Is the community as a whole aging?

[Edric O]

I've been looking over past threads and posts from a few years ago, and I can't help but notice that the entire "feel" of the community has changed. It seems that the community as a group - not just individual members - feels older and more mature. I suspect the reason for this is because the majority of posts are made by "old-timers" who have been around for a few years and are part of roughly the same generation. Thus, we're getting older together.

The internet has been open to the public for a little over 15 years. It has only really been used by large numbers of people for the past 10 years. That is to say, hardly anyone can say that they have known people online for more than 10 years. There are no cases of lifelong online friendships, simply because the internet hasn't been around long enough for that.

But that will change as the internet grows older, and our humble little community will make a very interesting case study: What happens when people have known each other online for years and years? What happens when you meet some guys online as a teenager and still keep in touch with them by the time you're 40? Let's find out. :)

What I am saying, essentially, is that if we (the Fed2k old-timers) stick together on these forums, we may implicitly take part in a fascinating social experiment.

[lowzeewee]

This forum is slowly aging, and dying off too. It is definitely not as lively as it used to be years back, but at least there is a small group of regulars to ensure the forum is not completely dead.

[Dunenewt]

I've known some people on here for over 4 years now, and I have found that the general reponses from some of the old timers are getting better, and more mature, with a few obvious exceptions.

[gryphon]

This forum is slowly aging, and dying off too. It is definitely not as lively as it used to be years back

That depends on how far back you go.. If I am correct it was 4 posts a day when it was just started.

[Khan]

Its definitely leveling out. When Emp was at its height there was obviously more going on around here but I think the way things are going at the moment is the way it'll stay for a while. SHould be fun to see what happens as we all grow old.. hmm when most of us are supporting ourselves how bout a nice party ;)

[exatreide]

Well.. I remember when there were more posts in Dune2000 then about anywhere! Har har youngsters those were the days, sometimes I miss my old account, just for the join date and post number.

Well most of you chaps are good folks, and it would be interesting to see how even the bad ones turn out in a few years, every one has changed alot. I know I have.. I figure my sentences are some what easier to read now.

somewhat.

[Acriku]

Oh god yes, ex haha. I can certainly read your thoughts with better accuracy. I'd say Edric that you're definitely on to something. In our critical ages of maturity, a lot changes. And this forum is a growing example of that. I've definitely become less the militant atheist, which in my opinion is a necessary form to take on in order to ease things out with my beliefs and thoughts.

Anybody go back and find something they wrote, and smack their heads for thinking of something so stupid? I certainly have.

[Khan]

Lol yeah it's like watching old video's of yourself, so cringeworthy.

[alchemi2]

It is interesting to watch peoples priorities change as the real world impacts on the surreal world of the internet.

Having watched and interacted with my two eldest children over the years, one will be 23 the other 21 this year! how time flies, and comparing them to my present 7yr and 4 yr old. It is amazing how things change.

The same is true of this forum, some of the changes you observe in people style or interests are quite dramatic.  ;)

[TMA_1]

This is one of the more brilliant posts made here at fed2k. It is really touching, and I wish to keep contact with a few people here for a long while. I have spent many hours here, it is apart of my makeup.

[Andrew]

Me aging? Hmm. Looking over some of my first posts:

andrewabc

andrew is my name and abc is simple.....easy to understand

aka - andrewabcd    EDIT - Level 3 security

scytale is also in dune heretics and chapterhouse dune

(5 and 6 th books) i believe

That thread contains a lot of old time posters, some of which are inactive now.

I remember someone saying a couple years ago how I changed from when I was andrewabc to when I became Andrew.

Maybe it was

And yeah, I remember Andrewabc.  Thank god he isn't here anymore... ;)

But I thought it was something different. Ah the memories.

And 19 people were wrong thinking the website wouldn't last months or a year.

http://dune2k.com/forum/index.php?topic=14587.0

My bet is still on forever and ever amen.

EDIT:

Lol when is Fed2k heroes mod being completed? ;)

Hmm, homosexuality and where it stands morally. compare it to current thread?

[Acriku]

Holy sh!t andrew, that homosexuality thread is very telling of how people can change... I am damn near ashamed at my old postings:

I believe that the only way to be born homosexual is to have an imbalance of chemicals and you wind up with more opposite sex chemicals. Other than that, you either make your decision subconsciously at an early age, or just started liking men due to perhaps an experience in your life. Evolution-wise, it is totally bad. It is against the core instinct of survival, since you survive through the reproduction of your species. The first type of species is born and the last of the other species (the mother that just gave birth to the new species, a boy and girl) dies a year later with no other births. That species dies, but two new ones are born, and can mate since they are male and female! But wait, the male is homosexual and doesn't mate with the female, letting another species go extinct. Homosexuality is the weak link, not fit for survival, and thus in evolutionary terms is bad.

In my opinion, I tolerate homosexuals, but I don't accept them. I do accept homosexuals though who only do relationships with love, not lust. The lust is sickening, disgusting, and yeesh.

[nemafakei]

Hmmm. We have multiple phenomena here. One, the increase in each of our ages - some of us will change a lot, others less. Two, our 'internet ages' - if two people of the same age alight upon a forum at the same time, but one has visited many other boards before, then the less experienced will no doubt behave differently. Three, Fed2k itself is getting older. Most of us already know quite clearly where we stand in relation to one another. The big topics have all been covered and our responses are predictable, and meanwhile we have established social precedents: we all (should) know what's acceptable and what's not.

In a sense, discussion is stagnating. We need to move on from the time-old discussions to starting more topics on reanalaysis and new ways of thinking about things, and be more strict in keeping the thread from straying back into more general discussions.

[Edric O]

Thank you for all the thoughts, guys. I absolutely want to stay in touch with you over the years. Hopefully Fed2k will live long and prosper so that our little social experiment can go on. :)

Part of my motivation for posting this thread was my looking over old posts of mine; there were some back in 2001 where I was actually badmouthing communism and Shaddam was mildly defending it. Heh. How things have changed...

I agree with Nema that discussion is stagnating (at least in PRP), because we've reached a point where: (a) our opinions are unlikely to change much further, and (b) we've exhausted our arsenal of arguments. New discussion of old topics can still be entertaining if you have new insight or new arguments. However, there is a point beyond which one's arguments grow too esoteric. For instance, I've noticed that as my arguments for communism grow more sophisticated, they also grow less comprehensible to someone who is not particularly interested in economics or history.

[veK]

although I don't know that much people around here for quite a long time, I do know some other people on the internet for a very long time now. it's really interesting, even more interesting if you once got to know these people by the internet but also have personal real life contact with them.

[gunner154]

Ah.. back in the day when I was first here in 2002 (after getting Emperor, which brought me here anyway)... my posts got nowhere close to containing perfect punctuation. How things have changed.

And then there was my looong departure, when I stopped posting and coming here altogether, before getting back here with Emperor (and the Dune novels) once again. Now, despite having finished the Dune novels (the first six) and not played Emperor for ages, I'm still posting here. Something about the people here keep me coming back. I'd definitely want to keep in touch with you guys.

Cheers for Fed2k!

[Khan]

Its weird to think I'll have been here for 4 years next thursday... I can barely even remember being 14...

[Egeides]

every one has changed alot. I know I have.. I figure my sentences are some what easier to read now.

I wonder if mines became worst.

I'm not posting much, but do read. Ok, I'm not as old as some of you around here, but I enjoy the community. Hopefully some new blood will dare join and annoy old brats with questions!!!!!!!! Wouldn't you all like that???!!??

[veK]

@ gunner: I don't play any games right now (I can't even if I wanted to) and I still come here all the time and see what's going on  :)

[Davidu]

Some new people would be welcome. They do come, but not lots of them. I can see a steady flow, however.

There's a new guy, an enthusiast, at the modding section who might eventually do what I wanted to do, but never got even close to starting: rewriting Dune1.

[Andrew]

I wonder if mines became worst.

Was that intentional? >:D

[Dunenewt]

So which people would be considered as old timers?

Gob, Nema, Edric, Mahdi...who else?  Stefan I guess, a lot of the other originals don't post anymore, such as Davo (RIP), and Shaddam.

[Gobalopper]

Here is a list of the 50 oldest registered users who have logged in sometime during 2006, ordered by the date they registered.

[table]

[tr][td]Name[/td][td]Date Registered[/td][td]Last Login[/td][td]Birthdate Year[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Gobalopper[/td][td]1998-01-15 14:00:00[/td][td]2006-03-22 12:58:26[/td][td]1981[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Edric O[/td][td]2000-04-17 11:16:11[/td][td]2006-03-22 02:30:42[/td][td]1986[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]A Mahdi's Christmas[/td][td]2000-05-30 08:33:55[/td][td]2006-03-22 09:40:02[/td][td]1983[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Falconius[/td][td]2000-06-13 00:19:34[/td][td]2006-02-05 21:09:42[/td][td]1978[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Stefan[/td][td]2000-06-17 23:00:00[/td][td]2006-03-22 08:49:57[/td][td]1983[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Olaf van der Spek[/td][td]2000-06-20 12:20:04[/td][td]2006-03-17 06:23:05[/td][td][/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Nahoo[/td][td]2000-07-13 17:17:39[/td][td]2006-02-07 06:05:24[/td][td]1981[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Shiroko[/td][td]2000-10-14 23:00:00[/td][td]2006-03-21 04:45:57[/td][td]1983[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]quondam72[/td][td]2001-08-29 07:00:00[/td][td]2006-03-09 12:52:50[/td][td][/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Ordos45[/td][td]2001-08-29 11:00:00[/td][td]2006-03-14 12:37:08[/td][td]1986[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Bashar[/td][td]2001-08-29 11:00:00[/td][td]2006-01-26 18:18:10[/td][td][/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Scytale[/td][td]2001-08-29 11:00:00[/td][td]2006-03-22 06:51:17[/td][td]1988[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Digital Guerrilla[/td][td]2001-08-29 11:00:00[/td][td]2006-03-02 21:19:35[/td][td][/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Duke_Atreides[/td][td]2001-09-07 14:23:00[/td][td]2006-01-09 08:48:12[/td][td]1977[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Nema Fakei[/td][td]2001-09-18 23:00:00[/td][td]2006-03-22 01:23:20[/td][td][/td][/tr]

[tr][td]gryphon[/td][td]2001-09-26 11:48:21[/td][td]2006-03-22 05:22:18[/td][td][/td][/tr]

[tr][td]nampigai[/td][td]2001-11-23 02:27:56[/td][td]2006-03-19 05:34:25[/td][td]1980[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Lost_Child[/td][td]2001-12-18 13:37:51[/td][td]2006-02-13 15:34:07[/td][td]1985[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Dunenewt[/td][td]2001-12-18 21:00:32[/td][td]2006-03-22 12:46:23[/td][td]1988[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Adrian_Messecar[/td][td]2001-12-20 23:40:34[/td][td]2006-02-10 03:55:26[/td][td][/td][/tr]

[tr][td]gunner154[/td][td]2001-12-22 03:59:54[/td][td]2006-03-22 09:12:57[/td][td]1988[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Vanguard the Newly Employed[/td][td]2001-12-30 08:21:43[/td][td]2006-03-18 21:56:03[/td][td]1984[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Nyarlathotep[/td][td]2002-01-03 18:29:42[/td][td]2006-01-25 12:25:39[/td][td]1970[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Timenn[/td][td]2002-01-08 03:02:24[/td][td]2006-03-22 12:57:18[/td][td]1985[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Acriku-[/td][td]2002-01-12 08:36:20[/td][td]2006-03-22 11:45:22[/td][td]1986[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]playerap[/td][td]2002-01-18 10:34:12[/td][td]2006-03-01 11:01:39[/td][td]1988[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]TMA-1[/td][td]2002-01-18 17:05:07[/td][td]2006-03-21 17:47:58[/td][td][/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Josh[/td][td]2002-01-22 17:01:32[/td][td]2006-03-22 07:29:33[/td][td]1986[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]DjCiD[/td][td]2002-01-26 04:46:46[/td][td]2006-03-14 12:06:31[/td][td]1977[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Copec[/td][td]2002-02-01 00:34:46[/td][td]2006-03-22 10:55:38[/td][td]1986[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Gunseng_Harkonnen[/td][td]2002-02-01 20:56:47[/td][td]2006-02-17 09:07:40[/td][td]1987[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Jk[/td][td]2002-02-09 05:11:02[/td][td]2006-03-02 14:23:46[/td][td][/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Rene Smeitink[/td][td]2002-02-14 05:52:26[/td][td]2006-03-22 12:24:24[/td][td]1984[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Holtzman4[/td][td]2002-02-14 10:32:50[/td][td]2006-03-20 20:20:32[/td][td]1989[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Alexander Ordos[/td][td]2002-02-21 02:49:23[/td][td]2006-01-26 14:23:48[/td][td]1987[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Emperor Harkonnen[/td][td]2002-03-03 06:07:25[/td][td]2006-03-09 09:42:19[/td][td]1986[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]IxianMace[/td][td]2002-03-12 21:18:12[/td][td]2006-03-21 22:53:45[/td][td][/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Caid Ivik[/td][td]2002-03-16 05:28:59[/td][td]2006-03-16 03:39:58[/td][td]2002[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]DukeLeto[/td][td]2002-03-19 09:20:48[/td][td]2006-03-21 19:43:54[/td][td]1989[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]VidiWare[/td][td]2002-03-21 15:49:07[/td][td]2006-03-21 08:14:35[/td][td]1987[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Tyler Volz[/td][td]2002-03-24 06:48:04[/td][td]2006-01-09 10:03:24[/td][td]1987[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]sneezer3[/td][td]2002-03-25 15:08:08[/td][td]2006-03-15 18:04:43[/td][td][/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Khan[/td][td]2002-03-30 02:05:51[/td][td]2006-03-22 09:55:37[/td][td]1987[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Salvatore[/td][td]2002-04-02 02:52:31[/td][td]2006-02-05 20:25:21[/td][td][/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Skorpija[/td][td]2002-04-11 10:57:47[/td][td]2006-01-21 10:59:52[/td][td]1971[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Anathema[/td][td]2002-04-11 20:54:14[/td][td]2006-03-21 14:27:41[/td][td]1985[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Lord_Johnsonius[/td][td]2002-04-17 19:19:23[/td][td]2006-01-22 17:17:46[/td][td]1984[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Avatar[/td][td]2002-04-18 06:55:27[/td][td]2006-01-16 05:10:09[/td][td]1988[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Dante[/td][td]2002-04-28 07:04:26[/td][td]2006-03-22 12:01:00[/td][td]1987[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Schorpie[/td][td]2002-05-01 00:00:00[/td][td]2006-03-22 12:05:05[/td][td]1988[/td][/tr]

[/table]

[Dunenewt]

Wow, I'm 19th on the list :)

[Andrew]

If you go an extra 18 days on that list I would be there as well :)

I had been lurking for a month or two before signing up. :O