The Welcome Thread: Newbie introductions; departing and returning members

[Bombadillo]

Ahoy!

It's been six and a half years since my last post, and I've returned to make some confessions and stuff.

I've been coming back here from time to time to lurk, rarely and randomly, and to click the ad banner a bunch of times in gratitude to Bmilder the builder. I'd check up on you all, like a creep. I'd reminisce about the person I used to be, how I used to think. This forum was the closest thing I ever kept to a journal for many years. I was active from ages 15 to 18, then died, then briefly returned at age 21. I'm 28 now; plenty's changed.

Something I regret: When I was active here, the idea of e-friends seemed preposterous to me. That was my mom's antiquated thinking, I guess. I was, characteristically, very much concerned with what I was "supposed to be doing" all the time. So I thought of Entmoot as a dead-end distraction from the depression and stagnation of my real life, and little more. Dead-end is the keyword; I used to come here with little hope and no expectation of building friendships; I came to hear myself talk, to sharpen my argumentation skills. I restrained myself from much light buddy-buddy stuff because it felt like a guilty pleasure, like Lt Broccoli's holodeck addiction on Star Trek: TNG. Then, over time, when I saw the tight bonds you'd all been forming growing gradually stronger, it dawned on me that I had been missing out, that I had been a snot, a know-it-all youth, dumb. I slinked away in shame.

What brings me back today is a wish to tell you that I still value this place, you all, and the time I spent here, and also to make atonements.

An apology to one member in particular, whose name I don't remember and cannot find, who quit the Moot in a righteous fury after I and several others called homosexuality "wrong" in ye olde original "Gays, lesbians, bisexuals" thread. I thought that that's what I was "supposed to" say. The truth is, I'm gay myself, and I have been all along, though at the time I was a long, long way from admitting it.

Anyway, there's all that. On the positive side, I wanna say "thanks" to Loka Lotesse, Rian, Radagast the Brown, JD, BoP, Tessar, Jonathan, IR, SGH, Earniel, afroelf, the number brothers gimli and gollum, even the eternal jokester Coney, and the rest of you all, for being such good people and good influences on me, whether you knew it or not. Thank you, Ben, for never pulling the plug on this place.

I also wanna say that, to this day, the feud, that lop-sided feud between Rian and Lotesse, cracks me up! I'm sorry, but I just think it's funny that you're my two favorite mooters, and you're from two entirely different planets! I hope Lotesse's alright. I miss her. I've PMed her a couple of times through the years but she ain't come back. Rian, I hope you're holding strong. How is your health and the family these days? Day-to-day? I hope all is happy.