Longtime ILXors - how has this board changed over time?

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Maybe I should say ILMers, cos that came first, right?
Anyway, just wondering about the kind of history of this place?
Are more or less people posting regularly now (than, say, 3 years ago)?
Has the tone or style of conversation changed?

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:16 (8 years ago) Permalink

oh no.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:18 (8 years ago) Permalink

Everyone is still a dick, thanks for asking

― TheRealJMod (TheRealJMod), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:19 (8 years ago) Permalink

Ned said "Let there be discourse". And there was. And he saw that it was good. And then he rested.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:23 (8 years ago) Permalink

Where to start? The tone is much the same I think (and I've bee around for just over 3 years): friendly (and sometimes not so-) arguments where most of the time, combatants kiss and make up. Less regulars seem to be around, but there are mucho new blood to make up for it.

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:24 (8 years ago) Permalink

On average, posts seem a lot shorter.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:25 (8 years ago) Permalink

lady if you have to ask...

― kephm, Friday, 30 July 2004 15:25 (8 years ago) Permalink

haha

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:26 (8 years ago) Permalink

I think Daddino is right about shorter posts, and I think it's because of the increased traffic to the site. Part of the reason why few people bother with multiparagraph posts is because by the time they're done writing them, it's an x-post many, many times over.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:28 (8 years ago) Permalink

me too (xpost xpost xpost)

― Whiskeytown Littlecock (ex machina), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:30 (8 years ago) Permalink

Jaymc OTM

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:31 (8 years ago) Permalink

Ned said "Let there be discourse". And there was. And he saw that it was good. And then he rested.

Gratifying to the ego if not accurate. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:37 (8 years ago) Permalink

i don' think it's changed that much in the last couple of years. The first year or so of ILM, and the first few months of ILE, were a bit different. There were far fewer posters, and people knew who most people were. There was a range of opinion, of course, but the central Tom/Pete/etc. core carried a certain attitude, sense of humour and set of ways of mocking the indie kid rockism elsewhere on the net. There were the American refugees from a.m.a etc., who were largely anglophile and pro-pop / anti-canon too. It was all pretty fun but if it had stayed like that forever it would have got stale and a bit repetitive.

― Alba (Alba), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:37 (8 years ago) Permalink

(This is where I confess I really should know who the hell Alba is by now.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:38 (8 years ago) Permalink

I have been wondering who Alba is for DAYS.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:39 (8 years ago) Permalink

first ilm, then ile; first greenspun, then andrew's server. The board has become far more conversational (hence shorter posting), partly bcz it has just grown in the number of posters and the sheer number of threads, and maybe bcz more of an ilx language has developed.

Also I always found it annoying that you had to write yr name and email before posting anything but that's prob just me.

Finally enforced regitration is unecessary. And when introduced on ilm I believe it will kill it, but shit happens.

x-post

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:40 (8 years ago) Permalink

alba => N.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:40 (8 years ago) Permalink

That would explain a lot.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:40 (8 years ago) Permalink

I should have known, I was thinking Scotland given the name and all.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:41 (8 years ago) Permalink

I used to have an Alba clock radio alarm, that's all.

― Alba (Alba), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:42 (8 years ago) Permalink

A good way to see how it's changed it just to look at the 2000 archives.

― Alba (Alba), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:42 (8 years ago) Permalink

I miss N.

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:43 (8 years ago) Permalink

I kept imagining Alba was Jessica Alba in my mind's eye. Now that the truth is out, I have nothing left to live for. Except cake.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:45 (8 years ago) Permalink

I miss Homosexual I, the original and still the best.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:46 (8 years ago) Permalink

Alba means dawn in Italian (and Latin - and also "white", I think?) - N is declaring a new, unspoiled dawn for both himself and ILX.

Or the clock radio thing.

― Sanyo (Mark C), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:47 (8 years ago) Permalink

Is it a White Power thing, then? Shame on N.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:48 (8 years ago) Permalink

white goods power, perhaps.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:49 (8 years ago) Permalink

Homosexual I is still lurking around, Adam. Just wait.

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:49 (8 years ago) Permalink

I hope that's a promise!

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:49 (8 years ago) Permalink

Rosebud, Montana
November 30, 1985

Dear Sir:

Show the enclosed paper to others, make copies if
you like.

I am 51, a Paranoid Schizophrenic, High School
Diploma, Pentecostal, 6'1" tall, 225 pounds, black
hair, green eyes, and get Social Security Disability.

I was born in Forsyth and still live with my
parents. My brother Bob is a medical doctor. I
spent 3 years in the No. Dak. State Hospital and
had 50 insulin coma shock treatments. I escaped
once with a car and butcher knife and was nearly
killed by the Police.

I have never stolen, raped, or killed. A
psychiatrist, Dr. Martin Freese, said it was a
miracle.

I have had sex with over 120 women, most of them
prostitutes.

I am a very handsome and charming Virgo, same as
Alexander the Great, Ivan the Terrible, John
Wilkes Booth, Jesse James, Admiral Bligh, Emperor
Augustus, Cesare Borgia, Cardinal Richelieu,
Marquis de Lafayette, von Wallenstein, General
John J. Pershing, Louis the 14th and Richard the
Lionhearted.

In 1965, I received a batch of letters from
Wyoming school children, saying that my Buffalo
Bill song called Pahaska, was their favorite song
and was sung in class every day.

According to neurologists, I have suffered far
more than any human who ever lived, because when I
was insane, I had skeining power. Skein is found
in Goulds Medical Dictionary.

According to psychologists, I am the smartest man
ever to walk on the earth.

I would like to personally impregnate hundreds of
bright single women in order to produce a crop of
great geniuses to improve the world.

Thank you for disseminating this information.

Sincerely,

Tom Lloyd

― Whiskeytown Littlecock (ex machina), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:50 (8 years ago) Permalink

It feels different, but then maybe it's me who has changed or just drifted away a little.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:31 (8 years ago) Permalink

I am Jessica Alba - I just used to have an Alba clock radio is all.

― Alba (Alba), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:31 (8 years ago) Permalink

best way to judge this sort of thing is to use the archive function on the search page and view the new answers page from various days in history.

http://ilx.wh3rd.net/search.php?board=1

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:33 (8 years ago) Permalink

When 2001 stuff gets revived it seems like another planet. It's like a tea party in comparison. I wasn't there for that stuff though, so I don't miss it.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:34 (8 years ago) Permalink

"more tea, Jess?"
"why thank you, Stevem. *sip*"
"so Tom, about those Strokes..."

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:35 (8 years ago) Permalink

i wouldn't really know as i don't spend near as much time here as i did in 2001. maybe that's yr answer right there. . .

whiskeytown, was that supposed to be funny?

― Ask For Samantha (thatgirl), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:38 (8 years ago) Permalink

My guess is that since their inceptions, ILM posts have referred less and less to other posters and ILE posts have referred more and more. I kind of prefer ILM these days.

― Alba (Alba), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:44 (8 years ago) Permalink

I've been sneaking back onto ILM more and more, esp. as I've now got constant access. I've noticed it has gotten a bit less elitist these days, which is cool

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:48 (8 years ago) Permalink

when it first started we all had better sex. not necessarily longer but noisier.

― Ronan (Ronan), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:59 (8 years ago) Permalink

I see you've been trying to rekindle the fire lately

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:00 (8 years ago) Permalink

I am NOT impotent.

― Ronan (Ronan), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:02 (8 years ago) Permalink

duly noted

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:03 (8 years ago) Permalink

Oh, and I guess the obvious thing to note is that the board demoraphic has come to reflect the internet at large much more closely (ie. dominated by Americans) which has changed things in whatever way you might like to argue.

― Alba (Alba), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:08 (8 years ago) Permalink

posts shorter/even less consensus on pop music/perhaps a more pronounced USA emphasis (as opposed to transcontinental)?

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:09 (8 years ago) Permalink

as opposed to TOTALLY GAY 80'S REVIVALIST CRAP

― Whiskeytown Littlecock (ex machina), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:20 (8 years ago) Permalink

jon you are really wearying.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:21 (8 years ago) Permalink

I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO YOU ARE

― Whiskeytown Littlecock (ex machina), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:26 (8 years ago) Permalink

jon what are you really wearing

― Sir Chaki McBeer III (chaki), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:33 (8 years ago) Permalink

I'M NOT WEARING PANTS

― Whiskeytown Littlecock (ex machina), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:34 (8 years ago) Permalink

It's threads like this that make me completely feel like ILX has been taken over by Americans with ways of talking and frames of reference that completely leave me out in the cold. I'd be better off understanding it if it was in French. This is neither supposed to imply a generalized anti-Americanism on my part, nor to suggest that ILX is all like that these days.

― Alba (Alba), Friday, 30 July 2004 18:40 (8 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 1058 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

1) There are no mentions of the chickenbear anymore.

2) We no longer have the ILE Awards.

3) ILE is no longer used to arrange FAPs.

4) A large number of people I actually know IRL have buggered off elsewhere (which probably accounts for 1-3 at least in part)

― Grandpont Genie, Tuesday, 14 August 2012 17:31 (9 months ago) Permalink

Thank Christ for 1) and 2) - I think 3) isn't so accurate but they happen in the regional threads, when they were happening in the clear there was a much heavier LDN presence on ILX.

― Andrew Farrell, Tuesday, 14 August 2012 17:34 (9 months ago) Permalink

I've been to two FAPs coordinated on ILE this year!

― your native bacon (mh), Tuesday, 14 August 2012 17:39 (9 months ago) Permalink

Just wanted to join the chorus thanking stet for the graphs - those are awesome!

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 14 August 2012 17:46 (9 months ago) Permalink

I'm not making any speculations for why things may have changed, I was just trying to read Stet's stats such that they sustained my strong sense of shortening. It's possible that shortening was a myth, of course, and that the idea "posts are getting shorter" is standing in for another, less quantifiable, idea:maybe of a lessening of care per post, or somesuch. Or maybe a bit of both, I dunno. It's certainly true that the internet around ILx has changed a lot over the past decade, and that's sure to have had an effect on the who and how and why of ilx.

I don't take any position on whether this is all a good or bad thing, for what that's worth. We've gained something and lost something. I kinda miss the old days, but I've been advocating the closure of ILx for at least a decade.

― Tim, Tuesday, 14 August 2012 18:20 (9 months ago) Permalink

Thank Christ for 1) and 2)

boo, couldn't agree with you less.

― Grandpont Genie, Tuesday, 14 August 2012 18:29 (9 months ago) Permalink

hahaha this thread has now demystified the totally baffling reason that "the hulk" insisted on befriending me on friendster

― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 14 August 2012 18:30 (9 months ago) Permalink

i was but a twinkle in ilxs eye at that point

― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, 14 August 2012 18:31 (9 months ago) Permalink

hulk ws

― your native bacon (mh), Tuesday, 14 August 2012 19:03 (9 months ago) Permalink

omg stet

― thomp, Tuesday, 14 August 2012 21:19 (9 months ago) Permalink

Someone should do a study on how the global financial collapse and subsequently job insecurity has resulted in shorter ilxor posts from within the workplace.

― Listen to this, dad (President Keyes), Tuesday, 14 August 2012 22:17 (9 months ago) Permalink

doesn't it sortof make sense that because people were online less there was less back and forth, conversation happens more and more in real time, less and less a need to outline an entire argument in one or two posts, more intercut dialogue than soliloquies

― judith, Tuesday, 14 August 2012 23:40 (9 months ago) Permalink

individuals used to have ideas worth discussing, now it's all this socialist groupthink

― your native bacon (mh), Wednesday, 15 August 2012 00:03 (9 months ago) Permalink

clearly, we of ilx need you to step up your game, mh, and give us more ideas worth discussing. i would do it, but i'm currently too busy doing stuff and things like that.

― Aimless, Wednesday, 15 August 2012 00:07 (9 months ago) Permalink

I like turtles

― your native bacon (mh), Wednesday, 15 August 2012 00:10 (9 months ago) Permalink

Are you too aimless to consider one topic

― your native bacon (mh), Wednesday, 15 August 2012 00:11 (9 months ago) Permalink

i can assure you ur-ilx posters were online all the time

― j., Wednesday, 15 August 2012 01:43 (9 months ago) Permalink

Yeah I've been involved in this level of "online a lot, posting long/talky posts" thing for years, before this, my timesink was Livejournal, disucssing things there with people (2001-2003ish) and from 98-2001 I was on Usenet.

― Pureed Moods (Trayce), Wednesday, 15 August 2012 03:28 (9 months ago) Permalink

I think it's mainly that some of the first people on this board were/are writers, so it seemed natural to them to write long pieces.

I don't know if newbies tend to write long posts, I'd expect the opposite (certainly as far as I was concerned) until feet got under the table.

― Mark G, Wednesday, 15 August 2012 06:05 (9 months ago) Permalink

These days I bash off quick posts because 95% of my ilx posting is at work when bored (and looking over the shoulder, heh. I've been told off recently for being on "some forum")

― Pureed Moods (Trayce), Wednesday, 15 August 2012 06:30 (9 months ago) Permalink

I don't know if newbies tend to write long posts, I'd expect the opposite (certainly as far as I was concerned) until feet got under the table.

Yeah, this bit of WCC's post didn't ring true to me, either. Most often, I think new posters probably adapt to the dominant style.

― doglatting (jaymc), Wednesday, 15 August 2012 12:56 (9 months ago) Permalink

ILX has always been exactly like WWE

― nashwan, Wednesday, 15 August 2012 13:14 (9 months ago) Permalink

We Want Eazy?

― Listen to this, dad (President Keyes), Wednesday, 15 August 2012 13:39 (9 months ago) Permalink

I think the London presence on ILX is as big as its ever been but is more disparate and without the obvious social core there was until 2005/06 or thereabouts.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 15 August 2012 13:43 (9 months ago) Permalink

I Love Everyone

― Sweet Yin Yang ☯ (Latham Green), Wednesday, 15 August 2012 13:58 (9 months ago) Permalink

I Love Engerland

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 15 August 2012 14:11 (9 months ago) Permalink

I like turtles

needs its own thread, f'sure

― Aimless, Wednesday, 15 August 2012 15:03 (9 months ago) Permalink

I Used to Love Cami's til I FOund Cami Secret

― Sweet Yin Yang ☯ (Latham Green), Thursday, 16 August 2012 17:04 (9 months ago) Permalink

A more interesting question to ask would be "how has ILX *not* changed" because I just got lost in a rabbithole of reading a thread from 2002 where people were complaining about nu-ILM and saying how much better things were in the olden days.

― Shepton Mullet (White Chocolate Cheesecake), Friday, 17 August 2012 08:55 (9 months ago) Permalink

if people stopped saying the past was better then i think we'd know we were no longer on planet earth

― Know how Roo feel (LocalGarda), Friday, 17 August 2012 09:58 (9 months ago) Permalink

...because people would be going on about how planet earth was better.

― Tim, Friday, 17 August 2012 10:04 (9 months ago) Permalink

Tim I look forward to a meta thread in oh 5 years where you repeat the "I've been advocating the closure of ILx for at least a decade." thing again!

― xyzzzz__, Friday, 17 August 2012 21:06 (9 months ago) Permalink

8 Years Pass

Psts r shrtr nw

― Listen to this, dad (President Keyes), Friday, 17 August 2012 22:08 (9 months ago) Permalink

(and looking over the shoulder, heh. I've been told off recently for being on "some forum")

this.

i nearly got sacked cos of ilm.

― mark e, Friday, 17 August 2012 22:15 (9 months ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

timely revive

― where is el airoporto? (dog latin), Tuesday, 16 October 2012 11:04 (7 months ago) Permalink

Fair point - back in the day it would never have been Beatles / Stones / VU / Prince.

― Andrew Farrell, Tuesday, 16 October 2012 11:07 (7 months ago) Permalink

The most excellent change in ilx since the Greenspun days is that the underlying software/server has become an order of magnitude more stable and reliable. The software has also acquired dozens of new and useful features. Hooray for stet, et al.

Also, early ilx (aka ur-ilx) mainly consisted of a small, clubby group of chums whose posts were often so full of insider references that they could not possibly interest anyone outside that small group. Of course, these chums were all bright-eyed and chirpily intelligent, so when they did discuss items of general interest, they did so with wit and incision. Consequently these posts were attractive to the world at large and ilx grew apace.

― Aimless, Tuesday, 16 October 2012 17:44 (7 months ago) Permalink

Seems like a lot of early posters came in with different groups, with that sometimes being migrations from other boards, others came in due to geographic affinity or grew closer due to proximity in the real world.

Each group brings their own malcontents, with tolerance for those who consistently buck the norms varying. I often think of the ridiculous bullshit that the Begbie character in Trainspotting got away with -- "What are you going to do, he's a mate?"

― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Tuesday, 16 October 2012 17:53 (7 months ago) Permalink

2 soon

― flopson, Tuesday, 16 October 2012 19:28 (7 months ago) Permalink

otm

― the oft-posited third fisherman (darraghmac), Tuesday, 16 October 2012 19:36 (7 months ago) Permalink

lol... meltdown followed by "is ilx getting nastier" discussion. it's as traditional as feeling full after christmas dinner.

― Know how Roo feel (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 08:25 (7 months ago) Permalink

was that a meltdown? ilx meltdowns used to be meltier if so.

― the oft-posited third fisherman (darraghmac), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 08:29 (7 months ago) Permalink

I think it may not seem as bad because it melted across several threads.

― sorcery is in the gutter (how's life), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 08:52 (7 months ago) Permalink

Which makes me kinda hungry for some welsh rabbit, melted across several breads.

― sorcery is in the gutter (how's life), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 08:52 (7 months ago) Permalink

I assume you mean rarebit, unless welsh rabbits are made of some plastic substance I'm heretofore unaware of =)

― Una Stubbs' Tears (Trayce), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 09:06 (7 months ago) Permalink

The first recorded use of the term Welsh rabbit was in 1725, but the origin of the term is unknown.[2] It may be an ironic name coined in the days when the Welsh were notoriously poor [...]

The term Welsh rarebit is evidently a later corruption of Welsh rabbit

― ledge, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 09:09 (7 months ago) Permalink

timely google doodle

― set the controls for the arse of your mum (sic), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 10:41 (7 months ago) Permalink

"Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it." - franz fanon

― the late great, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 11:01 (7 months ago) Permalink

since i belatedly got a smartphone - yeah i know welcome to the 21st gramps - brevity of nu-ilx posts makes more sense than ~~ever~~ EVAH

― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 11:26 (7 months ago) Permalink

otm

― the oft-posited third fisherman (darraghmac), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 11:34 (7 months ago) Permalink

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