Shutting Down the Forums (Blog)

[Lil Chris]

Originally Posted by Plays With Life

And, in other news, it's 9 degrees outside. Winter hath arrived!

Damn, where you at that it's 9 degrees... Brrrr, that's chilly.

[ellie]

Originally Posted by MagicalRealist

And there you have it. Mystery solved.

Pheeewww! At least someone came back to explain what happened. Good sleuthing!

Can change my sig now :P

[Beingist]

Originally Posted by MagicalRealist

Well, she's still working in her parents' shop (no, she doesn't own it). There was no huge lottery win--not for her, anyway.

There was a burglary, in which the thief entered her parents' home through the back of their shop and stole a lot of jewelry. I found a news article that quoted the shop owners' daughter, Nicolette Brahms, and the location matched the one she'd given somewhere else (Twitter, I believe). The robbery occurred many months after she claimed to have won the lottery. The shop itself is what, here in the US, would be called a mom-and-pop grocery--a little convenience store selling drinks and snacks and a few groceries. The shop's on the ground floor of a terrace house, and her parents live upstairs.

So as far as I can tell she was just a bored young woman, living in a sleepy little town, wishing for something far more glamorous and exciting. So she came here and ended up role-playing her fantasy. Which is kind of sad, because if she'd actually listened to anyone else on the I-M forum and started making real changes, she probably could have brought her life further into alignment with her fantasies. Hell, she still could.

And there you have it. Mystery solved.

Well I'll be dipped.

[KaleidoskopicVision]

Originally Posted by MagicalRealist

I can solve that mystery:

Many months ago, I googled her because so many people kept asking, "Whatever happened to NicBrahms?"

Well, she's still working in her parents' shop (no, she doesn't own it). There was no huge lottery win--not for her, anyway.

There was a burglary, in which the thief entered her parents' home through the back of their shop and stole a lot of jewelry. I found a news article that quoted the shop owners' daughter, Nicolette Brahms, and the location matched the one she'd given somewhere else (Twitter, I believe). The robbery occurred many months after she claimed to have won the lottery. The shop itself is what, here in the US, would be called a mom-and-pop grocery--a little convenience store selling drinks and snacks and a few groceries. The shop's on the ground floor of a terrace house, and her parents live upstairs.

So as far as I can tell she was just a bored young woman, living in a sleepy little town, wishing for something far more glamorous and exciting. So she came here and ended up role-playing her fantasy. Which is kind of sad, because if she'd actually listened to anyone else on the I-M forum and started making real changes, she probably could have brought her life further into alignment with her fantasies. Hell, she still could.

And there you have it. Mystery solved.

Harsh reality strikes again. It's times like this when I understand why Sir Arthur Conan Doyle killed Sherlock Holmes and why Fox cancelled Firefly.

[Plays With Life]

Originally Posted by Lil Chris

Damn, where you at that it's 9 degrees... Brrrr, that's chilly.

Good ol' Montana!



Snow everywhere!

[Plays With Life]

Originally Posted by KaleidoskopicVision

and why Fox cancelled Firefly.

Blasphemy! There's no explaining that one.

[Lil Chris]

Originally Posted by Plays With Life

Good ol' Montana!



Snow everywhere!

That looks awesome... Cold, but awesome. That thar is snowmobiling country.

[Plays With Life]

Originally Posted by Lil Chris

That looks awesome... Cold, but awesome. That thar is snowmobiling country.

Durn right it is!

[newmark]

Originally Posted by MagicalRealist

I can solve that mystery:

Many months ago, I googled her because so many people kept asking, "Whatever happened to NicBrahms?"

Well, she's still working in her parents' shop (no, she doesn't own it). There was no huge lottery win--not for her, anyway.

There was a burglary, in which the thief entered her parents' home through the back of their shop and stole a lot of jewelry. I found a news article that quoted the shop owners' daughter, Nicolette Brahms, and the location matched the one she'd given somewhere else (Twitter, I believe). The robbery occurred many months after she claimed to have won the lottery. The shop itself is what, here in the US, would be called a mom-and-pop grocery--a little convenience store selling drinks and snacks and a few groceries. The shop's on the ground floor of a terrace house, and her parents live upstairs.

So as far as I can tell she was just a bored young woman, living in a sleepy little town, wishing for something far more glamorous and exciting. So she came here and ended up role-playing her fantasy. Which is kind of sad, because if she'd actually listened to anyone else on the I-M forum and started making real changes, she probably could have brought her life further into alignment with her fantasies. Hell, she still could.

And there you have it. Mystery solved.

I wonder how many stories there are like this from the forums.

[KaleidoskopicVision]

I think that, all things considered, Steve would be most comfortable back in the day, burning books of heresy with the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Catholic Church while clutching tightly his book of canonical annotations for Biblical Personal Development.

[KaleidoskopicVision]

Originally Posted by newmark

I wonder how many stories there are like this from the forums.

Probably more than a few. Unfortunately I think an environment like this produces a lot of pressure to perform beyond one's real capacity. The whole 'quantum leap' thing's been drummed up to a deafening, self effacing roar that makes common folk wet themselves a little.

[Plays With Life]

Originally Posted by KaleidoskopicVision

I think that, all things considered, Steve would be most comfortable back in the day, burning books of heresy with the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Catholic Church while clutching tightly his book of canonical annotations for Biblical Personal Development.

Lmao.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by ellie

This is what I find sad, that you have judged a whole lot of people and lumped them all in the same basket, because of your perceptions of what has happened. Why not just let it go? There's so many other things in life, you could be concerned about.

Before I go, because this has always got to me, Steve have you ever turned around and said, "hey look, I've made a mistake, I'm sorry, I will meet you half way in acknowledging my part". Every argument, every big "drama" on this forum, it's always everyone else is wrong, and you have the authority. I always wondered why that was the case. There never ever seemed to be any leeway into wrongdoings. Maybe that's the key to success?

But actually I have seen personalities like this, I'm dealing with them right now actually (highly intellectual programmers to be precise) and I noticed something...they are highly intelligent, but never think they are wrong, impatient, go on ego trips and to be honest, never apologise or see any wrong doings on their part...and the result? They make the workplace a hard place to work in. There is so much discord.

I always wondered what's behind the personality of a person that can see no wrongdoing on their part and acknowledging it.
I don't get it? I would love to get under the bonnet, of that personality type. I actually find it fascinating. It's just so opposite to what I am used to.

People who don't really know me well often project a lot of false assumptions onto me (just as you've done above), filling in bits of my imagined personality and character with pieces of their own and mistakenly assuming that I make decisions using frames similar to theirs. This confuses them when I take actions that seem wildly unpredictable to them. But for those who know me well or who think similarly, these actions are much less surprising and may even seem obvious.

I'd recommend reading Steve Jobs' bio. I think it will give you a deeper understanding of recent events. Compared to him, I'm pretty tame though.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Lil Chris

Perhaps offering a decent salary to handle the administrative duties (like every other business in the world) would have been the smart persons approach? Like it or not, it was a function of your blogging business, which catered to people for attending your seminars and kept people reading your blog. Strange how tossing it all away seems like the correct path. Especially when many people are asking where everyone is going, so they can remain in touch with each other. Kind of mind boggling IMO...

Business-wise the forums are effectively irrelevant. Less than 1% of my blog readers ever visit the forums. The forums chew up a lot of bandwidth and resources because VBulletin is very server intensive, but the blog's traffic dwarfs the forums' traffic.

The forums aren't a money-maker, so paying someone to admin them would just make them more of a drain. Even so, I was heading towards doing that, but in retrospect I'm glad I didn't.

I didn't start or end the forums for business reasons, but from a business perspective, ending them will free up time and energy for other pursuits.

It may seem like this forum community was huge, but the total number of members who've registered here after 5+ years is less than one day's worth of blog visitors.

[garentee]

Originally Posted by KaleidoskopicVision

garentee, your simple, to the point, salt of the earth type comments have always been refreshing.

And yet so agonizingly definite. No, there must be another explanation!

If it looks like a duck and quacks....

[ellie]

Originally Posted by Savage

People who don't really know me well often project a lot of false assumptions onto me (just as you've done above), filling in bits of my imagined personality and character with pieces of their own and mistakenly assuming that I make decisions using frames similar to theirs. This confuses them when I take actions that seem wildly unpredictable to them. But for those who know me well or who think similarly, these actions are much less surprising and may even seem obvious.

I'd recommend reading Steve Jobs' bio. I think it will give you a deeper understanding of recent events. Compared to him, I'm pretty tame though.

You're right I don't know you. I can only project what I see, in written form over a number of years. And it was noticed by me, that there never was any 'give'. It was always 'my way or the highway'.

In regards, to the programmer part, I don't know how much of you is in that. I just saw snippets of you in there.

Steve Job's was a highly intelligent human being, and brought a lot to this word, but I am sure I wouldn't want to know or work with him. I accept his brilliance though and the mark he made in this world and the products of his that made my word better.

I have seen many people make false assumptions here and jumping to conclusions, I am happy to admit that I do make assumptions. I am not perfect.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by ellie

You're right I don't know you. I can only project what I see, in written form over a number of years. And it was noticed by me, that there never was any 'give'. It was always 'my way or the highway'.

Never any give? Please.

I guess writing 1000+ articles and uncopyrighting all of them and hosting a busy discussion forum for 5+ years -- and offering all of this to people around the world for free while I cover the expenses myself -- just isn't good enough.

This ridiculous attitude of entitlement is actually one of the reasons I'm shutting down the forums. If people realized how hard I've worked to provide all of this for their benefit for free, I don't think they could stomach making such projections. It may be free to them, and they obviously took it for granted to a great extent, but it certainly wasn't free for me.

So for those kinds of people, I'm more than ready to point them to the highway. My problem is that I tried to give to much, in a way that was ultimately unfair to me and unsustainable. In the future I'm going to aim to give in a more fair and balanced way instead of letting myself be drained by those with an "everything should be free to me even if someone else has to pay for it" entitlement complex.

[Plays With Life]

Originally Posted by Savage

I'd recommend reading Steve Jobs' bio. I think it will give you a deeper understanding of recent events. Compared to him, I'm pretty tame though.

I knew a girl who worked at an Apple customer service center. Everyone there was afraid of when Jobs stopped by. He would walk up to random people and demand, in front of everyone, "What do you do for me?" If the answer wasn't satisfactory, he would fire them on the spot.

[Lil Chris]

Originally Posted by Savage

Business-wise the forums are effectively irrelevant. Less than 1% of my blog readers ever visit the forums. The forums chew up a lot of bandwidth and resources because VBulletin is very server intensive, but the blog's traffic dwarfs the forums' traffic.

The forums aren't a money-maker, so paying someone to admin them would just make them more of a drain. Even so, I was heading towards doing that, but in retrospect I'm glad I didn't.

I didn't start or end the forums for business reasons, but from a business perspective, ending them will free up time and energy for other pursuits.

It may seem like this forum community was huge, but the total number of members who've registered here after 5+ years is less than one day's worth of blog visitors.

Well, for what it's worth. Thanks. I enjoyed my 5 years here...

[ellie]

Originally Posted by Savage

So for those kinds of people, I'm more than ready to point them to the highway.

Ok. All the best on your journey

As I said before, I do thank you for allowing the changes in my life. You with out a doubt have helped me grow.

Best of luck.

[TheColonel]

Darn I'll miss this place. Thanks for the massive delivery of value Steve, you da man.

I remember the leadup to the forum launch, I was excited because I knew it would kick ass. So many characters have come through this place ha.

Good luck on your next project Steve.

[Harmonium]

Originally Posted by Savage

Never any give? Please.

I guess writing 1000+ articles and uncopyrighting all of them and hosting a busy discussion forum for 5+ years -- and offering all of this to people around the world for free while I cover the expenses myself -- just isn't good enough.

This ridiculous attitude of entitlement is actually one of the reasons I'm shutting down the forums. If people realized how hard I've worked to provide all of this for their benefit for free, I don't think they could stomach making such projections. It may be free to them, and they obviously took it for granted to a great extent, but it certainly wasn't free for me.

So for those kinds of people, I'm more than ready to point them to the highway. My problem is that I tried to give to much, in a way that was ultimately unfair to me and unsustainable. In the future I'm going to aim to give in a more fair and balanced way instead of letting myself be drained by those with an "everything should be free to me even if someone else has to pay for it" entitlement complex.

Wait... you work hard? Here I thought Steven Pavlina worked smart.

I guess living life as a dream and having polymorous sex while eating your 100% raw vegan diet and simultaneously blogging about it like the star of your own sitcom must be hard.

[Lil Chris]

There's far too much lashing out going on in here...

[Harmonium]

Wrong choice of emoticon I guess. Just poking fun

but really, Steve has things leveraged pretty efficiently, imo. he's not exactly an overworked field hand that's been used up by a cruel demanding master.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Harmonium

Wait... you work hard? Here I thought Steven Pavlina worked smart.

I guess living life as a dream and having polymorous sex while eating your 100% raw vegan diet and simultaneously blogging about it like the star of your own sitcom must be hard.

Self-Discipline: Hard Work

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Lil Chris

There's far too much lashing out going on in here...

Happens every year at this time. The airing of grievances is a Festivus tradition.

Next up: feats of strength. Who's game for some wrestling?

[Lil Chris]

Originally Posted by Harmonium

Wrong choice of emoticon I guess. Just poking fun

but really, Steve has things leveraged pretty efficiently, imo. he's not exactly an overworked field hand that's been used up by a cruel demanding master.

sorry, I guess I just read your reply wrong
lol, I just got the mental image of him trotting behind one of those old time plows pulled by a horse... ahhh, I need sleep.

[ButterflyWoman]

Originally Posted by Savage

Happens every year at this time. The airing of grievances is a Festivus tradition.

Okay, that made me smile.

Festivus! For the rest of us!

Originally Posted by Savage

Next up: feats of strength. Who's game for some wrestling?

Oh, if I had a dollar for every time a man has suggested that (or something reasonably like it ).

[hervens]

Steve, maybe you can consider putting google adsense advertisements on the forums, in exchange to keeping it active?
You mentioned that the forums didn't bring in much revenue, and it's very bandwidth intensive, so that might be a good alternative.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by hervens

Steve, maybe you can consider putting google adsense advertisements on the forums, in exchange to keeping it active?
You mentioned that the forums didn't bring in much revenue, and it's very bandwidth intensive, so that might be a good alternative.

A possibility I suppose, although Adsense never converted particularly well with forum pages. I think the forums will be much less server intensive once it's closed to new posts.