The Sin Of Greed

Something interesting that details my past as an old G on the interwebs. On TIP was the first time that I ever did sit down and document it all.

Been meaning to reply to this thread because it was interesting to me. Got a little busy. Anyway.

What got you interested in Internet forums?

Manga/Japanese comics.  My main form of communication used to take place on mIRC and I still frequent it now and then these days.  I used to download and help distribute scanlated manga; back then the main distribution scenes were on IRC channels.  Still holds true today.  Anime moved on to torrents though.  After a few years of participating in a scanlation group and witnessing the start and near death of three highly influential scanlation groups (Toriyamaworld, Band of The Hawks, Omanga – other influential groups to me back then: Shoujomagic, Noated (more a database), Mangaproject and a long list of others) I branched off into other areas of interest on the net.

More detailed version is my interest in Ranma 1/2.  I looked for it online because I was dissatisfied with the slow American release (I used to buy a whole bunch of comics and books back then..I was running out of space and kept things on my bed at one point).  I found Noated and on noated I ran into this place, The Ranma 1/2 Project which is talked about here.  I think it was from there that I also got wind of Anipike which was a large network of manga and anime related links categorized by voice actors, manga artists, series name, etc.  Anyway, it was either on the pike of noated that I got wind of Toriyamaworld (I was looking for DBZ shit, I’m a huge DBZ fan too)…then I got into Hikaru No Go (among other things) since they started doing it when it first came out in Japan.

From there I got into mIRC and the board game called GO by most.  I didn’t really care for or take to forums since I was using IRC which is a more immediate form of communication.  In certain channels, like scanlation group channels, intelligent and long winded debates usually cropped up so I was somewhat satisfied in that sense.

A good deal of things occurred in my life in a very short period of time which cut me off from the online world for a good deal of time.  But that was just IRC and the scanlation world for the most part.  I still played GO since I frequented a Java based GO server that was just starting to get noticed by the Go playing world.  I branched off into emulators and video games in general.  Gamers stuck more to forums than IRC so I happened upon one gaming forum which had something like a debate category.

Hyperion invited me to TIP from there via PM.  I was looking for answers to some life questions and, as such, some intelligent debate.  I wanted honest responses and not bullshit answers that I had gotten most of the time in real life and online.  So, my interest in forums evolved from gaming to more serious matters by that point.  TIP fueled that interest for some time before I plunged into some wonderful personal fuck-ups…..which had the effect of cutting me off from the net entirely for some more time.

What do you think of Internet forums now?

I have no interest in most forums right now.  I like smaller tight-knit ones though.  I helped found one forum in 2008, but I divorced myself from it because the people running it were….moronic at times.  I do miss conversing with them on IRC sometimes though.

What keeps you at this (TIP) Internet forum?

I have been an inactive member for quite some time.  I have changed and experienced new things…with this place being an almost constant in my life.  I lurked for some time when I could like Dracvs.  Don’t know.  I guess it’s one of the few places where I don’t the people who frequent it and they don’t seem to mind me either.