13 Years

[fusi0n]

I was just checking out my profile, and I signed up to Neowin July 8th, 2004. I thought I would share some experiences. 

 

What brought me to Neowin?

I was obsessed with Blackcomb and Longhorn.  I looked for leaks every day, and one day someone pointed out that Longhorn 3683 had leaked. They told me this over AIM messenger.  I was on my Cingular 8125 (HTC Wizard) 

When I got that message, I was at school. I texted my mom to call the school for a self-checkout and told her why. I checked out of school, to download the alpha that had leaked. 

 

When I saw the news on Neowin, I downloaded the Longhorn build, backed up everything on my computer and installed it. I carried that build with me for a while. Even to a LAN party. I was at a LAN Party a couple of months afterward and everyone was playing Battlefield 1942 and my computer was running like crap. I only had 512MB RAM. When the person next to me noticed what I was running and the low amount of RAM I had, he pulled RAM from his machine as well as others and bumped me up to 2GB! This didn't make a difference due to the memory leaks and such so I had to reinstall Windows XP at the LAN (FCKGW, anyone?). 

 

Even though I didn't have an account, I still visited the site and read the forums regularly.  

 

I was still early teens, I had a problem (I worked at a small mom and pop PC shop at the time), I needed to post a question I had signed up to Neowin. My question was answered. 

 

Once I signed up, I was off and on the forums up until around 2012.  Great news and topics, I joined in when I had the time. 

 

So, around 2012, I became a heavy poster and a regular in the IRC channel. Here it is. During this time, I was going through a horrible time in life. I took a job that I was way over qualified for (huge understatement, but the company I was an Architect for was laying off people left and right). I started joining #Neowin every day I went to work.

I even made jokes about it. When I would leave for work, my wife would say "have a good day at work", and I would say, "I am driving to the internet". That may seem funny to some, but it was the truth. When I got in to work, I would open my laptop and join the Neowin IRC #. That's all I would do every day.  If it wasn't for the people in that channel, I might not be alive today. I'm going to just leave that here. 

 

During IRC chats, I met someone. That person ended being one of my best friends and lived very close to me. My wife and I would meet up with that person several times. That person is no longer "around", is all I am going to say for the sake of others being able to point them out. I say that because they are a very private person. That person, however, introduced me to other friends that were close by. Those friends still remain close to this day.

 

During this period, I was at my lowest. I felt like a failure in the job I was in. Neowin was able to bring me happiness and hope.  

 

I have been given many warnings, I have been a sub off and on, but Neowin is my home on the internet. I may not post as much as I use to, but I'm still here. Budman and SC302, damn. Reading their post, I learn so much. Not just on a technical level, but on a critical thinking level. Someone can post something, and they will reply back asking all sorts of questions. Some will and have taken this as them being an ######. But, they are not being an ######. This is their critical thinking skills at work. They will ask from the very basic level of the issue and take it from there.  

 

I have watched members leave and join. I have seen debates regarding Neowin. At the end of the day, This isn't a tech forum. It is a place people can and do call home. When you disagree with another member, awesome! That's great! That is how amazing conversations start! Just don't start attacking them or calling them names. That is how conversations end.

 

I say this to Neowin,

 

Keep the conversation going. 

 

After all of that, I was mad about some BS that some moderator did, and haven't subbed since then. I woud like to say, I have just renewed my sub 2, because Neowin has always been there for me. 

 

[jnelsoninjax]

Wow, 13 years! That's incredible!

[fusi0n]

11 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Wow, 13 years! That's incredible!

Thanks, d00d! It's been awesome! Seeing the site grow from a "side gig" to a real source of news. There are a lot of haters in the news sections, but what they don't understand about Neowin is the culture. Yeah, some news may be a couple of days late, but they WILL report on it.  Neowin is a not only a great news source but a great community. 

[Xahid]

Congrats man, for the 13 years of neowin

Im still as slow poster as I was 16 year ago...

[The Evil Overlord]

My god you people are old

 

grats man

[Steven P. Administrators]

Oh man, that was nice to read and I am glad the site was able to help you when you was in a bad place. It's guys like you that make Neowin what it is today, so for that I am grateful

 

Thanks a lot man

[Barney T. Administrators]

Congrats on being such a solid and long time member here. We really appreciate it!

[Rappy Veteran]

I am approaching 15 years come July 20th, congrats

[cyoung1616]

I'll hit 16 years Oct. 6th. I believe.

[CrashG]

Congrats man! Been around here since January 31, 2004.