how did you learn there were discussion forums?

[norajulian]

This question just thrust me down memory lane. I originally located to SL from para-RP situations on sites like ProBoards, Livejournal, and Bboards. A bit down the road (years and an avatar) and I was missing “home” something terribly, so I stumbled into the forums here, hoping it was the same thing. 

It’s not, but by golly I’m here! 

Edited July 16, 2019 by norajulian

[Scylla Rhiadra]

20 minutes ago, kali Wylder said:

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.

I vaguely remember that one! You'll have to forgive my lapse of memory, though: that period is all a bit hazy. I think I was still getting over the bisexual furry skunk.

You may have read more than you posted, but you -- or Katt, anyway -- were certainly a prominent presence on the forums. I very much think of you as part of the crowd of forum "regulars" in those days (the nice ones, I mean).

[Scylla Rhiadra]

18 minutes ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

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.

And I've been meaning to tell you how badly you and the LWL (aka The Forum Illuminati) have been botching things recently. Maybe it's time to lean a little more heavily on Ebbe?

[Snugs McMasters]

6 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

And I've been meaning to tell you how badly you and the LWL (aka The Forum Illuminati) have been botching things recently. Maybe it's time to lean a little more heavily on Ebbe?

Stop and think about this for a moment, Scylla. Doesn't the Tilia introduction seem like exactly the sort of thing Maddy would engineer? As proof she's involved, you'll notice she's nowhere to be found in those forum discussions.

[LysippeAriti]

I kinda think Twitter-culture made “forums” lose currency and people just seemed to stop talking about them.

Twitter is largely a flame-fest/dumpster-fire and at some point, that behavior carried over to most other online “discussion” media. After a bit the SL forums were “unlivable”.

Things seem to have calmed down. I’m hearing that “while I was away” LL did some cleanup that seems to err on the side of Overkill - but things seem calmer.

Edited July 16, 2019 by LysippeAriti

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

1 hour ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I vaguely remember that one! You'll have to forgive my lapse of memory, though: that period is all a bit hazy. I think I was still getting over the bisexual furry skunk.

You may have read more than you posted, but you -- or Katt, anyway -- were certainly a prominent presence on the forums. I very much think of you as part of the crowd of forum "regulars" in those days (the nice ones, I mean).

Ooh I remember a character... what was his name? Richard? I used to laugh so much at "his" posts. 

[Clara Hollyberry]

8 hours 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. 

From the dashboard for me; blogs too. 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

6 minutes ago, Sylvia Tamalyn said:

Ooh I remember a character... what was his name? Richard? I used to laugh so much at "his" posts. 

Lol yes. Richard Parkes, Manly Man.

Most of his threads got nuked by the mods, sadly, although two of the OPs (I think) were reposted at SLU. They were a lot of fun to write, and the threads that grew out of them were hilarious.

I very briefly considered resurrecting dear old Richard in the run up to the US 2016 election . . . and thought better of it. Given the moderation here nowadays, he and I and everyone associated with us would probably be permabanned, even unto the 7th generation.

[Claireschen Hesten]

I think the first official forum i was aware of was only available to premiums but SlExchange/xStreet had one that was popular and when it was taken over by LL eventually morphed in to the forum today 

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

I have been in SL ~12 years, but only found the forums recently. Just after I bought Premium for the first time ever because I wanted a houseboat in Bellewhatever, and had the silly uninformed notion I could just claim one. I was looking for a place to complain about LL luring people into buying Premium with a perk they couldn't deliver, and not bothering to put a disclaimer in the notice that demand might far outstrip supply, at least. Turns out I was supposed to have been participating in the forums for years, and known the same thing happened when they released the original Linden Homes, even though I had no interest in those and didn't know the forum existed.

It all turned out for the best in the end though, as things tend to do. I used my tier to buy a piece of land I love and had a lot of fun trying out houses and furnishing and decorating it, never have to pay rent, just up my Premium once a year (and bought the extension so is almost two years before I have to pay anything again, WOOHOO!), and get some spending money on top of all that. Plus after poking about Belliwhatever, I am not that interested in living there anyhow, love my house in the ocean far better. And now I read some stuff in the forum and occasionally even post there, so glad I found it.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

3 minutes ago, Caerolle Llewellyn said:

Plus after poking about Belliwhatever, I am not that interested in living there anyhow, love my house in the ocean far better.

I think you need to post a picture. We need more pictures here.

Words all the time are boooooooring.

 

 

(Ok, not really boring, but still pics are nice.)

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

1 minute ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I think you need to post a picture. We need more pictures here.

Words all the time are boooooooring.

 

 

(Ok, not really boring, but still pics are nice.)

OMG, I suck at that stuff. I only learn how to do stuff in SL if it presents a big obstacle to me doing something I want to do, lol. How about this, I will send you an LM in-world, and you can go have a look if you like. No banlines or ejectors there.

[Raevyn Addams]

@Caerolle Llewellyn; Belliwhatever, priceless!  (need to post that response in the 'How do you remember how to spell Bellisseria thread') 🤣

Back to the OP; I found the forums by accident? Accidentally on purpose? It was via the dashboard while looking for something else, looking for land auctions I think (or just clicking buttons to see where it would lead, I do that sometimes too when I'm bored or curious, or curiously bored). I didn't participate or care for the forums much until I started typing in questions in Google looking for scripts or building help or something and the links kept leading me back to them. Then I started reading a few threads and got a little more acquainted with them. It wasn't until Bellisseria's release that I bothered speaking at all. Up until that point I felt like the forums were really just for long-standing residents or the well-established, so I felt like an outsider that didn't really warrant being here much less sharing an opinion. As you can see, that all changed. 🙄

[Selene Gregoire]

22 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I think you need to post a picture. We need more pictures here.

Words all the time are boooooooring.

 

 

(Ok, not really boring, but still pics are nice.)

Here. You need this.

You're welcome.

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

2 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

Here. You need this.

You're welcome.

I think I take pretty good pics in RL, but really really suck at it in SL. I think there must be something to learn, but have never been motivated enough to do. I do have a few pics of people (including selfies taken for various reasons) from the old days, but architectural photography in SL is definitely beyond my skills. 

[kali Wylder]

21 minutes ago, Caerolle Llewellyn said:

I think I take pretty good pics in RL, but really really suck at it in SL. I think there must be something to learn, but have never been motivated enough to do. I do have a few pics of people (including selfies taken for various reasons) from the old days, but architectural photography in SL is definitely beyond my skills. 

The secret is save them to your hard drive instead of inventory.  Then just take tons of them and only upload the good ones.

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

Just now, kali Wylder said:

The secret is save them to your hard drive instead of inventory.  Then just take tons of them and only upload the good ones.

It's more getting the shot I want than anything else. I have taken a lot of pics in RL, and Sl just has sooooo much less control, IMO.

[Ted McGregor]

Just a tip : disable your camera constraints and you can easily pan your camera in any direction or angle you prefer.

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

1 minute ago, TDD123 said:

Just a tip : disable your camera constraints and you can easily pan your camera in any direction or angle you prefer.

Thanks! I keep Preferences set that way already, though.

[CheriColette]

7 hours ago, Blush Bravin said:

I've always been a forums junkie; however, I was a reader and not much of a poster.

I tend to read the forums instead of the "newspaper" with my coffee in the morning.

 

Same with me Blush. But not just mornings with coffee, its any time during the day I get a break at work. Its nice to take myself away to a quiet corner and read.

I came across SLForums very early in my life, as a noob wanting to know how to do things. I think Google sent me here first.  

[LittleMe Jewell]

I don't remember for sure, but I probably searched them out.  I always go looking for forums associated with my online activities.  I found the forums in the first month of my original account.

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

7 hours ago, Matty Luminos said:

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

Been on the "internet" since mid 90s, when it was using Gophers and BBSs.  I was pointed here by a Linden a while back --- the same one who used to come to our former RL night club and told me about SL.

[Maitimo]

7 hours ago, norajulian said:

 para-RP situations on sites like ... Livejournal, ....

Oooh I did that too. Any chance you were involved in LJ's LOTR fandom, c. 2002 to about 2007?

[ThorinII]

8 hours ago, Matty Luminos said:

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

Same here.

When I became aware that there was a virtual world named "Second Life" (back then in early '08), first thing I did was looking for the forum connected to it, skimmed through a few threads -- which made me even more curious about SL than I already was -- then I created my first account.

[norajulian]

39 minutes ago, Matty Luminos said:

Oooh I did that too. Any chance you were involved in LJ's LOTR fandom, c. 2002 to about 2007?

I skimmed through it, but sadly I’ve never been much of an LOTR fan.