posted
As we are all currently indulging in nostalgic threads, it is perhaps appropriate to mention that five years ago on this very day I happened to switch on to a rather rubbish television programme called Attachments. It was not the sort of thing I would have normally switched onto, given the cast of naked skateboarding geeks, dysfunctional cokeheads and a lesbian with a bad haircut who was allegedly 'Hott' - but it was about the Interweb so I kept my finger off the channel select button on my remote.
It was late at night, and I had just returned home from the pub after a few drinks celebrating what was then the tenth anniversary of the Tag der deutschen Einheit; I decided to have a look at a url that had featured prominently in this rather bizarre programme - seethru.co.uk.
After surfing around the site a bit - wading through loads of dull and turgid left-liberal hash on music and drugs) - I stumbled upon the bulletin board - SeeThru Talk. Not that long afterwards I had registered, and contributed a short post saying how unrealistic the show was. Controversial indeed, but no real indicator of what was to come. Over the next few weeks, a bunch of familiar names would emerge: Sabian. Pie. Starfish. Belita. Tav. Paul Delicious. DangerousDaze, Gordon the Gofer. Darryn R. And of course Annerobinson. Oh, and Kitty. Erm, yeah.*
It is difficult to believe that five years have rushed by since then. During this time Seethru died a slow death, and its childe TMO was born. I do not post often these days, but I still feel compelled to pay irregular visits.
So, there is the tale of my relationship with this place... Were it not for this little corner of the Interweb, I would not have pissed off an army of nu-media liberals. I would not have made an lifelong enemy out of a Yorkshireman I had never met. I would never have indulged in what was probably the basest act of my entire life. But on the upside, I would never have met Nightowl, who has changed my life entirely.
So... To all bar none...
- How did you find this community? Were you born into a TMO or a Seethru graduate? Were you one of the 'pre-Novemberists'? - In what ways, if any, has this place changed/improved/ruined your life?
Consider this an armistice. I will try my level best to be nice.
posted
I was introduced to TMO shortly after it began, by sometime TMO poster Keef, who I believe discovered SeeThru via Attachments originally. I’m not sure I’d better say too much about how this place has affected me, since last time I did I managed to be nauseatingly twee and sickly about how many friends I’d made through it, to the point where an apparently apoplectic with rage Black Mask all but declared a fatwah on me (apologies for that Barry, christ knows what I’d been drinking). Suffice to say I’ve met a lot of top people on here, had a lot of damn good TMO-related-piss-ups, and moved to Surrey on the strength of a forumite’s assurance that I’d like it here. It’s also been the only thing which has got me through countless boring afternoons at work.
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posted
I watched a couple of episodes of Attachments. I thought Soph was quite hot. It didn't prompt me to punch www.seethru.co.uk into a browser, though. Some time post November, I'm not sure how post (about the same time Benway registered I think), I was emailed a couple of links to the seethru website. The kind of emails that fall under the ever growing umbrella of 'hilarious' chainmails with titles like 'this is well fucking funny mate!!!' I think the links were probably to Seethru's famous ticklists.
The second time I visited the Seethru site I found the boards but felt no urge to post, believing bulletin boards to be populated mostly by geeks (I've yet to decide if I was right). Work was quiet and I ended up back there a few days in a row. The first day I posted Infinite Jones started ten threads of complete gibberish, announcing at the end of the working day that he had used the titles of every song he heard on the radio that morning in a new Seethru thread. He seemed inexplicably pleased with this reveal.
People posting a lot on that day were RickJ, Terrier, Billybo, Vitini and Stealgate. Vitini seemed very angry. Stealgate started a thread about some kind of march against military occupation, something like that. His thread raged as he took on all-comers, cutting and pasting huge chapters of information to counter what twenty posters fired at him. I felt a bit sorry for him (some of the responses were quite cruel - "you fucking stupid idiot. Just fuck off and die") and remember being impressed with his stamina.
Rick had just got a new tag, a green bottle of German beer. He was very pleased with it. The voice of Reason posted several wisecracks during the course of the day. Gary Coleman's picture appeared in several threads.
Three days into my stay I registered and decided to post. Jonesy was taken (by whom I've no idea. I never saw any of his/her posts) so I added three numbers to the moniker and was given the OK. I can't remember who emailed me the password but I'm pretty sure it was a fictional character, maybe Soph. The three nines would later lead posters to confuse me with a fireman and a policeman. I was also often accused of being (the now absent) Dammo666.
My first post was two words, I believe, "Astonished rolf." A response to a thread asking for alternative names for a lady's front bottom. I was ignored. I think I probably made 30 posts before anyone acknowledged my existence. I started my first thread, entitled, with startling unoriginality, "What is the best cure for a hangover?"
It garnered, I think, 5 replies. One from Pink, with a big shoe next to his name and a signature about not trusting the pusher robot, recommending a cocktail of various drugs to soothe away the problem. I started another thread, probably fishing for information about this random collection of textual beings: it was something along the lines of 'which age did you enjoy being the most?'. I offered a paragraph of personal information – "As I approach 30...", thinking my honesty would stand me on good ground and act as an example for others to do likewise. I think I got around 4 responses, one of which hinted that I really shouldn't expect people to just post on my thread. I think I was told the idea had been done before...and better.
As I racked up a hundred posts or so, little by little people began to respond to me. I engaged Rick in 'conversation' for ten posts or so. I forget the subject, I seem to remember someone making a comment like "ooh, look, the n00bie is talking to Rick. And I thought it seemed alright up until now."
Somewhere around the century post mark, I posted drunk on a late night thread (in those days the board was thriving community at night, believe it or not). The post was something to do with cub scouts on a rollercoaster and a high powered rifle . The Voice of Reason LOLed at it...a real honour. A few days later, TVOR bigged me up and 'gave me props' (though I think he said "I am gay for...") in an unrelated thread. Things were changing. This was a real show of acceptance from one of the board's most established posters. In my own humble way, I had arrived.
that was good, Jonesy. Especially the bit about getting acceptance from TVoR. In those days, he was one of the main gatekeepers of reputation. I think young posters probably underestimate just how much power he had. Back then if you wanted something to be done about another poster, you asked TVoR. If you wanted a tag, or a punchline, or just a bit of highly visible comedy banter, then you p-mailed B2K . If you fancied trolling, then there was always the secretive 72DPI project.
Of course, it sounds naive to kids these days, but many of us didn't even realise at the time that it was the same guy running these operations. Sure, there were different names and email addresses, but they all seemed to end up at the same place. It often felt like information was being passed at the speed of light around the posters, but of course, it was just that many of the posters were the same person.
A nod from TVoR was a big deal. You hadn't just been accepted into the tertiary level of the Seethru court, but in a small way, you'd been accepted as one of London's media elite, even if you didn't work in either London, or the media. Of course, that kind of acceptance was a blessing and a curse. You had to step up your game once TVOR had given you the seal. You had his rep to worry about too, and he couldn't hold your hand the whole time. I seen many guys fall pretty soon after TVoR props, because of the pressure. There were secret meetings to attend, in-jokes to respond to, and perhaps most importantly, the subtext to analyse for secret clues on who was banging who behind who's back. Because it was all there if you read between the lines.
These Days, TVor only swings round once in a while. But did you ever ask yourself - just who is Mr. Nice?
[ 03.10.2005, 13:42: Message edited by: Dr. Benway ]
posted
I was on seethru but, like jonesy, got there via a check this out email or a link from B3TA or something like that. I seem to remember posting for months before I got that most cherished badge of honour, my first LOL. No idea who awarded it though, and it took several more months of heroic one-liner posting before someone else gave me a bar to add to my LOL. I used to dream of an LOL with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, but I think those only get awarded to people who are actually funny, like Thorn or Jonesy.
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posted
I came to SeeThre via the Bullies Reunited page, which was quite funny. I didn't post at first - I didn't even really understand the discussion boards, how they worked or anything at all really. It was only when SG5 advised me that they were 'fun', that I started browsing them. The first thread I remember reading was about some guy complaining that he was sat at his computer and he could hear his best mate and his girlfriend giggling in his room while they were drinking his bwine. It was pretty sad stuff. The replies, though, were terrific. Instead of messages of sympathy and support people were just mocking him, really kicking him when he was down, calling him a doormat etc. It was hilarious! So I signed up, on the promise of the possibility of being openly rude and sadistic to other actual live actual human beings. I don't think it was until I was sent to handbag for a week that it even occurred to me some people were nice to others online.
Anyway, yeah. I don't think anyone really notice me on SeeThru. Although I started a fair few threads, they mostly descended into other people chateing amongst themselves - most notably Jonesy and Benway. I've mentioned this before, but I'll point out again that Jonesy and Benway came down pretty hard on me for chateing on TMO. Of course, one glance at the tail end of the Dead Posters thread exposes them for the vile hypocrites they are.
Anyway. For the most part I was universally reviled on here - particularly by ben, who never missed an opportunity to put the boot in, even when I was being self deprecating. For example, when I confessed I didn't know what some abbreviation meant because "I'm just the sad little kid pretending to be in with the cool crowd" ben posted "Props to Thorn for self knowledge", when I jokingly complained that all I ever got from this site was shit, he would say "Proof that you only get out what you put in" etc etc. So it was with some satisfaction when someone was making a thread about which fictional fights you'd like to see, and someone (kovacs, I think) proposed a fight twixt Macbeth and Othello, versus Romeo and Mercutio. I joked that Othello and Macbeth would hand the Veronians their asses on a plate, as they were just a pair of gobby little kids hanging out at the bus stop and spitting on the floor, and ben said "With one deft movement, Thorn leaps to the top of the TMO admiration pole, ending months of mutterings that he was nothing more than a cut-price Ringo".
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posted
i only started posting because amp asked me to. i think her plan was that i was to function as the anti- SBJ: ie all the boys would think i was brilliantly funny and interesting but, similtaneously, no- one would want to have sex with me. which is pretty much the way it panned out i reckon.
-------------------- EXETER- movement of Jah people. Posts: 2841
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Octavia
I hate Valentine's Day. Stupid commercialised crap
posted
I’d been on handbag for about three days, and, having exhausted my capacity to read threads about Lancome Juicy Tubes, found one of the threads in General Chat that appeared to consist of little more than two dozen girls (and some girly-boys) getting on their high horses. The source of their ire was posting deliberately offensive and inflammatory lines, then going ‘what?’ in injured innocence. In particular was a thread called “What is it with chicks and dates?” where he announced that his girlfriend had got all upset when instead of remembering their anniversary he’d gone out drinking with mates, then come home bombed to shit and fallen asleep over some porn. The women were engaged, seriatim and privatim, in pointing out to him why this catastrophic error meant he was a terrible, irredeemable human being who should have his toenails drawn out with hot spikes. One of them commented randomly that he was only a trolling poster from this other board that was all boys talking about wanking. Of course, it turned out to be Thorn.
posted
I only started posting because SBJ asked me to. It didn't work out well and like discodamage, I never turned out to be funny, interesting or sexy either.
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posted
I only started posting because Macca told me to. He said 'We have this community right. It is shit. There is a fucking Nazi on there and this nymphomaniac. How can my cool site have a community with a Nazi on it? Do something!' So I joined and it was fun, although after a while Macca said I was spending too much time on there and had 'gone native'. The best bit was when I went to my first ever meet and he gave me his mobile number in case everyone discovered I worked for Seethru and tried to beat me up. Also one time I printed out a Messenger chat (if you know what I mean and I think you do girls) with Infinite Jones and left it in the work printer by mistake. Macca bought it over to my desk and then stood there laughing at me for about five minutes. Meh. Posts: 6175
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not...
You reached over with your hand and knocked my Jap over
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Watched Attachments, even checked the site out - must have typed it in wrong or something because when I looked it wasn't there. Anyhow sometime later I go the Bullies Reunited email and clicked it - I saw the seethru name and spent a while looking around the rest of the site. At some point I found the talk section and I remember reading the intro - I guess london must have wrote it, somthing about "meeting up in real life which is weird, and you can't say **** , and rickj being a **** " anyhow, it piqued my interest and I registered and posted something. Can't remember what it was but I do remember London welcoming me with a cutting remark about my username. My heart was literally beating like a drum as I typed out a reply which was laced with sexual innuendo, machismo and rapier-like wit. The next person who posted after that was Teflon. I was hooked. I started a few threads after that triumph which got a few half hearted responses. My first lol was from ben in response to a haiku that I posted on one of his threads. My first props was from jonesy999. It's amazing how important these little acknowledgements of your existence are when you're new, - one of the reasons I spend so long writing welcoming posts to new users on the forum. I remember thinking when I first started that I was going to own the place with my mad writing skillz. But pretty soon I discovered just how prolific most posters were and I realised I just didn't have the time, energy or talent. What a shit way to end this post - see this is why I will never pwn a bullitin board.
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quote:Originally posted by I am not...: It's amazing how important these little acknowledgements of your existence are when you're new
I thought it was just me who felt this way. Take last Friday for example. I was posting on the Black History Month thread, and for the first time since I've been posting here, I felt like I was starting to fit in ever so slightly. Then of course the weekend came and went, and yesterday I was just ralph the annoying twat again. But for that one thread, I felt like I was a TMO poster. Posts: 7436
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posted
And anyway, don't sweat it IAN. London told me off at my first meat for being generally disapointing and not taking the opportunity to be a big dog when I first joined the boards.
posted
I dunno. Stuff like that seemed to matter back then. *wipes disconsolate glittering tear from corner of eye, being careful not to disturb mascara welding eyelashes into dramatic clumps*
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quote:Originally posted by London: I dunno. Stuff like that seemed to matter back then. *wipes disconsolate glittering tear from corner of eye, being careful not to disturb mascara welding eyelashes into dramatic clumps*
You need a fucking hide like a Rhino in motorcycle leathers to walk tall in this place. I'm such a fragile, desperate-to-be-liked cyber clown that I never stood a chance. That's what I meant to say in reply when you took me to task. Instead of "Mmmm...ner...yeah!"
posted
But you've followed the traditional route to being accepted, Ralph. Just getting on with it, riding the barbs and sarcasm until people have no choice but to love you.
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quote:Originally posted by Darryn.R: Feeling more at home now ralph ?
No. Most of you people are frightening. And so very foreign. Quite frankly I don't know what you're all blathering on about most of the time.
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quote:Originally posted by jonesy999: But you've followed the traditional route to being accepted, Ralph. Just getting on with it, riding the barbs and sarcasm until people have no choice but to love you.
I'm certainly not looking for love. Or acceptance really. Just the occassional acknowledgement would do.
I have a member title. Me. ralph. I think I might cry. Seriously.
quote:Originally posted by jonesy999: But you've followed the traditional route to being accepted, Ralph. Just getting on with it, riding the barbs and sarcasm until people have no choice but to love you.
I always thought it was more along the lines of 'Just getting on with it, riding the barbs and sarcasm until people simply ignore you.'
posted
It's too late now, Ralph. In this world, Love doesn't care if you're looking for it. In fact, Love probably prefers it if you aren't. When Love pins you to the floor, pins you to the floor and looms above you, smiling and panting like a demented Labrador, when Love whispers, with a thrilling touch of menace, "Act happy!" that's when you have truly arrived. Or five minutes later.
posted
Can ralph and/or roy have some kind of distinguishing picture tag? I think that would help. It is easy to get confused, like with me and Aly. For the reccord it was me that said all the good things. Always.
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