Reading Site Related

Seems like I’m talking to myself here most of the times, which is a pity really considering all those beautiful articles stored in the depths of this site. There must have been a time, when this place was more what its name promises to be than it is right now. What an irony, “netalive” is dead! Well, may be it’s ahead of its time and that’s the destiny all those social sites, perhaps even the whole non-commercial-web in the not too far future.

This place seems to be online for almost 10 years and yet it’s not flooded with useless one-word-comments and spam articles. On the other hand no one is posting at all. Does that reflect the global intelligence? Frankly I hope that’s not the case! The concept of this site seems not too far away from those Twitters and Facebooks, yet only they make the money – by the nameless hordes of braindead users mind you. May be the guys responsible for this site should sue them for copyright infringement. Obviously this place was ahead of its time at every moment of its history!

10 years is a long time and people formerly coming to this place must have come of age meanwhile. Yet it’s sort of strange no new blood took over. Is this young generation not interested in reading more than 128 characters? Is there no need anymore to ponder ones thoughts and trying to word them? Is there no need anymore to get input from other people’s views on things?

Some newer article was talking about updating this site. Go for it! Find a way to place the best (not just the newest) articles in more prominent ways. You really have to navigate too much to find the best ones. You got this ratings... make it an all time top list of best rated articles for instance. Of course that’s no guarantee to get all the good stuff, but it’s a start. Perhaps the ratings could be added up for a whole thread, which makes another top list, the best rated threads....and....get rid of this Black, its so depressing in the long run and it hurts the eyes when you read longer articles.

Wow! your star rating, after my vote of "nice!" is an 83% approval, after my vote, the third.
I'm voting your thoughts up because I agree with you. I'm one of those ones "guilty" of posting great posts past, but nothing recently.
Really, it's only cause user:majic posted to my last journal (from 10Apr10), that I decided to stalk over hear, and see what's going on.
So, ok, I see this post, by a newbie, and wow, this is a topic that goes back to even before my joining: user:involvement.
so, Where is everyone???
I see ginsterbusch is still posting away.
majic is still current, he's such a militant poster.
harold_maude has a few journal postings recently.
of course jael is somewhere out there stalking us;
Bunk is biding time till the outer planets align, and then will pronounce "nibiru, the time of crossing, is near";
with Rosyxxx, our token scribe recording every nieuance of the pleasure crafts voyage coming down to take-away the true followers of Dobbs will and might...

See, there's something you have to realize when you spend your time over here at nao.ORG. We have our own social schema, and our own time table. This site isn't being bombarded by commercial advertising, and marketing...for good reason.
This site has always been home to me, in my digital world. Once Litkicks.com (again: DOT COM) kicked the bucket, nao.org was, for quite a while, my home page.

So now I'm older, and have more stuff going on, more in "real time", because that's how I can make money here these days. I've moved my residence twice in the past 7 months. Madness, the dark void, ensued.
Now that I have internet back, I'm likely to pop-up back here again in the near-future. I'm sure I'll be reading more of your posts, seeing how many you've posted in the past few weeks.

For me, it seems perfect the rate that this site responds to what's going on in this digital world, and the one I prefer, the analog world. It's almost like this is an analog site, that's been seemlessly plugged-into the digital domain.

I will say this, if you're still here, posting with this kind of energy, youthful zest in say, 7 yrs, I will applaud you so loudly, and virulently; proclaiming your dedication and vision.
Until then, keep coming...it gets greater later!

So, therethen, what's the internet up to? And how much will nao.org have changed?
Probably much less, from my experience.

I almost post that as a challenge: what's the world gonna be like in, say 7 yrs? In Nov I'll have been a member for 7 yrs. So I pose that for a question for Nov. Where will nao.org be in 7 yrs?

Once Fred Neitszche declared God is Dead, f*ck became the most important word in the English languag

This post was edited by zen on Sep 10, 2010.

I didn’t mean to blame any former user for not posting anymore; nobody is "guilty" of not posting. Of course I do understand people change constantly, lives, circumstances and commitment changing every day. So actually it’s up to me to applaud (and thank) you, Zen, for being around all those years (and replying to my thoughts) and still having something to say.

It’s more like I was wondering about the missing new users. The idea of a quiet place with some aspirations, that is clearly different from the digital fast food out there, should attract at least some people at any point in time. Exactly the same feeling, that made you feel home 7 years ago, should grow in others as well today, tomorrow or even 7 years from now, once they stumble upon this place and take their time to explore it. The one point missing perhaps is the virtual friendship I guess. Browsing through the old articles, most of the former users were sort of friends, many conversation were just that, conversations, exchange of ideas between friends. They even met in the analog world, so, that’s far more than just a bunch of random internet users do. When you come to this place today it’s more like a gallery of arts or an old fashioned library. You walk the halls and aisles making as few noises as possible and just marvel at the huge amounts of valuable content.

May be it just takes a few youngsters to play ball in the main hall and smashing a window or two to blow off the dust and letting some new light in.

Will I be around 7 years from now? How should I know? I don’t know where I’ll be next week, that’s digitally as well as in the analog world.

Wow!...haa-haa-hehe...I laugh to myself.
Hearing, seeing, picturing your statement, it reminds me of high school--or college, any school, during break.
You take a wal down the deserted hallways, and stumble upon the trophy case, and see all the past accomplishments, and perhaps marvel, at the life and success of those who've gone before.
One can't help but internalize those achievements as his or her own, stepping onto the same "hallowed" campus.

So you see the accomplishments of the "upper class", our trophies, as it were, and wonder: where are all the freshmen? or at least softmores?
Well, maybe they're all behind the bleachers gettin baked--
who knows? it's likely they're just havin fun without us...

Once Fred Neitszche declared God is Dead, f*ck became the most important word in the English languag

I love what you have to say about netalive being like a "gallery" or an "old library"...it does feel like that, and always did to me. And I used to love to wander it's halls as well, picking through cobwebs, feeling like I was turning up some dusty old tome full of depth and wisdom.

It does also seem as if friendships here were somewhat tentative, but that 'appearance' belies the real truth: friendships were and are held here through more means than the obvious. A lot goes on through IMing, snail mail and the like. There was a time for me when things were really rough, that wOLf, Bunk, null, Elena, Hawkeye, Harold-Maude and James, magic, Zen and others held my fragile soul like a butterfly on the palm, letting my wings dry so I could fly. Many, many IMs, phone calls overseas to me, care-packages of chocolate and Hello Kitty stuff from Japan landed in my corner. Letters that were handwritten or typed. Postcards. Invites to islands south of Ibiza...e-mails from people here full of love, intelligence, and sometimes a little meanness, but mostly just people being thoughtful, warm human beings with more heart than I was seeing in the outside world at the time.

Netalive is like a bear that hibernates and appears to be asleep, but inside the neural pathways of the greater mind, the dreams are rich! The friendships run deep and are sometimes hidden like a rich vein of ore or crystals. Just shine the flashlight on those black pages...

And I agree, black as a background is hard on the eyes.

My mind is made up...not like my bed, which is a mess.

I love the analogy of the hibernating bear with regard to Netalive.org. I joined back in 2007 and since then, have become employed and am pursing another degree, been married and now have a wonderful child. And where do I occasionally go to see what people of aplomb have to have written, to my library at home. But, that's not the point. Just kidding. I had to write that that way, see. And what's more, how can I forget a place where, when only a member for a mere two weeks, coincidentally happen upon a writing contest--where the winner would be sent nearly a pound of chocolate-- and be eligible to qualify and win? I was sent chocolate and all the way from Europe, even if the mail carrier left it on my porch, in the sun and it became melted (the refrigerator saved my day). Point is, chocolate or not, Netalive.org presents a sense or ownership to post by the many writers and while not everything can be consumed all the time by everyone, those niches of interest, we find comfortable, have helped bring inspiration enough, that at given times, members such as myself stop by for a spell or two. Like a bear who goes into sleeping, writers go into sleep-states as well: appearing and reappearing, ever so evasively at times and just to again disappear into the forest. "Ooh, wait, I think I just say a mother with her cubs in the distance. Gotta go, lemme' get my binoculars."

I love reading Russian Literature!!!

And it is damn close to being near, people. Don't be Zeta haters!

"History is more or less bunk." - Henry Ford

Not so fast...;-)

My mind is made up...not like my bed, which is a mess.

You know what Zen? I just googled Dobbs and The Church of the Subgenius, and the characterization that you gave of me above. So little did you know of what actually occurred to make me leave this site, that you apparently think it was all a hoax. And if I remember correctly, which I do, you toyed with me through e-mails mercilessly while I felt like I was loosing my mind. Which I wasn't. I don't think that I need to say much more. You are an intelligent man and likely can get it.

As for the jokes I know you all privately make about my level of privacy...just so you know, it took me five years of waiting to purchase my own domain name of my birth name out from under the jackass who owned it.

I think I'm done here. Now I realize the REAL reason why I left.

And you know what else? Tomorrow is my birthday, so kindly leave me in peace and don't spoil it for me.

My mind is made up...not like my bed, which is a mess.

This post was edited by rosyxxx on Sep 27, 2010.

I'm not recalling the merciless emails where I toyed with you.
I recall that I always thought you were a cool person.
I remember your stalker caused you alot of problems, but I don't recall it was the work of Dobbs, or one of his confederates. I do know that there was an actual person who made life miserable for you. Where in there would I imagine a hoax?
If it seems as I was making a certain characterization of you, well, you shouldn't read it that. It's the description of Princess We-R-Do, Queen of All UFOs, Bethrothed of the Sacred Scribe of The Church, not you, sad thou that may be.
I just thought it might be fun to have you sit-in for her...
Didn't mean to offend.

Once Fred Neitszche declared God is Dead, f*ck became the most important word in the English languag

This post was edited by zen on Oct 07, 2010.

of course jael is somewhere out there stalking us;

aaahhahah!

Zen you know me well.

Well, it's not that I'm gone, not that I don't have time, other things just take priority.

But yes, every now and then I come check what people are up to.

But yes.. still here.

and I agree, NAO could use a wee bit of sprucing up.

*insert something profound/witty/humorous here*

Maybe so, but only for the sake of change for it's own sake.
Everything over here is still functional.
I for one appreciate the ease-of-use over here.
I mean, what would you change, or freshen-up?

I'm looking at Ginster's suggestions, all manner of hokus-pokus with the programming, JASN, etc. and I think, Oi! What portals will this take us down?

Maybe allow us the ability to put some neat tools on here that could allow us to change the interface.
Maybe have it so that it will randomly generate a different user interface, or making it somehow so we can tweek it our selves, like the old style synthesizers with knobs and dials, that might allow us to change the horizontal, and vertical vectors.

That would be a positive improvement.

Once Fred Neitszche declared God is Dead, f*ck became the most important word in the English languag

I agree with you Zen about this place. I too love the fact that there are no ads, no pop ups on here.
This place reminds me of all those wonderful wonders of the world like the prymaids that have stood the test of time without changing.

We all have lives outside this place and we all need a place that's safe where we can speak of things that matter to each of us. I love reading the journals on here. I always have.
Sometimes I feel inclined to respond, sometimes I don't.
Like everyone else who has been writing here for a long time I have stepped away for long periods of time and then come back.

In a world where everything is prone to change sometimes faster than you can put on new socks, it's nice to have at least one thing that remains constant and isn't prone to the latest fashion or technology. I love that about this place. It's why my bat cave is here and not somewhere else.

So it's not dead, it's not dying, it's what it is, a safe place that welcomes the travelers who have been writing here for both a short time and years.

So, lets get back to this idea of redesign, evolution and development then ;)

I have Jaz hanging around in my Xing contacts, so i just gonna ask him if I or even some more folks would be allowed to plunder his code to push NAO a bit forward. ;)

Some items on the agenda "NAO 2010":

- different themes, or at least a refresh of the current one ;)
- unobtrusive Javascript, AJAX, JSON
- automated "what's best" / "what's hot" display of threads on the main page
- fixing this and that, enhancing the good UX of NAO ;)

cu all, w0lf.

ps: @ rosyxxx, null and all the others: Follow the white rabbit (for better contact options) ;)

beards are cool. every villain has one!

Just to put in my two cents, I agree that a renewal would be great, and with the appropriate updates netalive might once again have appeal for people. It is a unique forum, and I'd love to see fresh voices renewing the community & ideas here.

I do not have the technical ability to make it happen, however, so I leave that in the hands of the capable.

"History is more or less bunk." - Henry Ford

I think it's mostly because poeple do not know about this forum. I have no idea how i found out about it.

It might be because it doesn't attract attention, or it doesn't care to attract any. Personally i think it's actually for the best.

"Life is a queue. You come in, hang around for a bit, get some service, then depart."

I think the first time I came to NAO was in 1999 but the years have clouded my memory.

Lots of great people here! I hope all of you are doing well these days. Sorry I haven't been here in a long time. I spend the majority of my free time on FaceBook and Twitter.

Yeah, different themes, or interfaces. Wouldn't it be cool if we could adjust them ourselves, through some type of random generator. It will change everytime one visits the site.
Maybe there might be a "save" function, to keep it.
Maybe have a way to tweek the interface in various ways.

Maybe our Eliza could be introduced to Ramona, from Kurzweil. It would be nice to chat with an Eliza who actually remembers, and recalls previous conversations with members. I don't know if anyone remembers that insane conversation with Eliza I posted. But it would be cool to have an Eliza that remembers, and can interact about things related to the site itself.
OK, perhaps I'm asking for A.I. Can you do that?

Once Fred Neitszche declared God is Dead, f*ck became the most important word in the English languag

@Ginsterbusch,

This sounds interesting.

If I were going to do this I'd use C#, ASP.NET MVC / jQuery but then again I've been brainwashed. =)

*wakes up*

Wha? *scratches head*
How long have I been asleep? Where is everybody?!

Seriously though, I've been neglecting this site far too long. I vow to return and regularly post, so long as there's someone who regularly posts new material to read.

Ginsterbusch, since I've joined Netalive I've gained a lot of experience that could be put to good use on this site (my job regularly deals with page design and programming). Let me know if I can be of some use.

If the world should blow itself up,the last audible voice would be an expert saying it can't be done

I'm still here, lurking... HAHA! I hope everyone is doing well.

Hiho, majic. Good to see someone else reanimated and moping around looking for brains. :)

If the world should blow itself up,the last audible voice would be an expert saying it can't be done

*grins sheepishly*

Hi, hello dear ones!

I've no excuses except to say that I've been caught up in life - and for the first time realising just how wonderful it is.

I often think of you all, and remember the invaluable consolation and comfort I found during the most trying of times here in this sanctuary where I could pour out my soul and have you all hold it safe until I was able to carry it again.

I also remember conversations with many of you existing almost purely of Simpsons quotes and other silliness.

We were young together.

-Mel xx

Look at me! I'm a prostitute robot from the future!

Let's reconnect then.

You at FacialpalmBooks these days?

I are findable there, too. Just search for me there .. easy to find ;)

cu, w0lf.

ps: if anyone else is reading this: "available" for the rest of the NAOis, too ;)

beards are cool. every villain has one!

Have sent you an email with my info. Anyone else want to reconnect?

Look at me! I'm a prostitute robot from the future!

It's been so long. I have such fond memories of this place, he'll I commonly refer to netalive as the place where I grew up...

Fond memories

And that's why its webdead.com - and prolly stay that way.
Null hasn't even made the effort to hand out access to his new NAO code base :(

Edith says:

saw it. you already contacted me, but I didnt read your message properly :D

For the rest: Check out the about Page of his blog ;)

cu, w0lf.

beards are cool. every villain has one!

This post was edited by ginsterbusch on Aug 26, 2011.

BTW: Are you on FB or something else? Your blog looks a bit .. deserted.

Hahaha, yeah it's one of those "I swear I'll update it" blogs. You've already found me on FB, you accepted my friend invite a few days ago.

If anyone else resurrects themselves, you can always chase me down at http://www.facebook.com/dcousineau (or if you search google for dcousineau I should be the entire first page of hits).

Null hasn't even made the effort to hand out access to his new NAO code base :(

I'll chalk that up to busy busy, though a github link would be jawesome :)

Fond memories

If you enter in my real name, then I'm homing in at the second and third place on Google :D

cu, w0lf.

beards are cool. every villain has one!

Luckily for me the only other me's are some exec at Papa Johns (mediocre American pizza chain) and some guy who did a few karate competitions...

Fond memories

Null hasn't even made the effort to hand out access to his new NAO code base

Uhm, I mailed you an SSH account ages ago and never heard back... did some mail go AWOL?

When life hands you a lemon, that's 40% of your RDA of vitamin C taken care of.

Uhm, I mailed you an SSH account ages ago and never heard back... did some mail go AWOL?

Definitely looks like. Your last mail in my mailbox is from December 2008.

Let's take another route: Use my contact form ;)

cu, w0lf.

beards are cool. every villain has one!

I just signed in here right now from AgnosticsInternational.net We had a topic called Law Without Morals, i decided to google some articles or post among many forums, and well i came across this website which seems to be nice and full of great ideas.

Im new here so i hope i can find some great articles and people to share and compare ideas with.

Anyhow i hope this page does not die off since it looks like a great one.

The name is Joey, im the President of Ontario California Chapter Of Agnostics, im also the file admin for AgnosticsInternational.net. SO if you guys need any help on anything that i can help you with, well let me help you.

Anyhow i thought i would make my introduction here since i did not find any section for new comers. OR if there is one, please direct me to it :P

Anyhow,
My regards,

Joey

You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep

Welcome! :-) The place is rather slow at the moment, but we hope to make it a bit more interesting soon. Feel free to poke around the archives in the meantime. There's no such thing as an official introductions thread or forum, so this is as good a place as anywhere else to say hi.

When life hands you a lemon, that's 40% of your RDA of vitamin C taken care of.

Welcome! :-) The place is rather slow at the moment, but we hope to make it a bit more interesting soon. Feel free to poke around the archives in the meantime. There's no such thing as an official introductions thread or forum, so this is as good a place as anywhere else to say hi.

Thank you, I will make sure to look around this place and see what i can come across. Thank you once more.

You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep

You could rush it a bit if you sent me some kind of .. login data (SSH preferred) to the unofficial NAO PHP conversion centre ;)

cu, w0lf.

beards are cool. every villain has one!

You could rush it a bit if you sent me some kind of .. login data (SSH preferred) to the unofficial NAO PHP conversion centre ;)

cu, w0lf.

I dont understand. Was this towards me? lol.

You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep

No, it was towards me. He's waiting for a login to the server that runs this forum - he's offered to help with an overhaul of the forum, but I haven't gotten back to him yet.

When life hands you a lemon, that's 40% of your RDA of vitamin C taken care of.

I come and go occasionally.

There have been some great discussions in here. I even imagined my self standing at a forum of the ancient Greece at times...

*sigh*

It is the information overload. Just to feel up to date I spend an hour reading condensed news articles... don't even have time to go in-dept unless it's really important and/or interesting.

And alas, it has dulled my will to actually sit down and write something meaningful. I might actually publish here a document regarding gender issues I've coauthored with a good friend of mine in near future...

Anyway, it's nice to see some of the people still lurking around. I have to think of something smart to write at the philosophy forum... :-)

Vladimir, a truly happy person!

Seems like detadead.Com for sure!.. That was in sep 2010 and here we are in july 2011!..
Not much has happened!..

You know something about Facebook I noticed. They just announced some better way to see what your friends are listening too thing.

I don't have a Facebook account, mainly because it's wank, but here is how I see this whole music/film invasion thing.

It's just another way to target advertising. I mean, who cares what my friends are listening to or watching on their PC's? I couldn't give a flying monkeys toss, but it seems important to Facebook to market this wonderful idea to the masses!

It's not enough that the whole world is drawn in to detailing their entire life existence to a machine they are now delving deeper and cataloguing your listening and viewing preferences and everyone seems to just go along with it.

Future posts on Facebook:

Joe Bloggs just posted that he had a shit and was also listening to Dave Matthews Band at the time

or even more intrusive and possibly:

Joe Bloggs watches 98% porn at his PC while using Facebook the other 2% of the time

Kinda off key there, but I do love a good rant and it's my second post today and I only just joined. Toot-Toot!

Peace out brother.

I've been a member since May 12, 2005. I believe netalive is dead as well. You touched on it a bit. Todays generation are about how much time they have to read something (which is no time) and the fact that its not popular to be "deep" so its not worth their time.

This is why twitter and facebook are so popular because if it cant be boiled down to 160 characters, its not worth their time to read it. I've also found that todays generation doesn't care about meaningful things, they just wanna know what you are doing right now because it might mean a possible hook-up. So if you can't alert them in 160 characters of your current availability, then you wont get their attention.

It's a sad state of things to come.