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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
I have often wondered what keeps me coming back to TL.net.
I honestly haven't done too much on the site for the past few years. My participation on the forums, once rather prolific, is a fraction of what it used to be. My contribution as (pseudo-)staff has honestly been rather negligible.
I no longer play Broodwar. I don't even own a copy of Starcraft 2. I only occasionally watch proleague, and I have no idea what's going on in the SC2 proscene. I still watch games, but it's nothing compared to my 2007 days of watching literally (and I really do mean literally) every single professional game played in Korea.
I've gained some clues from the deficiencies I've felt from my recent foray into another site, Quora.
I've been an active Quora user for a few months now, and the material on the site has generally exceeded my expectations. However, I don't find myself feeling the inexplicable gravity that I feel towards TL. I had initially thought that Quora's superior information quality would pull me away from TL.net, but this clearly hasn't happened.
When I am on Quora, I often find myself intellectually stimulated but emotionally unsatisfied. My interactions at Quora were lacking something vital to my affair with TL.net.
I think I now know what brings me back to TL.net. It's the "persona" factor.
The words we write on TL.net reflect who we are in one way or another. It's not just "information" that we're inputting and outputting; we're posting our thoughts, our opinions, our experiences, and most importantly, our emotions. We reply, retort, and agree with not only the information in a post, but more significantly with the person behind the post. The prominence of notorious or luminary personalities has certainly diminished on TL.net over the years, but it still runs deep.
I feel that my use of Quora thus far has resulted in a "dry" experience. I find myself there for the information, rather than the characters behind the information.
On TL.net, the information is honestly just so-so. But when I am here, I feel that I am talking with real people. I feel that their posts reflect their genuine thoughts and emotions.
On Quora, I feel that I have something at stake - something to gain and something to lose. On TL.net, I feel that I'm with old friends and some new ones, who no matter what kind of drunken tirade I may go on, will know me as me at the end of the day.
Persona Factor? Friend Factor?
Maybe I'll just call it the TL Factor.
<hr>Crossposted at hkmurakami.com
 
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It's all about knowing that even if we're all distinguished in one way or another in what we say and do, we also know people to be fallible, and prone to error or lapse of judgment. That fact, combined with the knowledge that we try to own up to it ASAP, makes us see things differently when interacting because we have an inkling of what one's biases are, especially if people have related to one another for quite a long time.
Great blog, 5/5 for me.
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I don't know.
A few years back, I felt really strongly attached to TL's community as a whole, I think this peaked around 2008.
Now with SCBW dwindling down, me growing old, and the community getting saturated with new SC2 gamers, I actually no longer feel the same way towards TL. It really saddens me to not recognize some posters with over 5000 posts.
The TLHF is still my favourite sub-community though 
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Hmm I'm 20 and TL is the first an only forum in which i am a frequently active member. TL definitely does have some sort of attractive factor. For me it's currently my BW fascination as it was for you, i do wonder if i will continue to visit TL when my passion for BW dies (though i can't conceive of that happening right now XD). Time will tell if the TL factor affects me as much as it has you.
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I too miss the days of staying up night after night watching SC:BW. SC2 just doesn't have that same factor for me.
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I feel the same way. I don't really even find SC2 that interesting and I still come here for some reason.
Coincidentally, the TL Factor is also what I call my penis.
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On September 11 2011 20:33 Ghin wrote:
Coincidentally, the TL Factor is also what I call my penis.
Unfortunately, there are much more males on TL than females.
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On September 11 2011 20:32 Psyonic_Reaver wrote:
I too miss the days of staying up night after night watching SC:BW. SC2 just doesn't have that same factor for me.
don't worry you'll be able to purchase the multiplayer replay feature soon psy
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United States37500 Posts
TL is just "home" to me, at least on the internet. I'm in the same boat as you. Don't play SC1/2 anymore, watch GSL from time to time.
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deep down we all love starcraft and that's enough for our hearts and brains to be content
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yo send me a quora invite please.
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at the end of the day TL is like one big family and sometimes people get drunk throw up on the floor staining the family carpet but at the end of the day we will eventually forgive and make jolly telling of said event .
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This is pretty much the only place I come on the internet... A place where finally people can't spam "umadbro" or call everyone a "faggot" for disagreeing with them. This is a nice peaceful place where everyone loves my favourite thing in the world, Starcraft :D
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ALLEYCAT BLUES50105 Posts
like NeoIllusions says,to some of us TL is like our internet home,no matter wherever you go,you always come back home.
I ♥ TL.
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Because you love us
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Straight outta Johto18973 Posts
For me, TL is just a community of great people I don't mind hanging out with on the interwebs. I don't have time to watch BW live anymore, and I don't go into the SC2 sections anymore either but the two places I do lurk around I think are pretty awesome places (LoL Subforum and ADT). ADT has friendly people who have given me honest opinions on anime and manga (and Shizuka Itou kyun~). The LoL Subforum is actually a really great place with good advice and nice people, especially considering that the regular MOBA community tends to be pretty negative.
I think what makes TL special is that we're a bunch of people who like Starcraft but also have a wide variety of interests that coincide. We're also pretty chill and having that SC link between us means that we can feel at ease so there's less of the awkward "first meeting".
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its because pro gaming in korea has its very unique feel
aka we do all share an asian midget fetish and thats very tight bond --
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It's because you recognize and have a past with TL.
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On September 11 2011 23:19 Boonbag wrote:
its because pro gaming in korea has its very unique feel
aka we do all share an asian midget fetish and thats very tight bond --
The question is if you're referring to NaDa's body (who happens to be a six-footer) or to K-Pop girls. 
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Why wouldnt this be home?
It has everything I'd desire of an internet forum... I remember the previous forum I was on, where the mods would do retarded stuff for shits and giggles..
I dont miss that
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EPT
