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I have all sorts of conflicted feelings about my time with SA during the Bush years when I was a college student. It was fun, but I think the time I spent there

by Scuds 9y ago

I have all sorts of conflicted feelings about my time with SA during the Bush years when I was a college student. It was fun, but I think the time I spent there cost me a point or two off my GPA. The people I knew of that went off to the Microsofts, Googles, Apples, and various startups of the world were more focused in their studies and their technical passions and didn't pay too much attention to many of the things that concerned Goons (video games, politics chatter, the ongoing internet popularity contest). In the end, SA's culture was something I should have put down earlier if I wanted to get ahead. Message boards are not where the 'A' players of the world spend their time. Caring about the fans of your stream is not exactly of the list of 'The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People'

throwaway13337 9y ago
On the other hand, a lot of successes spawned from something awful forums - e.g. Cards Against Humanity. When you look back at those successful people everyone so desperately want to be, in tech a least, they often frequent various types of message boards. Reading forums won't cause you to not be successful in life. Not doing stuff will.
lsadam0 9y ago
"Message boards are not where the 'A' players of the world spend their time." Effectively posted on a message board. My eyes are rolling out of my fucking head. I spent the GWB years on SA. There were many brilliant people there. Dare I say, they spurred me into learning more. You get what you give.
jschwartzi 9y ago
I'll basically never be an A player, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. The world needs B, C, D, E, and F players too.
- dleslie 9y ago
  I wish I could upvote you twice.
sdenton4 9y ago
And what of Twitter?
throwaway13338 9y ago
I also lost a point or two off my GPA playing WoW/EVE, and lurking 4chan. Now I work at Google and life isn't nearly as fun. Some days I wish I could go back, so cheer up m8.
- ckozlowski 9y ago
  As I hit my mid 30s, I look back at all of this and I find myself missing it terribly. It's not like today is bad. But back then, it was really neat. I was too young to experience BBS and Usenet; I grew up with AOL and Geocities, and when the 2000s hit and I could convince my parents to get a cable modem, things were just off the wall. I spent a lot of time on forums too, overclocking this or that, or waking up for alarm clock-ops in EVE. I met people at LAN parties who I ended up working for later; set up servers to host our Unreal Tournament matches and learned to edit and repackage files so I could run around Jedi Knight as Deadpool with a lightsaber. I cringe thinking about some of the stupid arguments I got in, things I wrote on my blog, my livejournal, on the forum. I like to think I learned a lot about how people feel their way through an argument, and how a flame war gets started. One evening, when I'm not trolling HN at 1AM, I'll sit down and write how the early 2000s affected us all and set us up for today. I wish it was so fresh and new like it felt to me then. But I don't feel like today isn't as fun...but it definitely is different. I'm inclined to think that it's on us now to determine what the next chapter will be, what we will create that is fun that the next 18 year old will experience tomorrow and go "this is f&@#ing awesome." Gonna go play some Descent. =)
  - mercer 9y ago
    > I spent a lot of time on forums too, overclocking this or that, or waking up for alarm clock-ops in EVE. I met people at LAN parties who I ended up working for later; set up servers to host our Unreal Tournament matches and learned to edit and repackage files so I could run around Jedi Knight as Deadpool with a lightsaber. As someone approaching mid-thirties, aside from EVE that's pretty much me you're describing. Jedi Knight was my first foray into modding. I never release anything, but spent a lot of time in JKEdit (and/or that other editor). I also working on two UT and UT2003 mods after that. Then there were the LAN parties, coping tons of crap from each other computers in between Quake and whatnot. There was also local play: Comet Busters, Liero, Molez, One Must Fall 2097, Wacky Wheels. And the flash stuff! Salad Fingers, Strongbad, that thing with the cats singing Independent Women in a French accent. JeffK, Cliff Yablonski Hates You. The drama fascinated me too: the TTLG forums and their colorful cast of characters, Digg 'selling out' and this new 'reddit' website, etc. > One evening, when I'm not trolling HN at 1AM, I'll sit down and write how the early 2000s affected us all and set us up for today I, for one, would very much like to read more articles like this submitted one about the history of the web, similar to the earlier posts here on the days of Ultima. It's far back enough in the past to be worth writing about (damn, makes me feel old) and yet I can't help but feel understanding those developments, or discussing them chronologically, will play an important role in understanding our current world. More, at least, than often superficial articles and theories about Trump/alt-right/Brexit/SJW that are written by people who did not experience what 'we' did.
allenz 9y ago
I think that it's reasonable to feel conflicted. The internet is interesting and addictive, especially the social corners. Other commenters have pointed out that SA, HN, FB, etc are potent time sinks--it's all too easy to spend more time than you should. Of course, whether a site is a good use of time isn't an all-or-nothing proposition. It can be productive to skim the news for 10 minutes a day. It's a good habit to periodically reflect: would I be happier spending more time there, or would I be happier spending more time [working on that side project, with my family, watching a movie, hiking, etc]. Most highly effective people 'waste' their time too, just that they're aware of the decisions they make, and strike a good balance. It's important not to let play get in the way of work, but work isn't the only thing worth living for.
astrange 9y ago
I know many successful people (PhDs, government employees, "popular twitter users", SW engineers) who used SA to make weird jokes to get over boredom in college. The most successful people either became mods or were permabanned. SA admins liked to take their life problems out on the forum by breaking it, a kind of self-harm, and then ban you if you complained. Also liked to claim anime forum posters were "child molestors" and ban them as a joke, one of the sources behind 4chan's growth. By the way, all of the least successful people I know identify as "gamers" and keep trying/failing to become pro Twitch streamers instead of applying for jobs.
- njloof 9y ago
  Those guys can be amazing game QAs if they make the leap to trying to make a good game great by trying to find all the weird corner cases that can ruin someone's experience of the game. As one described it to me, he's trying to protect the reputation of games as a creative medium by pushing back against bad works of the craft.
sotojuan 9y ago
> Message boards are not where the 'A' players of the world spend their time So what are you doing here? -- Personally, I don't regret the time I sank on 4chan/video games (still play a lot), anime, etc from ages 13-22. Maybe I am less ambitious than you, but I have a programming job in a good city and I'm not stressed about finances/rent. Good enough for me. My career is going fine and I'm learning new skills at work every year. I look back on those years and remember a lot of fun nights with friends. In fact, sometimes I miss it!
- Scuds 9y ago
  > So what are you doing here? HN is a nice stream of links with comments, not a community with a revolving cast of characters like SA. Totally different use case.
  - lsadam0 9y ago
    Yeah dude. You've totes graduated to the 'A' players message board.
darren_ 9y ago
I think it's a YMMV thing. I'm at google, and I'm pretty certain that a lot of my improvement as a programmer came from time spent posting/irc-ing with the SA programmer crew, to the degree that I don't think I would've made it to google without it. But, definitely spent too much time there.
- lsadam0 9y ago
  But do you regret it? I'm gonna guess "no" :)

by Scuds 9y ago

throwaway13337 9y ago

On the other hand, a lot of successes spawned from something awful forums - e.g. Cards Against Humanity. When you look back at those successful people everyone so desperately want to be, in tech a least, they often frequent various types of message boards. Reading forums won't cause you to not be successful in life. Not doing stuff will.

lsadam0 9y ago

"Message boards are not where the 'A' players of the world spend their time." Effectively posted on a message board. My eyes are rolling out of my fucking head. I spent the GWB years on SA. There were many brilliant people there. Dare I say, they spurred me into learning more. You get what you give.

jschwartzi 9y ago

I'll basically never be an A player, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. The world needs B, C, D, E, and F players too.

dleslie 9y ago
I wish I could upvote you twice.

sdenton4 9y ago

And what of Twitter?

throwaway13338 9y ago

I also lost a point or two off my GPA playing WoW/EVE, and lurking 4chan. Now I work at Google and life isn't nearly as fun. Some days I wish I could go back, so cheer up m8.

ckozlowski 9y ago
As I hit my mid 30s, I look back at all of this and I find myself missing it terribly. It's not like today is bad. But back then, it was really neat. I was too young to experience BBS and Usenet; I grew up with AOL and Geocities, and when the 2000s hit and I could convince my parents to get a cable modem, things were just off the wall. I spent a lot of time on forums too, overclocking this or that, or waking up for alarm clock-ops in EVE. I met people at LAN parties who I ended up working for later; set up servers to host our Unreal Tournament matches and learned to edit and repackage files so I could run around Jedi Knight as Deadpool with a lightsaber. I cringe thinking about some of the stupid arguments I got in, things I wrote on my blog, my livejournal, on the forum. I like to think I learned a lot about how people feel their way through an argument, and how a flame war gets started. One evening, when I'm not trolling HN at 1AM, I'll sit down and write how the early 2000s affected us all and set us up for today. I wish it was so fresh and new like it felt to me then. But I don't feel like today isn't as fun...but it definitely is different. I'm inclined to think that it's on us now to determine what the next chapter will be, what we will create that is fun that the next 18 year old will experience tomorrow and go "this is f&@#ing awesome." Gonna go play some Descent. =)
- mercer 9y ago
  > I spent a lot of time on forums too, overclocking this or that, or waking up for alarm clock-ops in EVE. I met people at LAN parties who I ended up working for later; set up servers to host our Unreal Tournament matches and learned to edit and repackage files so I could run around Jedi Knight as Deadpool with a lightsaber. As someone approaching mid-thirties, aside from EVE that's pretty much me you're describing. Jedi Knight was my first foray into modding. I never release anything, but spent a lot of time in JKEdit (and/or that other editor). I also working on two UT and UT2003 mods after that. Then there were the LAN parties, coping tons of crap from each other computers in between Quake and whatnot. There was also local play: Comet Busters, Liero, Molez, One Must Fall 2097, Wacky Wheels. And the flash stuff! Salad Fingers, Strongbad, that thing with the cats singing Independent Women in a French accent. JeffK, Cliff Yablonski Hates You. The drama fascinated me too: the TTLG forums and their colorful cast of characters, Digg 'selling out' and this new 'reddit' website, etc. > One evening, when I'm not trolling HN at 1AM, I'll sit down and write how the early 2000s affected us all and set us up for today I, for one, would very much like to read more articles like this submitted one about the history of the web, similar to the earlier posts here on the days of Ultima. It's far back enough in the past to be worth writing about (damn, makes me feel old) and yet I can't help but feel understanding those developments, or discussing them chronologically, will play an important role in understanding our current world. More, at least, than often superficial articles and theories about Trump/alt-right/Brexit/SJW that are written by people who did not experience what 'we' did.

allenz 9y ago

I think that it's reasonable to feel conflicted. The internet is interesting and addictive, especially the social corners. Other commenters have pointed out that SA, HN, FB, etc are potent time sinks--it's all too easy to spend more time than you should. Of course, whether a site is a good use of time isn't an all-or-nothing proposition. It can be productive to skim the news for 10 minutes a day. It's a good habit to periodically reflect: would I be happier spending more time there, or would I be happier spending more time [working on that side project, with my family, watching a movie, hiking, etc]. Most highly effective people 'waste' their time too, just that they're aware of the decisions they make, and strike a good balance. It's important not to let play get in the way of work, but work isn't the only thing worth living for.

astrange 9y ago

I know many successful people (PhDs, government employees, "popular twitter users", SW engineers) who used SA to make weird jokes to get over boredom in college. The most successful people either became mods or were permabanned. SA admins liked to take their life problems out on the forum by breaking it, a kind of self-harm, and then ban you if you complained. Also liked to claim anime forum posters were "child molestors" and ban them as a joke, one of the sources behind 4chan's growth. By the way, all of the least successful people I know identify as "gamers" and keep trying/failing to become pro Twitch streamers instead of applying for jobs.

njloof 9y ago
Those guys can be amazing game QAs if they make the leap to trying to make a good game great by trying to find all the weird corner cases that can ruin someone's experience of the game. As one described it to me, he's trying to protect the reputation of games as a creative medium by pushing back against bad works of the craft.

sotojuan 9y ago

> Message boards are not where the 'A' players of the world spend their time So what are you doing here? -- Personally, I don't regret the time I sank on 4chan/video games (still play a lot), anime, etc from ages 13-22. Maybe I am less ambitious than you, but I have a programming job in a good city and I'm not stressed about finances/rent. Good enough for me. My career is going fine and I'm learning new skills at work every year. I look back on those years and remember a lot of fun nights with friends. In fact, sometimes I miss it!

Scuds 9y ago
> So what are you doing here? HN is a nice stream of links with comments, not a community with a revolving cast of characters like SA. Totally different use case.
- lsadam0 9y ago
  Yeah dude. You've totes graduated to the 'A' players message board.

darren_ 9y ago

I think it's a YMMV thing. I'm at google, and I'm pretty certain that a lot of my improvement as a programmer came from time spent posting/irc-ing with the SA programmer crew, to the degree that I don't think I would've made it to google without it. But, definitely spent too much time there.

lsadam0 9y ago
But do you regret it? I'm gonna guess "no" :)