JCC I registered here ten years ago today.

So, I've been attempting for the last few weeks to make some kind of milestone thread. I tried the namedrop route, then I tried something more formal and ceremonious. Neither way worked. Really, I just came to realize that I don't really post here all that much anymore. When I do, it's normally about Game of Thrones. I actually spend more time on Reddit nowadays. Which is not to say that Reddit's discussions are in anyway superior to what I've found on the Jedi Council (never!), but the sheer quantity of material that Reddit aggregates and presents for discussion just can't hope to be matched these days by our little corner of the internet. Reddit has nothing on the intelligence of the discussion here or on the well-known and authentic posting styles of our users.

Anyway, since I don't really post here that much anymore, it just feels wrong to make some big bonanza of a milestone thread. Instead, I want to talk about gratitude. My gratitude. Even though I'm not all that active anymore, there was a time when I was, and this place had a huge and positive effect on my life and its direction.

When I signed up as Jedi_Poltergeist in July 2003, I was fifteen years old. Some of you might remember, I was one annoying little twit. Either I annoyed you or you found a way to view my idiocy as entertainment. I think some of you know who you are... AssassinDroid21, droideka27, goodfellas, flying-fishi, Stackpole_the_Hobbit, etc... whatever happened to all those guys? Well, except goodfellas, who I know still posts sometimes. I still remember all the C_o_r_u_s_c_a_n_t parody usernames.

Truthfully, I just loved the idea of a place where I could be myself without being teased for the sound of my voice. I used to have (and still do sometimes) a really high-pitched voice that made me an instant target for mockery every time I opened my mouth in junior high and high school. It probably had something to do with my hearing impairment, and the fact that I overcompensated on pitch to be able to hear my own voice before anyone even knew I was extremely deaf.

Here, where it was your writing that people saw instead of your voice that they heard, I could get around that barrier easily and just be myself. "Myself" was a nitwit who would annoy the crap out of me today, but myself, nonetheless. It was an all too healthy thing to indulge in, after I had repressed myself and been anti-social for years and years.

JC, you helped me grow up. Where I was just too damn afraid to climb out of my shell in my high school environment, I could make mistakes and piss people off and learn here on these forums. It's kind of ironic, considering my parents and all the counselors I ever had always said I had to branch out and get my feet wet and socialize and make friends, and then I joined this quirky little internet messageboard and found exactly that. My parents, though, saw this place as all too dangerous of a habit to pick up. Not a healthy outlet. Yeah, right. It works just as well as any other.

JC, you helped me get to know myself. In my first years here, I wanted to be a moderator. Why did I want to be a moderator? Was it for the power, the buttons, the bans? Was it for the colors, the glory, the vanity? I think, honestly, it was just because it was there. Modding seemed like the natural next step after registration in the whole messageboard experience. I learned to examine why I want the things I do, and whether I really want them at all.

JC, you opened up the world to me. I talked to people all over this green and blue rock, and soon instead of just seeing red, blue, and yellow, I got to see the whole spectrum of colors, like a mantis shrimp. For a boy who grew up in a family of men with very little feminine influence, I finally talked to girls all over the place. Mostly, I just irritated them and revealed my astonishing ignorance of all things the opposite sex. But it was important to learn how ignorant I was, because then I got to use my imagination in ways I never knew it could be. And for a boy who was to the right of Arlon and was driven to school by a Savage-listening grandma (sorry, grandma, love you and hope you're doing well up there), with Fox News the cable news channel of choice in the family room, I finally got to understand and even come to agree with the different viewpoints people hold, even if I first had to run through a gauntlet of shock, disbelief, anger, and rejection to eventually get there.

JC, you trusted me, even if I let you down. You placed responsibility and tools in my hands, which sometimes I used well and sometimes I misused to disastrous result. I was a capricious, inept, even corrupt game host, but after all this time, I still like to think we can look back and see that it was mostly a good time. If not, that's fine, too. I got the opportunity to **** up big and as a result have a gaping regret or two. That's good, because the next time in the next place, wherever that will be, I'll do better.

If I ever argued with you, called you names, abandoned all semblance of tact in communicating with you, and if you altogether believe that either you or I burned all bridges in a friendship or were always just plain enemies, then you should probably give yourself a pat on the back. I'm way too stubborn and proud to admit it, but odds are, I was wrong every single time. You were crucial in the formation of my own character, you helped me select my values and prioritize, and you forced me to use my imagination to see just where other people come from.

This is my gratitude, JC. You have my lifelong thanks, and someday I hope I can express to the doubters just why it was so important in the end that I wasted so many untold hours in this place, this home on the internet.

 

tl;dr

 

Awesome

 

You should have used this thread to post all the unfinished PEOPLE interviews from over the years.

 

Noob.

 

2010:


2012:



Goddamnit!

 

I'm deeply offended by not being mentioned in that wall of text up there, mofo.

 

Nicholas Cage

 

I'm assuming I was mentioned.

 

Yes, yes you were.

 

I'm just a Cor sock? Plot twist!

 

I know you are, but what am I?

 

I hate it when the boards cut you off in the middle of a long post. I'm going to assume that's what happened, since I didn't really see any namedrops up there. It's okay, though. We'll just wait until you can post the important parts of this thread to give any responses.

 

We love you too.

 

Coruscant +1 year

 

OP is a ******.

 

Have a great summer!

 

Meh. Yer still a newbie to me. Now get down on yer hands and knees, I need a footstool while I read the paper and complain about you newbies.

 

Congrats, Cor. You've made a great contribution over the years.

 

Can you link us to it?

 

If you stick around for a long time, post a lot, at times entertain, at times infuriate (as we all do), engage and generally try then you've made a good contribution. That's why this board is still here. But still... lol.

 

Alright, here are some namedrops... just for some people who have posted in the thread so far, maybe some more later:

tom: you and I are destined for Survival Battle Heaven. For eternity. +2 tom. Now +2 me back.

Tunick: thanks, the pictures of recent glory do so much to distract me from the fact that the Giants suck ass right now. Not.

harp: I could never forget you. I have argued a lot with you, but it's probably just because you made too much sense. Thanks for helping out with various Sleepy games and PEOPLE issues over the years, even if some things like the PEOPLE poll turned out to be miserable failures.

Montie: Would you happen to be another follower of the One True God?

wocky: I know I've certainly gone with the herd in giving you all sorts of crap about being a master-class troll and for being afflicted by some kind of angelic-Margaery-Tyrell delusion, but in all seriousness, I think you're one of the JC's most entertaining, informative, and persuasive posters. That's some impressive versatility right there. Too bad you like to backlog!

OZK:

I Are The Internets: Funny guy! Funny, funny guy! And I just realized you have 4500 likes. Holy ****.

JoinTheSchwarz: +2 Charlie

BF2K1: Precisely. Thanks for mediating that one time w/ Ossy.

EF: Yeah, well you go and have a great winter! There!

Kyle: Tell us more about how gabe is not really a Jul '98er.

Everton: Thanks, Chris. I hope to contribute more in the future. I've enjoyed our wacky, off-the-wall conversations.




jp and Roper: