Earliest Atlas polls in which…..?

[Mr. Morden]

What's the earliest "Opinion of X" poll you can find on Atlas, in which the options are "freedom fighter" or "horrible person" (or the FF/HP shorthand)?

And what's the earliest poll you can find in which at least one poster answers with "(normal)" after their answer?

On the first one, I did find these bulk "opinion of…" threads from November 2005:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=32370.0
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=32378.0

which I haven't read through in their entirety, but in general, I don't see people using the "Freedom Fighter" or "Horrible Person" answers that would be standard in any such thread today, so I don't know if FF and HP had gone mainstream yet at that point.

Then there's this thread from December 2005:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=33927.0

in which all of the answers are "Horrible Person".

And then we have this "Opinion of Jfern" thread by Milk_and_cereal from Jan. 22, 2006:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=35216.0

This is the earliest FF/HP thread I can find.  Are there any earlier ones?  In the following week, it looks like there were quite a few such threads, so did this one get the ball rolling?

Ironically, the second post of that thread is:

yes, I realize I've just opened up the floodgates for "opinion, of (insert forum member here", so be it. 

Little did he know….

[Mr. Morden]

Would also be curious to find the earliest usage of "discuss with maps" and "moderate hero".  Or the earliest thread titled "petition to…"

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Good to see you don't have too much on your plate these days.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Wow, I was the original HP?

BenConstine was the original moderate hero.

Enough.  Seriously, shut up.  Gore lost, deal with it.

yeah, that is pretty gross.  thankfully Ben doesn't actually believe it and instead is just trying to appear "moderate" and "pragmatic."  there was a time when I wasn't much different.  maybe in a few years he'll evolve into a cynical nihilist.

I don't believe Gore lost the election?  In a democracy, sometimes you lose a close race; you don't then spend the next 8 years whining about how the election was stolen; you try and win the next time.

And I'm already fairly cynical.

lol, not convincing me

Why do you believe I'm altering my opinions to fit an image over the internet?

I don't really want to psychoanalyze you, as appealing at that sounds.  but you just show far too many of the signs.  you want to be respected.  you want to be a USElectionAtlas Moderate Hero just like Gabu, Joe Republic, and some other blowhards. 

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Good to see you don't have too much on your plate these days.

This.  You need a girlfriend Mr Modern.   

[Mr. Morden]

Under what's his name's tutelage barfie has improved, no, Mr. Modern?

An old age slip up , Mr Modern.

Good to see you don't have too much on your plate these days.

This.  You need a girlfriend Mr Modern.   

And you need to learn my username, Gramps. 

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Under what's his name's tutelage barfie has improved, no, Mr. Modern?

An old age slip up , Mr Modern.

Good to see you don't have too much on your plate these days.

This.  You need a girlfriend Mr Modern.   

And you need to learn my username, Gramps. 

Further proof you need a girlfriend. 

[7,052,770]

It was Walter Mitty who made the first ever poll with those two options, but I think it was about Israelis/Palestinians or something.

[Mr. Morden]

It was Walter Mitty who made the first ever poll with those two options, but I think it was about Israelis/Palestinians or something.

Where is that thread though?

[Mr. Morden]

OK, here's the earliest "Opinion of…" thread I can find about anyone, that used FF/HP as the choices:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=32074.msg719921#msg719921

It's Joe Republic doing an "Opinion of Orval Faubus" poll on Nov. 21, 2005.  After that thread, there was a slew of "Opinion of…" threads in Individual Politics that used those options.  Then the meme made the jump to Forum Community in January 2006, with the "Opinion of Jfern" thread that I already mentioned.

This thread from Oct. 31, 2005 is an "Opinion of…" thread that doesn't use the FF/HP options, so I don't think the meme had started yet:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=30928.0

I don't see any WalterMitty "Opinion of…" threads that predate Joe's thread.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

It was Walter Mitty who made the first ever poll with those two options, but I think it was about Israelis/Palestinians or something.

Where is that thread though?

Maybe it was purged, but it was mitty who started it

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

U.S. General Discussion has a "Your opinion on the state of Delaware" poll from February 2003 using four options: very positive, positive, negative, and very negative.  The forum being what it is, there was fairly soon both a copycat poll on Rhode Island and a parody asking about our then 51st state: Iraq.

[Adam Griffin]

It was Walter Mitty who made the first ever poll with those two options, but I think it was about Israelis/Palestinians or something.

Where is that thread though?

Maybe it was purged, but it was mitty who started it

Two that I found from late July & early September 2005 that have "freedom fighter" and "freedom fighting poors" as an option:

opinion of new orleans looters
your opinion of neil goldschmidt

Then there is this one - "your opinion of joseph wilson" - from July 16, 2005 that uses the "freedom fighter" / "horrible person" options. This is the earliest FF/HP one that I could find.

Several more polls earlier in 2005 can be found, although they only have FF variations, including "freedom fighter", "they are freedom fighters" as options, and not horrible person:

May 30, 2005 - your opinion of muggers?
May 29, 2005 - opinion of the anc?
April 26, 2005 - Opinion of Union WORKERS...
April 9, 2005 - your opinion of the recently convicted spammer
April 3, 2005 - opinion of 'scabs'

[Mr. Morden]

Ah, OK.  So Mitty did start the FF/HP polls with that "Opinion of Joseph Wilson" thread, which was in US General Discussion.  Though the meme didn't really catch on bigtime until Joe Republic did an "Opinion of..." thread in Individual Politics, where it spawned a slew of imitators.  Then Milk_and_cereal did the "Opinion of Jfern" thread, which spread the meme to Forum Community.

Also, October 2005 is the earliest I found with someone answering "No (normal)" to a poll, though I haven't looked very hard:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=29465.msg657556#msg657556

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Did we mention you need a girlfriend? 

[Antonio the Sixth]

This travel back into the forum's early history is pretty fascinating.

[WalterMitty]

here is the way i recollect...

im pretty sure i wasnt the first to start using the term 'freedom fighter.'  i picked up on it.  im pretty sure opebo and brtd used it a few times first.

as for 'horrible person', it was the poster nini who made a thread sometime in 2005 pointing out the fact that i used the term 'horrible person' a lot in describing people.  from then on i started using it as an option.

im pretty certain i started 'discuss w/maps.'  that was completely innocent.  then started people starting mimicking it and it took off.

[WalterMitty]

found the horrible person post

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=24710.msg535632#msg535632

[WalterMitty]

this seems to be my earliest use of 'discuss w/maps'
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=27902.msg618579#msg618579

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

So you created two forum institutions?  Who knew, walter?

[Mr. Morden]

I found a slightly older (Oct. 1, 2005) usage of "(normal)" in answer to a question:

yes (normal).

Did Mitty invent that too?

[Ebowed]

I found a slightly older (Oct. 1, 2005) usage of "(normal)" in answer to a question:

yes (normal).

Did Mitty invent that too?

I've always attributed that to mitty.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I found a slightly older (Oct. 1, 2005) usage of "(normal)" in answer to a question:

yes (normal).

Did Mitty invent that too?

I've always attributed that to mitty.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I found a slightly older (Oct. 1, 2005) usage of "(normal)" in answer to a question:

yes (normal).

Did Mitty invent that too?

I like how it's his answer to something that's actually viscerally horrific-sounding to a lot of people and that most people who devote any serious thought to the issue and who don't directly benefit from it strongly oppose.

[Mr. Morden]

Found an older (September 2005) usage of "(normal)", this one by htmldon:

Keystone/Nation (Normal)

This is the earliest one I can find.  So maybe it was htmldon who came up with it, I don't know.  But looks like he and Mitty were the main ones using it for a while, before it caught on with others.