this is as hippie dippie as it gets. the rules are simple. only unconditional warmth and support are allowed. for any reason. just throw it here when you're feeling the need to say it...to someone in particularly, here or offline, or collectively, whether you're high, or low.
we did this during the pandemic. it helped. but we only stay alive w/ coalitions and as I've learned in the last 24 hours, sometimes avoiding those feelings can hurt more than help.
if the thread's not for you or not needed, it's ok. but anyway...I'll start.
for all intents and purposes, you all should hate me. I started here as a vile troll (under the user name 'uh', in 2004). I returned as a vile troll (Bo Jackson Overdrive). I returned a third time as a troll (Cattle Grind). it was only about 2010 when I said 'maybe I shouldn't be such an asshole' and came back, but the progress there was short-lived. by 2016, I felt everybody mostly hated me here and was just reading the political threads mostly, figuring I'd dip out when Trump lost. He didn't and I stayed.
and look I won't front that I still have had bad moments where my rage management issues have caused me to act like a shitheel. that doesn't get swept under the rug. but any moment that caused me to rage out is because you got to me. and not in a bad way. you reached me and it was too much for me. I learned to stop resisting that so much over the last few years...because the main reason I'm still here is I respect you all. we don't always love each other. sometimes we don't even like each other. but that a bunch of people have somehow stayed connected for 10-20 years (maybe less, maybe more!) as niche 'message boards' otherwise became a thing of the past elsewhere....is incredible.
moreso....you all were a rock for me when my dad died, even though I know it had to be excruciating to read that shit. I mean, obviously, I had my IRL support system too, but so many of you gave me workable solutions (call outs to justin3 and quincie among many, many others).
so I begin by saying, ILX, goddammit, I love you all.
― Kurt Dandruff (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 6 November 2024 19:27 (one month ago) link
The quality of the people here is amazingly high across the board. Yes, it helps that most here are intelligent, but it matters far more that they use their intelligence in service of finding a humane and happy path through life and loving connections with others. I'm grateful to you all for maintaining and sharing that perspective - at least most of the time. When fear and anxiety starts to run away with one of us, the group tends to converge, support and soothe them until the crisis abates.
You're good people and I thank you for all you've taught me.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Wednesday, 6 November 2024 19:41 (one month ago) link
I can be a prickly asshole, but I am not a troll; I mean what I say at the moment I say it. And anytime I get mad at any of you, which doesn't happen often, it never lasts more than two posts/five minutes IRL. I value this community and strive to make positive contributions to it, even if they come in the form of poorly received sarcasm.
Funny but I was just coming to this board to find a thread like this, so thanks for making it.
My mindset all day has been to abandon all social media apps, if not the entire internet. I just want to be in a cave and I can’t fathom another four years of executive gaslighting mixed with know-it-all internet activism & punditry. My heart literally can’t take it.
Ilx is the only place on the internet that feels like a safe space, where I can talk about tv shows and music and what have you, with people I’ve been interacting with for… 15 years? Even if I’ve only ever met like two of you in person (hi Ned).
I don’t take this place or any of you for granted! Thanks for seeing me through the hard times.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Thursday, 7 November 2024 00:27 (one month ago) link