For me it's several things. For starters it's a sense of community. It's nice to talk with people with shared intrest. I have nothing like that in my real life. My family doesn't care about this kind of stuff and even when I had friends they were not really that intrested in it like I am. Ernie was more into sports and William was a Christian who owned his own business. The second thing is a chance to ask questions or talk about stuff that people don't either think about or are to scared because they might be afraid of how it makes them look. I never understood this. We are sci-fi fans. we are supose to be the people that think outside of the lines.People sometimes think I am weird or a troll or who knows what but what I don't understand is why more people don't make those kind of posts or ask those questions. Granted most people actually have lives were I am basically trapped in a house all day long,good portion of the time all by myself so sometimes I proably do spend to much time just thinking for the sake of thinking. A chance to be creative or just have fun. If were not having fun then were doing things the wrong way. This is message board about cool stuff and sometimes politics or society. We aren't saving the world or anything. We don't have to take everything so seriously, even the stuff that really is serious because we aren't going to change the world with a post. Jason
Mostly been able to talk to people about things I like that my friends might necessarily not be in to. My best friend used to be into SciFi/Fantasy as much as I was when we were in our teens, but now we're in our early 30s he's not as bothered, he still watches a few things but definitely not as a much of big genre fan as I still am. For example it took me until 2013 to finally get him to watch BSG, it was my favourite show and for 9 years (from when I started watching it in 2004) I didn't know anyone else at all who watched it. So if not for the use of the TrekBBS I would have no one to talk to about it for all that time. Things like that mostly.
The fact I can make a joke or pun based on an obscure SF show and people will get it, straight away. no explanation necessary.
I'm here for the intellectually stimulating conversations and the considerate and courteous ripostes.
Will ya stop joking around. This is a serious thread about how we need to stop taking things so serious so we can start doing more jokes. Jason
Serious answer? It's one part the friends I've made here, one part good discussion, and one part the option to socialize when my mental or physical health prevents me from engaging in other social behavior.
I'm here to chew gum and punch Nazis. I have recently exhausted my supply of gum. Also, I made a lot of friends here, some of which I hang out with in person. Commiserating in TNZ is nice, too. Sometimes.
Nope. It does everything the military does, uses military rank and justice structures... Vulcans don't lie. Data says so in "Data's Day", so it must be true.
I misread that as "I made a lot of friends here, some of which I hang out with in prison." Somehow that didn't strike me as odd.
It passes the time? Seriously, it's usually entertaining and I tend to hear news about genre shows/books/games that I might not have noticed otherwise. There are also some stimulating and(occasionally some odd) threads to follow
You guys make me laugh. I wouldn't keep coming back if I weren't entertained. Also, it's nice to have a place to ask questions and get feedback from a group of people that are typically intelligent, rational, and have some of the same background knowledge that I do. For example I have had some science or technology questions that if I asked them to anyone in my "real" life I would just get a blank stare in return. It's nice that there's so many people "in the know" here. I often learn news first here, or if I find it elsewhere this is one of the first places I come to see what the reactions are. On a deeper level, I think I enjoy using message boards in general because I prefer written over oral communication. I choose not have a lot of friends or engage in a lot of conversations in real life because I don't enjoy it, it can be exhausting to be put on the spot like that. Having a conversation in writing is SO much easier, because I am afforded the time to really think about my responses, and research them if necessary. Message board threads at TrekBBS is the pace I wished every conversation operated at.