22 February 2008

Dredging up the Past

Is virtually never a good idea. Yet that's precisely what is happening over at RPGnet - where the off-topic forums are being purged of a lot of old content, but not before current users have a chance (1 week per year of content) to post to, and thus save, conversations of interest to them.

Whilst a lot of memories - good and bad alike - will be waded through, some classic humour re-visited, grand old arguments re-examined and so forth, mostly the past belongs in the past. So far it's not too bad for me; I didn't join those forums until August 2003 and so only 4 months of old contributions come to light so far. The worst is to come, sometimes in graphic and personal detail, as pretty much throughout the whole of '04 I used it to blow off steam from the vast array of crap that was going on in my life (now life is crap but at least it's because nothing is going on, not all kinds of Very Bad Things). Worse, I suspect some of it is the type of gawp-fodder that some folks might - on a bad day - save for shits and giggles. Arguments make for good reading do they not?

I'm hoping not; the idea of the content being deleted appeals, a shedding of a self-made burden in a way. It almost irks that the other denizens of that place might get in the way of this purge.

It's worth pointing out that gods was I an arsehole; injudicious, quick to anger, shit-stirring, prolific, profane and pointless and yet almost censure-free*. Only rarely did I contribute anything of worth - witty, funny, insightful were all in the minority - yet it's also the period when camaraderie and friendships were formed that I do now sometimes miss. Only sometimes. And some continue, which is nice.

*A bit like now, really - except for the prolific part.

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