Talk Elections

I feel out of the loop, posting more now that I have a job that requires me to sit at a desk from 9-5am.  often I'll see a member say something, have no idea who it is, and to my even further discouragement note that they have 5000, 10000, or even 24000 posts.  if this were 2006 there's no doubt I'd know their story from head to toe.

could it be that this place is too petty and detached to recapture my interest all of these years later?  perhaps, but I swore I'd stop listening to blink-182, Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, etc. when I turned 20 and was no longer a teenager.  but, alas, I still listened to all of those bands and even recently took a newfound liking to The Early November.

I better be careful here, because I have an actual request to make and the longer this post drags on, the more unlikely it is that anyone will read its content.  so to compensate, I will get directly to my point and even place bold tags around it:


could somebody or multiple people please post short summaries of those posters who registered since the beginning of 2009 and have become integral to the function of the Forum community?

many thank yous in advance.

I don't know if I qualify as "integral to the function of the Forum community" (whatever that means), but I registered on February 2009 FTR.

It's ok, you can safely assume you don't.

Kalwejt
Rick Roll

cool.  I have little idea who you are though, so what's your story?  any watershed moments here on Atlas?

thanks, but summaries, please!  consider me a student cramming for a test tomorrow on a book he didn't read.

I could be considered mildly important. But yeah, Kalwejt.

None are important or influential especially when compared to the members from The Golden Era.

I've started a never-finished timeline, made an Alternate US State thread (yet unfinished too) that was pretty popular, run a few survivors, contributed to several demographical/political data stuff, I've been a pretty active member of Atlasia (currently a Senator). As that other idiot said, it's probably no big deal.

Integral? Not many, to be honest. Most post-Obama posters appear to be total idiots who can be safely ignored.

Someone else provide the summaries, but here's an exhaustive list of people who've registered since 2009 and have posted way too often [over 2000 posts]  (ordered by total postcount).

Kalwejt
Libertas
Rochambeau
Antonio
Mechaman
Vepres
sewer (really? Maybe he had another account earlier?)
Badger
Fallen Morgan
px
obamaisdabest
Wormyguy
Refudiate
Dallasfan*
pbrower
Cathcon
Teddy*
A-Bob
Giovanni*
Barnes
tb75
20RP12
homely*
JBrase
Vazdul
Yelnoc
Devilman (wasn't that Josh's last incarnation?)
hantheguitarman
hawkeye
Julio Madrid
belgiansocialist*
Obamanation
Oakvale*
MilesC56

The struck people have been gotten rid off. Though I may have missed somebody. Asterisked people are sufficiently interesting to deserve a summary here (not done for the top ten).

Morgan is still here.

Do what I did: put the troll on ignore. Atlas is a way nicer place since I hit that buton.

You have me on ignore, Kal?  :'(   

You? This forum would be empty with you on ignore. It's other dude from Pennsylvania.

Hint: It's not Bullmoose!

Seems to be true. Seems I even read a post of his today. Well, he must have ceased being as obnoxious or something.

Who doesn't?

Oh, cause the other idiot Antoinette was referring to was me. :)

Good point, Lewis.  Good point.

We just can't resist clicking "show".

How is Phil a troll?

Kalwejt - Guy from Poland who posts a lot of timelines and gets obsessed with not that amusing memes.
Libertas - Just do a forum search for his name.
Rochambeau - Same
Antonio - French guy, kind of a generic European leftist, good insight though.
Mechaman - Libertarian from Oklahoma, pretty close to a stereotypical Libertarian and not some paleocon type. Probably the best Libertarian poster.
Vepres - Sort of whiny Republican hack who wasn't all that conservative and was just rebelling against the liberal establishment of where he lived (Boulder, CO area). No longer here.
sewer - Very bland, don't remember him.
Badger - Generic liberal Democrat from Ohio, has a lot of interesting insight being a prosecutor but standard otherwise.
Fallen Morgan - Obnoxious libertarian.
px - Greek guy, kind of abrasive and occasionally hackish, but overall I think he gets a lot more crap than he deserves.
obamaisdabest - Gay British poster who kind of flirts with being a troll but never really goes over the line.
Wormyguy - Obnoxious libertarian, kind of the de facto leader of that clique now. Does even more personal attacks and ad hominems than this archetype.
Refudiate - Uh, really don't know who this guy is.
Dallasfan - One of those paleocon-leaning libertarians, but a lot nicer than most. Actually likes a lot of the same music as you and I do. Good guy non-politically but affiliates with some pretty awful people.
pbrower - Long-winded hack. No one really seriously reads or responds to him, he's kind of a joke now, people just bring him up when making references to long-winded hackery.
Cathcon - Generic Catholic conservative as his name implies. Young kid obsessed with classic rock. I get the impression he's actually pretty sheltered and will change quite a bit.
Teddy* - Canadian, his whole history requires a few paragraphs so I'll leave that to someone else.
A-Bob - Seen him a few times, kind of a generic Republican.
Giovanni - Another one in that Libertarian clique. He's not as obnoxious or as much of a jerk though, like Dallasfan.
Barnes - Democrat from Georgia, pretty generic.
tb75 - Republican from North Carolina, pretty generic.
20RP12 - Very young libertarian kid from New Jersey who might become the new Josh22 considering how young he is and the proneness of that age group to changing ideologies. Textbook example of the Hot Topic crowd.
homelycooking - Guy from Connecticut who makes lots of maps. Good maps.
JBrase - Libertarian clique member from Texas, not really a jerk but sticks to lots of odd opinions.
Vazdul - Guy from New Jersey, seems to post mostly about redistricting and survivor games. Not a bad guy but not very notable.
Yelnoc - I think he posts mostly in 2012 so n/a
Devilman (wasn't that Josh's last incarnation?) - Yes
hantheguitarman - No longer here, was in the libertarian clique though politically he was more of a standard right winger.
hawkeye - LOL, unfortunate name for this forum. He's a generic Democrat but kind of obtuse and oblivious to sarcasm.
Julio Madrid - Spanish guy, most notable for always being cheery and optimistic.
belgiansocialist - Belgian guy, pretty knowledgeable, lots of insight.
Obamanation - He knows a lot about forum memes and history but it's obvious he more studied or lurked in the past like PiT than is a sock. Kind of an amusing guy, not very political.
Oakvale - Left of center poster from Ireland, not notable outside of Atlasia.
MilesC56 - Meh, don't know much.

Kal is an unstable, bipolar individual. He's just cranky that someone (myself) finally called him out for being annoying and unfunny. Naturally, I'm a "troll" now.

I've been doing that for awhile. Of course I'm a "troll" to him too so....

Each time I've called him out for being unfunny and annoying, he sent me a PM to apologize... ???

Let's see:

Belgiansocialist: Usually just called "Belgian," he's a Flemish Catholic and probably the best poster from the years in question.  Quite visible on threads about European politics.

Kalwejt:  Extremely prolific poster from Poland.  Had a short-lived sock.  Feuds with BRTD.  Has improved his English quite a bit while here.

Mechaman: I assume you've already seen him.  Libertarian (libertine-style) from Oklahoma, likes to provoke moderators.  Likes younger girls.

pbrower: huge hack from the 2012 board.  Ignore his posts.  Mr. Morden will read them for you and tell you if he said anything worthwhile.

Wormyguy: last survivor of the so-called "Libertas circle" of newish Libertarian posters that joined in 2009-10 (the rest have been banned).  Gay libertarian from the northeast, involved in Atlasia.

Oakvale: The much-needed third "Good poster from Ireland."  Now that neither Gully Foyle nor Jas are physically in Ireland, the only one that is.  Center-left and has a lot to say about Irish stuff.

JBrase: Ron Paul-loving Texas Libertarian.

px: Abrasive socialist from Greece, picks a lot of fights.

I'll stop there.

I wouldn't call you a troll. Unlike Phil, you're actually contributing (except of your obession with opebo).

And I don't contribute? Kal, you and your little, bratty, equally painfully unfunny friend might dislike me to a disturbingly ridiculous degree but don't tell me that I don't contribute while BRTD does.

And while it's obvious that I'm very polarizing and have my fair share of "haters" here, you're in a very small minority in thinking that I am a troll.

I was refering to Gramps, FTR.

()

You just forgot to add he was a nasty jerk and a compulsive liar, apart from being an absolute hack.

Who also kinda used me to advance his own ideology and power in Atlasia.

Let's not even allude to his actions in Atlasia...

A few others noteworthy I consider from "this era"

cinyc: Republican from New York, he knows stats well but is very abrasive and has a bit of a persecution complex, tends to pick fights with people he doesn't agree with when debating policy. On apolitical raw numbers stuff he's not bad.

krazen*number*: NJ Republican, reminds me of DWTL but has a bigger vocabulary and better grammar, very hackish and abrasive, he seems to care more about hating Democratic voters than disagreeing with Democratic policies and is one of those with an inexplicable "hate-on" for unions. Posts a lot in redistricting, with about 80% hackishness and 20% good insight, kind of turning into BigSkyBob's sidekick.

Linus Van Pelt/(a bunch of numbers as his current name): By far the best poster of this era, though he's overlooked a lot because he doesn't post much. Canadian living in New Jersey now, obviously went to grad school/is in grad school now based on his posts (a lot even go over my head with the intellectual references), has a lot of great insight and way of analyzing things that is often overlooked, despite his relatively few posts there have been more from him than any other recent poster that I read and think "I never really thought of it that way before".

JohanusCalvinusLibertas: One of those Paul-loving paleocons, uses very stupid logic and even worse grammar.

freepcrusher: Democrat from Texas, kind of hackish, makes some embarrassing mathematical mistakes and misses a lot of obvious things in election analysis. I think I'd get along very well with him in real life though.

MaxQue: Quebecois poster, kind of meek but in a good way, never gets in harsh arguments or personal attacks, some interesting insight.

Smid: Australian conservative, probably the most well respected and reasonable conservative on the forum since he manages to be conservative both socially and economically but without turning into a nasty hack or sounding like a bigot in the process. Kind of intermittent in posting, but almost everyone wishes he would post more.

tmth: Current Atlasian President, the most poorly closeted person I've ever seen. Young kid from rural Indiana, conservative but obviously because of his upbringing, I have a feeling he'll be a completely different person after one year of college (not to mention "out".) Very polite, he sent me a PM a few nights ago congratulating me on a surprisingly accurate prediction from 2005, even though I've been kind of a jerk to him in the past, so for that I have to give anyone props.

Marokai: Gay Democrat from Ohio, very liberal on all issues, but reasonable and pragmatic unlike for example jfern. Kind of the de facto leader of the left in Atlasia though there are a lot of inter-party/ideological squabbles.

Winston Disraeli: Doesn't post anymore, but was prominent enough to be worthy of mention. Went from a hardcore British nationalist to a radical libertarian clique member to a communist. Since then he's kind of moderated (I've talked to him on AIM a few times), he's kind of a standard British socialist now, likes good music and has got into a lot of stuff from me. His old posts can be confusing reading now because of how many ideological shifts he's made and it's not clear what "phase" he was in at the time you're reading them.

I consider Cinyc "Sam Spade Jr."  He's clearly smart, but has a very short temper.

BRTD to the rescue.  I now have a media guide.

Yelnoc - "N/A"

???

Yeah, why did Winston leave? I think it was one of those sneaky, never made a goodbye post, ways of leaving. You know, the type that can actually lead to people staying away for good.

Not by choice. :P

Were Han here today, knowing him, he'd compare his ideology to Barry Goldwater's.

A good deal of trash, a significant amount of quality, and a lot of people who still can't decide which they prefer to be.

I've only listened to blink 98 times since turning 20, compared to 1813 times before then. 129 plays of Brand New since age 20, compared 1328 before then. Alas, I cannot say the same of Taking Back Sunday; 279 plays since turning 20 (about 1/3rd of my total TBS playcount). Is the Early November BRTD music? His influence still shows up on my charts; Christie Front Drive is my #19 band over the past 12 months and By a Thread is #22 over the past 3 months.

I was about to say "Hey, what about me?!" but then I realized I registered in 2008.

Yet, people from 2008 have been included on some of the lists, like Smid and I am pretty sure tmth as well. Perhaps the criteria has shifted from just "joined in..." to "began to make an impact in..."

Well he did change his display name...

From what I've gathered on AIM, he's found other things that are far more productive and better to be into, he's way into college now and in a band. So better off than if he was still posting here. Quite the improvement from the beginning of his posting career to the end. Very similar to Philip in that sense.

I don't like Early November. Brand New are great at any age and nothing like those other bands. Blink is a band I can not cease to listen to or ever hate because I am in basically the ideal exact age bracket for max nostalgia value, even if their music wasn't great well done pop punk. I only really like the first two Taking Back Sunday albums, though I do like the last single, but won't bother listening the full album (just out now). They were basically my favorite band when I graduated high school, so their early stuff will always have a special place in my heart.

It seems like The Lawrence Arms are Boris' most played I turned him on to. Unless I'm also responsible for Jawbreaker.

Dallas and I were banned ??? :'(

You two aren't jerks.

Basically, trollary on this forum reached it's peak in late 2009-early 2010.

I miss Gabu.

Amen, Brother Meeker!

Ho, ho, guess who's talking!

Wait a second, what happened to Rochambeau? And what about me?

     You don't have 2000 posts yet. That list is exclusively posters who have.

The Roach isn't banned though.

Did Feeblepizza register in 2009-2011?

I remember Winston! He was... interesting? And I think he ended up being transgender too. Lean transgender, at least.

Actually it peaked in late 2008.

There's another Canadian poster (Foucalt?) that knows a lot about Canadian politics and has some good insights. Mileslunn (?) is another Canadian poster who is at a near-genius level of knowledge about Canadian political demography, too bad he knows nothing about international politics and is a neo-liberal hack who will argue for anything that's center-right.

His name is "Foucaulf" - something that's always confused me. I'm not sure if he's referring to Michel Foucault.

That's what I've always wondered, too. I don't know if it's a misspelling or if it's voluntary.