As a regular contributor to this forum, I always wondered why the people here take so much time and energy to keep arguing about various topics, even though it's clear no one will ever make any other change his opinion.

So, I ask you the question :
Why did you start posting here in the first place ? And why do you keep doing it ?

My answer :

It started on 9-11-02, one year after the WTC bombing. There were a lot of ceremonies and TV shows about this terrible event in France, and I began wondering how people in the USA felt at this time. It was also the beginning of the process which lead to the war in Irak, and I felt it would be interesting to get the point of view of average american people on this. So I found this forum…

This quickly became quite addictive, especially when the tension around this war started growing between the USA and France.

I stopped posting here in may, because it started to take too much of my time and energy. But I have to admit I never ceased to think about some people here while reading the news.
"Oh really I would like to see their reaction to this !"
So I decided to come back.

I just think it's fun to debate issues and see what other people are thinking. And it doesn't really take that much of my time.

I also enjoy reading what other people's opinions are. I spend most of my workday on the computer so its really no problem to check in to see if anyone has posted something new and interesting. And since i sign the paychecks no one will mind me goofing off now and again.:D

When i first started there was a guy here that made me laugh at him so hard whenever he posted. I felt it my duty to try to bust his chops every chance i got. Tentmaker was his moniker. I would miss his ravings but we now have various others to choose from. Although none of them are as retarded as he was.

Another thing. Arguing on the internet has never gotten anyone killed as far as i can tell. People tend to say what they think regardless of whether it is politically correct or not. Without fear of reprisal.

Originally posted by HaVoK

When i first started there was a guy here that made me laugh at him so hard whenever he posted. I felt it my duty to try to bust his chops every chance i got. Tentmaker was his moniker. I would miss his ravings but we now have various others to choose from. Although none of them are as retarded as he was.

Yes, I wonder what kind of guy was really Tentmaker. A real psycho or just an Internet freak ? Anyway he really was a pain in the neck, it had becomen nearly impossible to debate since he flooded every thread with his fascist/paranoid propaganda.

I would say I come here for the same reasons as the others, and yes TM was a pain in the a**.

I've got nothing else to do. :D

Forums are like saloons, in the sense that you shop for the one that is the most comfortable to spend time in. My reasons for coming in reflect what the others have said.

I also come here to argue with astropal2 about the war and how correct the U.S. was to take action while every other country sat on there arse............:D

Kinda continuing off of Havok's... It's safer. At least on here people can't punch you for insulting their intelligence, they can't beat the shit out of you for dare saying something against them. Forums are fun, arguing is fun, people argue at forums, making it double fun :D.

For this forum in particular, borg brought me here, I posted at a commie forum, and he told me to come here because this place had very few leftists. Trav in particular caught my interest, he's funny.

Originally posted by Blibblob
For this forum in particular, borg brought me here, I posted at a commie forum, and he told me to come here because this place had very few leftists. Trav in particular caught my interest, he's funny. Leftists? I thought you were a communist? Can one be both? Forgive my ignorance.

Communism is on the left side of the political spectrum... so, yes.
(this information coming from French "congress", in which the capitalists sat on the right side of the building, and the socialists on the left(yes, it has become the world-wide norm))(also from politicalcompass.org, which, imo, is the most accurate online test that finds your politcal spectrum(it pulls the left-right off of history, and the up-down is theirs)(warning, while the site tries to be un-bias, they undoubtedly are bias to the left a bit))

To the left a bit? Maybe a lot, based on the phrasing of the questions. Anyway, I came out as a right-wing libertarian, which confirms what I thought I was.

I came out very near the center of the chart, slightly libertarian, roughly the same spot where the Prime Minister of Canada sits.

I was also very near the center. Though i was more authoritarian than anything. That was a little surprising. And i thought i was further right than what the graph said. Guess my support for legalized weed did me in.

If that's an accurate guess, HaVoK, then it's a sad state of affairs that one's views on merrywanna carry so much weight. Merrywanna legalization has had my support for the past 3+ decades.

Wow !
I just made the test and I discovered I am some kind extremist libertarian leftist.
I am quite happy to see the closest personality is Nelson Mandela, one of my heroes, and tha I am as far as possible from Bush and Saddam.
But honestly I think the test is biased. Or maybe it only reflects the fact that the american society is much more on the right-wing than the french.

Oh, by the way, Havok, I answered no to the legalization of weed, it seems that on that point at least i am more conservative than you !

So you think the test is biased to the right? Because it seemed pretty left to me.

Even though I came out right-libertarian I was pretty close to center as well. I guess I'm more moderate than I think I am. Or like ES I got big leftist points for legalizing marijuana.

I mean it is not accurate in the way that people are shown more on the left than they really are. I see myself more on center-left than on the extreme.

Every leftist I know think it is biased to the right, you all think it is bias to the left. I think we have a bit of a compromise. Maybe it could also be on lack of knowledge on what is leftist and what is um, rightist. I saw quite a few questions phrased in a very rightist way, some were also racist and bigoted(the phrasing, it doesn't reflect the creator's actual leanings). By the way I'm in the very bottom left corner. It fits, communist anarchist.

And the weed probably has more to do with the social aspect then the economic, so, it should shove you a bit more to the liberaterian bottom, if you answered yes to legalization, then off to the left or right.