Hello folks,
Some of you are obviously very new to forums and I don't know what you think, or expect to find on one. Some of you get very upset if a peron offers a differing view to you. Some come here for a fight, some are here, not to make or be part of a community, but to further their own agendas. Some come here looking for answers, to tell a story, to find a kindred spirit? Some come here for friendship. We all have our reasons for being here.
I am 58 this year, my life online goes back to pretty much the start of the internet. I remember a time when the Internet had no browsers. Everything we did was text based, telnet, ftp, MUDS lol (I loved MUDS) actually I predate the internet in one respect as I started out on dial up Bulletin boards where you got 30 sometimes 60 mins per day access time :)
I have been a member of two of the biggest forums on the internet, the last was of course "Q"s I saw all incantations of it and was there right back at the start when tutu and Ben where there. Prior to that I was a memeber of the once great but now dececes UFO City, I remember the John Titor Thread when it was new first time round, not a rehash!!!! What a thrill that was. So for me, a forum is not somewhere to kill 20 mins before I have tea. It is in every sense a home filled with people who are to me very real and very much my friends. It is a place for me to offer my shoulder to you when you need to cry, make you laugh when you are sad, and I hope, a place that I earn the trust and love for you to reciprocate. But so often life gets in the way. We lose family, we lose partners, we lose friends. Sometimes we have family that resent our time online with friends (my ex wife was one of those), well you know what. Some of you have been there for me and supported me better than those in my immediate family and friends. My wife of 28 years dumped me for another bloke. Guess what, some of you helped me through that and are still my friends. My wife dumped me, and you folks are still here.
I have had a lot of stuff happen to me over the years, the last few years have been pretty bad, marriage break up, and the loss of friends to follow, lost my mum and dad in that period too. Tons of not so nice things. So you search for something, some days a way out, some days a way forward. You have ups and downs and hope. Some days are bright and exciting, but then it always seems to end up shit again. I have been thinking a lot lately about the friends I have made online now, and in the past. You are all very real to me. Some cynical people I have met in the past will say, get a real life you dick head, you don't even know these people. But, I do know these people. And our friendships to me are very real. I don't know you all like a family member, but some of you have shared the trouble and strife in your life, your losses, your joys. So I do know you in my own way. Some of you have shared your recent strife, and I think of you often. I wan't to help, but there are things that stop it. Distance for one, trust another, I might be some crazy murder. :) lol
Whats the point of me saying all this?
This place here, this new home Leta has made for us is very real. It is and can be a home for us, a refuge, a safe place where you know you will always find a smile, and support. This place can in some ways be a place to escape for a while the pain and sadness of life in the real world.
I speak for no one but myself, but know that if I call you friend, I mean it, if I offer what help I can for someone on the opposite side of the world, well I mean that too.
Think of the people you meet here as real friends, and let yourself have the space and the courage to (safely) let them into your world.
I don't know what the future of Alien Babble is, I fear for it, I don't want to lose yet another home. I worry about Leta, she has been missing in action for a while now. I hope the world has not dealt her more pain.
So I guess I am saying lets give each other a chance to grow and make this place great.
Don't let life get in the way
Love to all, Dundee x
PS:
Remember my two favorite sayings.
Make Love not War and
A stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet :)
Some of you are obviously very new to forums and I don't know what you think, or expect to find on one. Some of you get very upset if a peron offers a differing view to you. Some come here for a fight, some are here, not to make or be part of a community, but to further their own agendas. Some come here looking for answers, to tell a story, to find a kindred spirit? Some come here for friendship. We all have our reasons for being here.
I am 58 this year, my life online goes back to pretty much the start of the internet. I remember a time when the Internet had no browsers. Everything we did was text based, telnet, ftp, MUDS lol (I loved MUDS) actually I predate the internet in one respect as I started out on dial up Bulletin boards where you got 30 sometimes 60 mins per day access time :)
I have been a member of two of the biggest forums on the internet, the last was of course "Q"s I saw all incantations of it and was there right back at the start when tutu and Ben where there. Prior to that I was a memeber of the once great but now dececes UFO City, I remember the John Titor Thread when it was new first time round, not a rehash!!!! What a thrill that was. So for me, a forum is not somewhere to kill 20 mins before I have tea. It is in every sense a home filled with people who are to me very real and very much my friends. It is a place for me to offer my shoulder to you when you need to cry, make you laugh when you are sad, and I hope, a place that I earn the trust and love for you to reciprocate. But so often life gets in the way. We lose family, we lose partners, we lose friends. Sometimes we have family that resent our time online with friends (my ex wife was one of those), well you know what. Some of you have been there for me and supported me better than those in my immediate family and friends. My wife of 28 years dumped me for another bloke. Guess what, some of you helped me through that and are still my friends. My wife dumped me, and you folks are still here.
I have had a lot of stuff happen to me over the years, the last few years have been pretty bad, marriage break up, and the loss of friends to follow, lost my mum and dad in that period too. Tons of not so nice things. So you search for something, some days a way out, some days a way forward. You have ups and downs and hope. Some days are bright and exciting, but then it always seems to end up shit again. I have been thinking a lot lately about the friends I have made online now, and in the past. You are all very real to me. Some cynical people I have met in the past will say, get a real life you dick head, you don't even know these people. But, I do know these people. And our friendships to me are very real. I don't know you all like a family member, but some of you have shared the trouble and strife in your life, your losses, your joys. So I do know you in my own way. Some of you have shared your recent strife, and I think of you often. I wan't to help, but there are things that stop it. Distance for one, trust another, I might be some crazy murder. :) lol
Whats the point of me saying all this?
This place here, this new home Leta has made for us is very real. It is and can be a home for us, a refuge, a safe place where you know you will always find a smile, and support. This place can in some ways be a place to escape for a while the pain and sadness of life in the real world.
I speak for no one but myself, but know that if I call you friend, I mean it, if I offer what help I can for someone on the opposite side of the world, well I mean that too.
Think of the people you meet here as real friends, and let yourself have the space and the courage to (safely) let them into your world.
I don't know what the future of Alien Babble is, I fear for it, I don't want to lose yet another home. I worry about Leta, she has been missing in action for a while now. I hope the world has not dealt her more pain.
So I guess I am saying lets give each other a chance to grow and make this place great.
Don't let life get in the way
Love to all, Dundee x
PS:
Remember my two favorite sayings.
Make Love not War and
A stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet :)
