We have fun in real life like at Karaoke, Movie Night, and Social Sundays. 
To the Shaw, I have the up-most respect for you and I figured if this thread inspired you to head over to the FK BBS and write that long post to defend the FTL BBS, I ought to clarify where I'm coming from. I don't think I expressed it very well. I didn't think anyone from over here cared enough to even listen to what I say over there or would be bothered by what I said so I didn't put that much effort into it initially. Your post actually encouraged me to take a look over here for the first time in quite a while and I glanced over the thread (this one) that seems to have been your motivation for that post.
I think the key here is that Free Keene is a LOCAL interest forum. The name of the city is in THE TITLE after all. That's what sets it apart from the vast majority of Internet forums where the focus is a subject that people all over the world may be interested in. It doesn't make it better. It just makes it more focused. So it doesn't surprise me that it can seem cliquish and come across as condescending, but I think that's a misunderstanding. The local aspect affects what we tend to talk about there. Because we're mostly locals, it tends to be about plans to get together IN THE FLESH to do things, whether it's activism like protests, politics (bleh!), local agorist endeavors, or just fun stuph like movie nights and game nights. And when someone new posts, the first question is "Are you moving here and when?" It's actually a totally reasonable question given the context. I mean, there are tons of really active forums where people are discussing liberty subjects and those discussions probably get very interesting, but over there it just seems out of place. In fact, there are a few people who seem to have joined purely for that, who appear to have no plans to move, and I tend to put them on ignore. I admit I have a rather broad definition of the word "troll", but if most of what you're talking about is not about Keene specifically, it's totally off-topic discussion there.
I realize I tend to be dismissive of the FTL BBS, and actually I'm almost as disinterested in the NHFree BBS for similar reasons, but it's nothing more than a personal preference. It's like when I used to play Everquest and later World of Warcraft a lot, and eventually it got tedious. I never cared for video games much unless they were largely interactive with other people. Now I find I'd rather do fun things with real people in the flesh, including games, simply because I can and it beats the online stuph. I continued to play WoW for about a month after moving to NH and then lost interest. I still think about playing it again from time to time, and I sure as Hell don't judge those who still enjoy it. I might even break down some day and try it again for a change of pace, but I don't tend to entertain the thought for long. It's time-consuming and gets redundant very quickly and so I just can't find it worth the time and money right now when I have so much other stuph I'd rather spend my time on. Similarly, I like porn, but if I had a regular bf, I probably wouldn't watch it (as much). And that kind of expresses how I feel about Internet forums where people from all over the world talk a lot. I really have no idea what they're doing where they are and so it was wrong of me to say they're not "active" in their own ways. It's just not interesting to me personally right now.
I don't mean to be condescending about people who haven't moved here. I admit seeming borderline obsessive about getting people to move here, but I wish people would understand that's just because I'm having a blast actually being in close proximity to thoughtful sane people (liberty-lovers) in a world of indoctrinated drones. Most of you folks are amongst the enlightened, but you're just not here. It's well known to friends that I hate talking on the phone and now I've gotten to where I don't like spending much time on Internet forums. When I do, it's mostly to make real-life plans. This post is one of the longest I've written in probably weeks or even months. My preferences have simply changed.
It's not a judgment of those of you who haven't made the move. It's actually more that I like you and would like to meet you IN THE FLESH and I think you deserve to have all the fun I'm having. I can't help but be enthusiastic and even a little obsessive about encouraging more people to move here instead of just talking-- play games in person; not WoW. Have real sex. It's better than pron. Engage in real agorism with local people instead of just talking about how all the business regulations suck, etc. I deleted everyone from my Facebook recently if I could not at least place a face on the name. They were a bunch of faceless forum handles prattling about whatever and it was just getting tedious for me. If I've even met them at Porcfest or something like that and I remember them, then they didn't get deleted (unless they were just posting about politics all the time). It was a totally self-serving, personal preference thing about how I want to spend my time.
Seriously, I think you get the wrong idea if you think the only point of moving here is to be some holier-than-thou super-activist. More than anything else, I want people to physically be here so we can just hang out and do fun stuph, maybe do some under-the-table trading. If you never show up at a protest or a candlelight vigil or run for office (bleh!), you will get nary a condescending word from me. I think the best things we can benefit from by being local are the things we do quietly and privately for our own personal gain- socializing and a growing local network of agorism.
I feel I understand the demand for a place like this forum. It's a great meeting of the minds when your daily life involves a bunch of morons. It's an escape. I don't feel the need for that escape anymore because my DAILY LIFE primarily involves interaction with sane folks like you. So sure, I feel strongly that so many liberty-lovers just don't know what they're missing out on. But if you're happy where you are, I'm sure you have very good reason. If moving is just too much of an upheaval because of job, family, property, or you just really hate snow, then who am I to judge you? If you do move, it won't make you a better person or a more noble person. I think it'll just make you a happier person. If you do it, do it for yourself, for totally self-serving reasons. If you disagree that it'll make you happier, you don't have to defend your position. You're the only one who gets to make that call. I'm not interested in long Internet debates and sure as Hell not interested in a "forum rumble". I know it's a joke. Just making a point, and the point is, if you're into what I'm into, let's get together and do it! If not, let's all just get on with whatever it is we want to do and leave each other be.
Sensible?
The Free Talk Live BBS
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Topic: FreeKeene forum has much higher intelligence level than FTL BBS. (Read 35953 times)