[Ibon]

I just realized that today is 10 years since I joined this site. I just want to say thank you to all of you who have made so many contributions to further our understanding of what is arguably the most important and dominant subject for our species in the 21 st century. Many of my own contributions here are the result of sifting through and digesting the comments and insights of many of the posters.

As Pops mentioned we are to a degree a social media site and I do acknowledge that in the gaps between visiting guests up here at the top of this remote mountain I do find the social interaction here an important way for me to sometimes cope with this solitude.

[Sixstrings]

I just realized that today is 10 years since I joined this site.

It's 6+ years for me now and 9,000+ posts and my posts are LONG at that. To be honest, it freaks me out, because I've honestly NEVER been a "forum" type person and this is the only forum I've ever posted a lot on.

The only way I can explain this unusual thing in my life, this forum, and what has kept me on it -- is the people here. Everyone is just so interesting and there's so much to learn, and maybe other guys like talking about baseball or football or cars and that's what they talk about, but I like the things we talk about here. And I don't have anyone in my "real" life that likes to talk about these things.

If there ever is something "scary" going on "out there" on the national scene, some emergency or something, it's this forum I turn to and the people here. This is the doomer family, we're the kinds of people that think about things and think ahead and I'm a big blowhard but we actually have so many very smart people on the forum that know what they're talking about. If you read what everyone has to say then you get the best aggregate of what's going on about a topic. That makes this forum better than any media that's out there.

The key to it is a group of long-time contributors. Huffpost and sites like that have those as well, and they try to do things like "super users" or something to make the regulars in the comments section stand out. But there's still too many people and too big of a "forum."

This place is "just right" in size.

I just want to say though that I know I turned into a bit of a troll, and I HATE THAT, I really do. And it bothers me to be disliked by strangers on the internet. I'd rather just shut up and tell someone they are right, than be disliked. I don't like bad karma. I don't want to give anyone high blood pressure.

I'm actually a consensus seeker. I actually care more about people than being right. I think AD told me I'm "quixotic" one time, and that's a good description of what I do here, it's like a Stephen Colbert thing. I don't do it on purpose, and it's honestly meant as conversation facilitation.

I think what happened was that we lost our trolls and muckrakers. Shortonsense, etc. I think subconsciously I stepped into the vacant role around here, the button pushing and muckraking. But I'd honestly rather someone else do that, and they be disliked, and I can just be one of the ones jumping in on those threads.

I just want to say thank you to all of you who have made so many contributions to further our understanding of what is arguably the most important and dominant subject for our species in the 21 st century.

I feel the same way there, and want to thank you Ibon and everyone else on this forum. I know all this posting seems like such a waste of time, but it is a real fact that I have learned SO MUCH from this forum on multiple topics that I never would have learned about, if not for this forum and the people on it.

When we have flame wars on here, I hope everyone can just realize that people are *learning things*. If Westerners are arguing with Russians, at least they are talking to Russians and actually learning things and a deeper understanding is always a good thing. It's better than just relying on media to know about a topic.

Maybe some pro-Russia posters can't stand me, but, if not for them then all I'd know about Russia is what a John McCain has to say about it. How does this make any difference in my "real life?" Well, I actually care about Russians now. If things did get worse and sanctions are hurting people over there, I'd be thinking of our Russian forum members. You can't "go to war" with people that you like, it's impossible. A deeper understanding about Russia really will affect how I vote, if it becomes a crisis that's an issue in the next election.

So anyhow I just want to make that point about this forum, even if it SEEMS LIKE people are just on these opposite sides and everything is an argument -- speaking for myself, I really am listening to that other person and I learn a lot.

Many of my own contributions here are the result of sifting through and digesting the comments and insights of many of the posters.

Same here. I've actually soaked in others' styles and views.

As Pops mentioned we are to a degree a social media site

Yep. This forum really is a special place, it's a nice little corner of the internet.

By the way we also need to thank the owner of the site, and I respect how whoever owns it has never personally inserted themselves. That's the best way to create a social media site or forum, you build the FORUM and hand it over to the community and otherwise step out of it and stay out of it.

I guess maybe one day the lights will go out around here, but so far it has gone one while LATOC and Mike Ruppert's site -- both centered around the site owner -- collapsed. Is the oil drum still around or did that close too? Peakoil.com is still here.

I do find the social interaction here an important way for me to sometimes cope with this solitude.

You know, I think everyone is lonely. People these days are like fish that are thirsty, they're surrounded by people yet lonely for some reason.

So anyhow, I feel thankful for you too for everyone on this forum -- and personally to me, it's wild I have been talking to you all for YEARS now because that's not the norm for me, I'm not a long term forum person, I've never done anything like this. It's got to be you all's fault. Your companionship is just too enjoyable, it's your fault.

I think we're all doomers around here and mostly introverts and we have things in common even if we disagree so much, sometimes. Every single regular on here has things in common or else they would not keep coming back and talking to each other.

P.S. We also need to thank the moderators, and Tanada, and Pops, and all the site admins before that really did such a superb job of maturely and objectively running a forum on the internet. No easy task.

[PrestonSturges]

Yes George Bush created a whole generation of doomers.

[Plantagenet]

Yes George Bush created a whole generation of doomers.

Fortunately, thats been counteracted by Obama creating a whole generation of dreamers.

-------------------------------------------

Ibon is right---thanks to all who post here. Its really great fun isn't it?

And there is even the occasional little gem of wisdom to be found in these posts.

Cheers!

[Sixstrings]

Yes George Bush created a whole generation of doomers.

What first brought me to this site was the very early rumblings of the real estate crash. And I was googling up information about that, and I landed on a economics thread here.

Bush has some blame, but it's more systemic than that. US economic problems go back to Clinton and banking de-reg, and NAFTA, and some things that Reagan did before that, we needed a bit of "Reaganomics" but it just went too far. And, that we lost a core manufacturing base, and we offshored so many jobs.

For a while, a lot of people started working in call centers and then increasingly those got offshored too.

So without a real solid core for the economy, the Fed / government has had to create bubbles. Real estate / construction bubble. And then, the education bubble too that is about to pop and we're going to have a generation of debt slaves on that. They'll be old and gray on their social security with $250 a month deducted for the bad student loan debt.

The doomer issue is deeper Preston, it's more than just "George Bush," it's about the banksters and capitalists that went too far with offshoring. Energy is a part of it too, but it's deeper than just "peak oil."

And about energy -- I've been on this forum long enough to see the "drill baby, drill" crowd was actually right. We need these tar sands. We need the fracking, and the shale. I'm not expert enough to know if that's going to wind up with a very bad environmental problem or not, but we do need the energy and the USA is #1 on energy now and that is some hope for the future.

We need some kind of economic core here, other than service industry and banker bubbles.

EDIT: I added another rant but nevermind, let's stay on topic here. Cheers to Ibon and the companionship on the forum and all you guys are great.

[hvacman]

And think you, Ibon, for consistently providing calm, thoughtful, and insightful posts grounded in reality these past 10 years. You bring respite from the hyperbolic vitriol frequently posted on this site to weary peakoil forum members, just as you bring respite from the world's vitriol to your guests at your retreat.

[dinopello]

And think you, Ibon, for consistently providing calm, thoughtful, and insightful posts grounded in reality these past 10 years. You bring respite from the hyperbolic vitriol frequently posted on this site to weary peakoil forum members, just as you bring respite from the world's vitriol to your guests at your retreat.

Ditto ! Plus, beautiful sky pictures. It's reassuring to see that the stars are still up there!

[Quinny]

Thanks to you for you posts and the example you've set!

No thanks for not inviting 'chez nous'!

[Ibon]

This place is "just right" in size.

I agree. It's a small town forum. You get a sense of most peoples personalities.

And this is also the only real forum I participate for general energy ecology discussions.

Thanks to all who commented

Cheers

[Shaved Monkey]

This site restores my faith in humanity.

Im nearly 3 years

[Loki]

And this is also the only real forum I participate for general energy ecology discussions.

Pretty unique in that regard, the main thing that keeps me coming back. One of the few places I've found where the big questions---ecology, energy, society---are taken seriously. Even better, there's a wide range of opinions, it's not just a partisan echo chamber.