My other internet personas
Before I started this weblog, I had other ways to kill time on the internet. First I was a regular poster to a Portland Trail Blazer fan bulletin board run by ESPN. I met a few interesting folks there (in person, even), and it was there that I first learned what a harsh world the internet can be. No matter what your viewpoint, some reader somewhere is going to disagree vehemently, and when you're writing to sports fans, the responses can be, shall we say, colorful.
After my antipathy toward the Blazers reduced me a troll, I dropped off that board and began following a David Letterman fan newsgroup, alt.fan.letterman. Here are some highly enjoyable characters to read -- funny, bright, engaged, opinionated, but mostly warm and friendly underneath. For a while I even ran a "post peak" service, in which I read everything posted to the group and selected a few gems daily for a "best of" compilation. That got exhausting after a while, especially when I decided to run my own blog. Too much internet, too little time.
This year, I've got a fantasy pro basketball team going in each of two Yahoo fantasy leagues. It's an interesting way to keep track of what's going on in a sport, but the format gets you more fixated on individual players' statistics than on team results. I couldn't tell you which teams are actually in first place in the real NBA, but I know exactly where my teams -- the Ballers and the Shootists -- show up in their respective fantasy standings. And I know which of my players have surprised me, both for better (Mehmet Okur) and worse (Bonzi Wells). Mehmet, Bonzi. Bonzi, Mehmet.
Many (if not most) of my readers have blogs of their own. Tell me, what else do you do for fun on the internet besides write and read blogs?
| Posted at 12:16 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (10)
Ok - here is how I waste my time.
I have a football team at yahoo. I've won my league the last couple of years, and am struggling in the top four this time.
I belong to an online community run hosted by Howard Rheingold (of Smartmobs) fame. The community is Brainstorms. a community of a couple hundred people who like to talk about the future, technology, society, family, history, culture and other topics.
I've been spending a lot of time over at TrekEarth which is a site where community members help each other by critiquing and showing how you might improve your photographs.
And I have three kids. (grin)
Posted by Rob Salzman | December 1, 2003 1:15 PM
Oops. And I blog sometimes over at AboutItAll.com and at Smartmobs.com
Posted by Rob Salzman | December 1, 2003 1:16 PM
I just dropped Okur for Mike James. It was a toss-up between Okur and Etan Thomas... Thomas has a better FG% and more blocks.
Posted by chris | December 1, 2003 1:43 PM
I read a lot of news. Onion, NyTimes, Fark, etc.
Posted by stacia | December 1, 2003 2:29 PM
I read a lot of news (Local & Korean), catch up on websites (mine & other teachers from Korea), search things for my boss & coworker...team scores, events, addresses, etc. and update my amazon wish list...hmmm I think that is about all :)
Posted by Barb | December 1, 2003 3:52 PM
Several years ago I was a "special contributor" to the Veterans' Bulletin Board on the Prodigy service. That got me a discount on my monthly fee. I don't recall writing anything particularly "special." Maybe Prodigy heard that I have great hair.
I made some good friends there with whom I still keep in touch, including Brian, the Air Force Vet, who sends me stuff I often use in my blog when my content meter shows "empty."
I also toss words into Google, casting for goofy stuff to read.
Finally, sometimes I just stare at my screensaver, hoping to be transported to a really cool place.
Posted by Parkway Rest Stop | December 1, 2003 8:17 PM
I write for Television Without Pity, and moderate forums for them, which takes a LOT of time. There's a semi-loosely-affiliated portal site here, which provides access to so many sites I like that I could follow links from there all day and never be bored.
And I can never pass up the Security Notebook in my undergrad alma mater's student newspaper". Those wacky college kids are always scraping their knees and getting their bikes stolen.
Posted by Alli | December 2, 2003 7:05 AM
I forgot to mention I am a member of my friends message board on Jejudo, South Korea...:)
Posted by Barb | December 2, 2003 9:49 AM
For fun on the internet i search down the tab for songs i'd like to learn, play a new version of Legend of the Red Dragon. Hmm. That's all really. Read other peoples blogs. yay.
Posted by pril | December 2, 2003 10:23 AM
For a while I played BlogShares, until it became both too political and too boring. I still keep in touch with some of my former cohorts there, tho, and for a while I had a blog that was a pseudo-fiction blog based on the goings on in the Blogshares community.
Currently, I admin at Photo Addicts, an internet photo community that is mostly of younger photographers.
I'm also on staff at Railroad Forums, a web forum for railfans, currently the most popular one on the net, ever since Trainorders started charging $30/yr to post. My job there is basically to keep an eye on their chat room and help people with tech problems.
I'm active on a number or yahoo groups, and run a few. I build sites, etc... all different odds and ends. I used to have an active news circuit I read, but lately my "real world" life (heh) has been keeping me away from the computer, so I've let a lot of that lag.
Posted by Alexander Craghead | December 2, 2003 12:37 PM