Posted on 04/23/2013 11:07:19 AM PDT by Cyber Liberty
Well, here we are. I made it to 15 years today!
I've been here so long I was *never* a nOOb! But I love to meet new folks that find FR daily, so come on in, the water's purple. If you're a troll I have some kitties I'd like you to meet....
Shockingly, I got up this morning and saw I had not been suspended by the Mods, which was the case on a few of my anniversaries. Don't know how I avoided it this year, but somehow I managed...didn't avoid it a couple days before Mrs. Liberty and I tied the knot, which was pretty inconvenient because our honeymoon was spent visiting FReepers we had come to know and love. I managed to get banned so badly even Miss Slippy got the ax because we use the same IP address.
I first found FR when there was a link on Drudge, "Whitewater Files." I never could figure out why Drudge called FR that, but my first entry into Mr. Robinson's domain was...interesting. The Ash Wars were in full swing. Eschoir was stalking people. Flame wars were carried on using real fire. Viking cats were still unheard of. Heck, there was one Moderator, his name was "Jim." If you got in trouble he had an email address.
A look at a profile got you the "user number" of a FReeper (Mine is around 4,000). Don't know where you can find that anymore. (As of now, my Account page says, "You've posted a total of 105 threads and 43,189 replies." I wonder if all the threads and posts that got yanked by the Mods count in that?)
I met my eventual bride on a gun thread. We were both talking about our Remington 1100 semi-autos. We got hitched in June, 2001, before 9/11 happened and was eventually forgotten by the commies (but not by people here. We'll never forget). We also haven't forgotten our vows, we're looking at Anniversary 14 this year. We make each other very happy, and that's gotten us through interesting times, like when my undercarriage was shot and I had to have it replaced.
I remember when Lazamataz was a nOOb. He didn't hit it back then. I've seen Laz hit it later on, though. Even some things that were of dubious species, it didn't matter. He's a dear FRiend whom I've never met, but is always friendly online.
I've seen the first uses of: "I like cheese." "A moose once bit my sister!" "You need some rest." "Unngh." "Test Thread, do not Post" (Still waiting for the t-shirt). "Hobbit Hole." Ash Alerts. Keywords. And The Viking Kittehs. (Led Zep's "Immigrant Song" is an earworm that took me years to get rid of, but now it's just a ringing.) I even remember "Trixie" before she called Jim a "Mean little s***" and left the forum for her commercial venture (which I won't name because she's a meany).
Mrs. Liberty and I cruised the Bahamas with the FReepers (We left the ship cleaner than it was when we got on it), and we went to FRiva with One Particular Harbour (He is an OK guy, for a lawyer). We had lunch a couple of times with Jim, his wife and also one of his sons (not named "John"). We've had FReeper gangs at our house, too.
Well, this stroll down memory lane is making me nauseous, so I'll wrap for now, and pop in later after I've had some recovery time. This thread is going all the way to ten, I'm sure.
Yeah, the new signups don’t know what we’re talking about when we mention that stuff.
I recall the now obsolete “marquee” tag.
Bolded blinking italicised scrolling six point text, ugh.
Have you tried fishing with dynamite?
If it not have been for trading commodities, I would never have met the love of my life. My mentor was a conservative, oh, I hate myself for this, I voted for John McCain in the primary for President way back when. The friend told me to go to FreeRepublic. I did. Took me a week to get accepted into the family, but meantime, I was reading FR.
Met so many wonderful people!!! Then I met Cyber. My life has never been the same again. We married seven months after we met on FR. This is mushy, but I can’t imagine loving anyone more than I love Cyber.
I want to thank Jim, Sheila, Chris and John for all the help on FR in those days. Also would like to thank Lazamataz and Cyber for cleaning out our Word For The Day classroom after we had messed it up so badly with HTML that it couldn’t be read without a fire hose spraying it out. We definitly were noobies.
I love you, Cyber. Happy 15th FreeRepublic Anniversary!
Thank you. I love Georgio A. and Tard. Two of my most favorite characters!
That's yer anniversary present .. hope it fits, but save the receipt
Congratulations, Cyber!! You made it. No longer a noobie (well, maybe I shouldn’t go that far).
And congratulations to you and your lovely bride!!
Whoa! Anuther geezer!
98 was a GOOD year!!
Congrats!
My cancelled check is my receipt. But at least my telephone hardly rings anymore (thanks again, for the link to the Digitone!).
Cheers, FRiend !
Thanks! And a lot of people we knew back then (offline) swore we wouldn’t last six months....
I notice you’ve had a lot on your mind lately, Jim. Some great posts! There’s a reason you’re the boss....
Mine’s very unclever: “Incoming transmission!”
I know you like kitties, so here is one wishing you a most happy birthday
http://cheezburger.com/7321957120
You’re never not a n00b as long as there are others with sign up dates older than yours. (Or is that “sign up dates before yours” )
Anyway, you get the idea! Welcome to FR n00b. Hehe
Cyber’s 15th year giving us trouble, help, I mean.
Hey UB! You still around? Where you at these days?
July 8th for me. (But I seem to remember a great reorganizing that made us all have to reregister way back then. Because I was on previous to that.)
And for those who are wondering, a noob is anyone with a sign on date later than yours.
(I kind of miss ASH Alerts. Kind of miss the Willie Green Happy ChooChoo threads too)
DONT FORGET TO TURN YOUR ITALIANS OFF!
DITHF alert!
Ash Alert!
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