I was concerned, the forums were places to learn about how SL works, and to establish myself as a creator.

Forum software went through two massive changes along the way.  About the time that the second one hit -- 2014? -- I started posting seriously in the Answers forum.  I had contributed occasional responses to questions there before then, but not regularly.  I had ignored the GD forum entirely to that point, mostly because it was overrun by a feisty crowd that I knew would suck me into pointless flame wars.  I'm not basically a feisty sort or a drama queen.  With the change in software and moderation style and with the departure of some of the rowdiest people in GD, I started following discussions there and adding my own two L$.  Sadly, we lost some truly valuable members of the forum community (and SL) about then -- Chosen Few and Void among them.  On the plus side, the forums gained quite a few articulate, talented new faces at the same time.  They're a very different place than they were in 2007, but still a fine place to hang out and learn things.  And friendlier than they used to be too.  

[Mollymews]

26 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

that very helpful creation blog (What was her name-- the mermaid? 

Natalya Zelmanov

[Selene Gregoire]

29 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

Forum software went through two massive changes along the way.

There has been three really. There was the first change from the "old" software in the very early days and then the two you mention. Not many noticed the very first change because there weren't that many posting and the vast majority of those that did are long gone.

[Rolig Loon]

2 minutes ago, Mollymews said:

33 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

that very helpful creation blog (What was her name-- the mermaid? 

Natalya Zelmanov

Thank you.  I don't know how I could have lost track of her name, except that my idiot brain has never been good at recalling names.  She was a very helpful blogger.  

[kali Wylder]

2 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I wish I'd been that clever....

And along the way, I discovered that the old RA forum, and then the new forums, harboured a really worthwhile and fun community, full of people I liked and wanted to spend time with.

I remember thinking you were very clever.  I was more of a reader than a poster back then and I remember fondly one thread of yours where you pretended to be a bimbo with a spanker attachment that had me rolling on the floor.

[Madelaine McMasters]

I'm going to give wide latitude to the definition of forum so I can claim to have started around 1978. Dad had a minicomputer (PDP-8 perhaps) on which he did design and prototyping work. I learned to type on the keyboard of the VT-52 in his office, so I could chat with him in his shop, where he had another terminal. When I got to engineering school, around 1985, I was able to chat with the people sitting next to me (via both IM and forum) in the computer lab, via timeshare terminals on the university's mainframe. Silly as it seems, many of us appreciated something about text chatting with people within earshot. Around 1986/7, with help from the lovely fellas in the Milwaukee Computer Club, I built a modem and joined their BBS. From there I moved to other services, including "The Well", IRC and usenet use-groups. I participated in numerous technical/professional forums over the years, and still pop in to one or two of them when I'm in the mood.

So, when I arrived at SL, I was expecting there'd be some kind of forum community. I probably found it on the day I first downloaded the viewer, as I think the links for both forum and download have always been near each other on the bottom of the SL home page. I lurked for nearly two years before joining, mostly because I was consumed by SL itself. Once I had reserve mental capacity to participate here, I jumped in. That was early in 2010. Despite a complete lack of effort, I eventually became High Priestess of the Forum Cult, directing countless minions (including LL employees and some of you) to do my bidding.

Curiously, nearly a decade on, I still can't get Snugs to support anything I do.

Edited July 16, 2019 by Madelaine McMasters