How long have you been doing 'this'? (internet political chat)

[btthegreat]

I have been informed that I have been a member here for 7 years, but my history doing this political debate chat stuff goes way back to the early 1990's. (Are we allowed to mention the names of other political chat forums dead or alive? I will find out ) My first efforts were in a little chat space called Omnichat (dead) which had separate subforums for 'Bushchat' 'Clintonchat' 'Abortionchat' etc I met my first avowed Marxist, from Ireland who's name was "Lenin' and my first avowed segregationist Neo Nazi there. I was astonished I could discuss politics with someone in Ireland or Germany or Australia in real time. I have been a member of no less than 5 different political chat forums since. I always stay a long time and usually have two forums running, and this is the one I like the best.

That's 32-35 years!

 

[Slartibartfast]

15 years according to my profile. I think before that it was pretty much video games (probably focused on an old MMORPG called Anarchy Online).

 

[btthegreat]

15 years according to my profile. I think before that it was pretty much video games (probably focused on an old MMORPG called Anarchy Online).

Is this your first online political chat space/message board? Were you an anarchist?

 

[Slartibartfast]

Is this your first online political chat space/message board? Were you an anarchist?

Yes to the first question. In terms of the second one, I tried on a lot of ideologies when I was younger and was an anarchist at one point, a libertarian at another, etc. I eventually landed on 90s era liberalism.

The connection to anarchy in the video game anarchy online is just a superficial but ultimately meaningless name though like socialism in national socialism or democratic in the DPRK.

 

[Infinite Chaos]

That's 32-35 years!

I fell into political online discussion around 2002 I guess, so I'm a baby at 23 years. Different forum - it was a British one with about 15 members. One crazy Texan who wanted to bomb the Middle East, a Moderator from the Mid-West USA who liked conspiracy theories around health and the latest bug scare. He must have lived quite a scared life as almost everything seemed a health threat to him. There was also a retired ex-military Australian Sergeant Major who was also a Mod.

I think that was the first time I discussed with a European member of the Black Bloc arm of Antifa before "Antifa" became what it is in America. At that time, Antifa was exactly what the name meant (anti-fascist) and he would organise violent counter-protests against Neo-Nazi groups and football hooligans.

I always stay a long time and usually have two forums running, and this is the one I like the best.

I left the first forum as a couple of members were a bit "n" word happy. I think the forum is long gone now.

 

[btthegreat]

I fell into political online discussion around 2002 I guess, so I'm a baby at 23 years. Different forum - it was a British one with about 15 members. One crazy Texan who wanted to bomb the Middle East, a Moderator from the Mid-West USA who liked conspiracy theories around health and the latest bug scare. He must have lived quite a scared life as almost everything seemed a health threat to him. There was also a retired ex-military Australian Sergeant Major who was also a Mod.

I think that was the first time I discussed with a European member of the Black Bloc arm of Antifa before "Antifa" became what it is in America. At that time, Antifa was exactly what the name meant (anti-fascist) and he would organise violent counter-protests against Neo-Nazi groups and football hooligans.



I left the first forum as a couple of members were a bit "n" word happy. I think the forum is long gone now.

One forum that I stayed at for a long time was topsy turvy of this one. It had an unmoderated forum that grew and grew in popularity so that their 'basement' became the parlor and their parlor stayed virtually empty. I just could not handle it.

 

[multivita-man]

Late-90s - around 1998, I reckon.

 

[Mycroft]

I have been informed that I have been a member here for 7 years, but my history doing this political debate chat stuff goes way back to the early 1990's. (Are we allowed to mention the names of other political chat forums dead or alive? I will find out ) My first efforts were in a little chat space called Omnichat (dead) which had separate subforums for 'Bushchat' 'Clintonchat' 'Abortionchat' etc I met my first avowed Marxist, from Ireland who's name was "Lenin' and my first avowed segregationist Neo Nazi there. I was astonished I could discuss politics with someone in Ireland or Germany or Australia in real time. I have been a member of no less than 5 different political chat forums since. I always stay a long time and usually have two forums running, and this is the one I like the best.

That's 32-35 years!

I go way back to the "bbs" and "Usenet" days, though I was mostly into computer-related topics...not political so much. I started the political stuff in the late 1990's.

I guess the biggest reason I'm still here is that I'm too lazy to search for another less liberal slanted forum. You know, the way THIS one used to be.

 

[WorldWatcher]

October 2004.

I can always peg it because it was the start of the Dover Intelligent Design kerfuffle.

WW

 

[Perotista]

I have been informed that I have been a member here for 7 years, but my history doing this political debate chat stuff goes way back to the early 1990's. (Are we allowed to mention the names of other political chat forums dead or alive? I will find out ) My first efforts were in a little chat space called Omnichat (dead) which had separate subforums for 'Bushchat' 'Clintonchat' 'Abortionchat' etc I met my first avowed Marxist, from Ireland who's name was "Lenin' and my first avowed segregationist Neo Nazi there. I was astonished I could discuss politics with someone in Ireland or Germany or Australia in real time. I have been a member of no less than 5 different political chat forums since. I always stay a long time and usually have two forums running, and this is the one I like the best.

That's 32-35 years!

I’ve been on this site for 12 years, but before that I was on the politico site debating politics, but left them when it became hard to post. Probably all told 15, 16 or so years. What I have noticed is that over that time, the posts regardless of sites have become much more partisan and die hard of their views.

 

[btthegreat]

I’ve been on this site for 12 years, but before that I was on the politico site debating politics, but left them when it became hard to post. Probably all told 15, 16 or so years. What I have noticed is that over that time, the posts regardless of sites have become much more partisan and die hard of their views.

Definitely. I predicted that these forums would attract a more global clientelle as foreigners who sought to improve their English and their cultural awareness of all things American as well as those who sought to influence American opinion began to realize these forums existed. That really has not happened.

Instead the hyperpartisan nature of political coverage turned these sights into tribal battlegrounds.

 

[Perotista]

Definitely. I predicted that these forums would attract a more global clientelle as foreigners who sought to improve their English and their cultural awareness of all things American as well as those who sought to influence American opinion began to realize these forums existed. That really has not happened.

Instead the hyperpartisan nature of political coverage turned these sights into tribal battlegrounds.

Tribal battlegrounds, a very good way of putting it. These political sites mirror today’s modern political era we’ve entered into. That of polarization, the great divide, the super, mega, ultra-high partisanship.

 

[MAGAnificent]

I have been informed that I have been a member here for 7 years, but my history doing this political debate chat stuff goes way back to the early 1990's. (Are we allowed to mention the names of other political chat forums dead or alive? I will find out ) My first efforts were in a little chat space called Omnichat (dead) which had separate subforums for 'Bushchat' 'Clintonchat' 'Abortionchat' etc I met my first avowed Marxist, from Ireland who's name was "Lenin' and my first avowed segregationist Neo Nazi there. I was astonished I could discuss politics with someone in Ireland or Germany or Australia in real time. I have been a member of no less than 5 different political chat forums since. I always stay a long time and usually have two forums running, and this is the one I like the best.

That's 32-35 years!

I first started chatting politics in the 1980s on platforms such as Prodigy, Compuserve, AOL, Genie, etc. That was in the era of slow dial up connections and largely before the spread of personal computers and smart phones. I operated on a 64K Commodore 64, with a 5 1/4 in floppy drive, no hard drive, and a 110 baud modem.

 

[Lisa]

Ive been here for about 6 years, before that @Gordy327 and I were at another forum. We both also came from Newsvine before that. I was at a off-topic musicians forum since 2005 but that crashed and burned under new management and they drove almost everyone away.

 

[Airyaman]

I have been informed that I have been a member here for 7 years, but my history doing this political debate chat stuff goes way back to the early 1990's. (Are we allowed to mention the names of other political chat forums dead or alive? I will find out ) My first efforts were in a little chat space called Omnichat (dead) which had separate subforums for 'Bushchat' 'Clintonchat' 'Abortionchat' etc I met my first avowed Marxist, from Ireland who's name was "Lenin' and my first avowed segregationist Neo Nazi there. I was astonished I could discuss politics with someone in Ireland or Germany or Australia in real time. I have been a member of no less than 5 different political chat forums since. I always stay a long time and usually have two forums running, and this is the one I like the best.

That's 32-35 years!

My guess is since 2008. Started out on some Alabama political forums hosted by a RW host out Bham/Huntsville. I had a break where I moved over almost exclusively to religion, but have since left that mostly behind and have been focused on political discussion since ~2012 or so.

 

[Helix]

I started posting on various boards around 2000 or so. Some are still active, and some are defunct. Luckily, I used different handles each time I signed up for a new one. I recommend that everyone do that in order to avoid multi-board flame wars. I also owned my own board for years, which was a fun labor of love as well as a lot of work. It is defunct now. I've been here since 2011.

 

[Gordy327]

Ive been here for about 6 years, before that @Gordy327 and I were at another forum. We both also came from Newsvine before that. I was at a off-topic musicians forum since 2005 but that crashed and burned under new management and they drove almost everyone away.

Ah, the good old days, am I right?

 

[Lisa]

Ah, the good old days, am I right?

Newsvine could get rowdy.

We need to find a way to get TIG and a few others over here. Tessy would be a riot, until she gets banned.

 

[Gordy327]

Newsvine could get rowdy.

We need to find a way to get TIG and a few others over here. Tessy would be a riot, until she gets banned.

Agreed

 

[Lisa]

Agreed

Newstalkers could have been good but she refuses to moderate the place, so the conservative trolls have taken over. That's why I left.

 

[ElChupacabra]

Since I've been here, so 7 years. I used to discuss politics in sub forums of other sites, but not often.

 

[j brown's body]

I started on the Baltimore Sunpaper's Sunspots discussion page back about 1998.

ME: I discuss politics on a webpage.
OTHERS: What a waste of time.
ME: What do you do on the internet?
OTHERS: Never mind.

 

[anatta]

Bill Maher's chat.. before he was fired

 

[Gordy327]

Newstalkers could have been good but she refuses to moderate the place, so the conservative trolls have taken over. That's why I left.

Its unfortunate. But there still some there who are can actually discuss things rationally and get so trollish.

 

[Lisa]

Its unfortunate. But there still some there who are can actually discuss things rationally and get so trollish.

I miss TIG and the guy who was part of the Army Corps of Engineers. Sandy would be welcome.

NermL is a few fries short of a Happy Meal. The Palin' idiot was fun to verbally abuse.

I cant believe that Kavika is gone. He was one of the good guys.