So, I’ve been posting on this forum now for a little over 8 years and I have to say, in many ways and for better and for worse, this forum has changed. It’s amazing to me how popular it’s become. 8 years ago, the online community was no more than maybe a few hundred and now tens of thousands. Back then, Billiards Digest and RSB were the forums of choice and azb was brand new and simply had a more attractive user interface. It’s still strange for me to think so many of us gravitated here and decided to stay.
It’s taken me a while to get from 5k to 6k for many reasons. The biggest reason simply has to do with how busy I’ve been. Society Billiards combined with my other responsibilities have made it hard for me to post with the frequency I once did. What’s more, the volume of people who view my posts is a bit overwhelming. It’s strange to me when I meet people for the first time that have read what I’ve had to say. The feeling I get is something similar to being naked in a crowded room; revealed in an unrevealing place. I often wonder if the post they read was when I was writing in anger or if I was being curt with someone. For the most part, it’s led me to refrain from topics that inherently stir emotions and, if anything, try to see the other person’s point of view when replying. Hopefully, the lessons I’ve learned stick.
I continue to be a part of this forum because of my love for pool. Daydreaming about the previous night’s success and failures often brings me to Wei’s diagrams and posting right on the forum. It’s allowed me to drill home the lesson, open up my mind to other options and take fun in the banter I share with many other online members I’ve become familiar with. It’s also a pleasure to help someone else’s game. I firmly believe that pool is an acquirable skill and that anyone with reasonable coordination and eyesight can attain a competent level. I’d like to think that there are members on this forum that can say they learned something from the debates I was a part of (oftentimes started). Hopefully, when I get more time, I’ll go back to posting more diagrams and offering those that come here a greater opportunity to learn more about play-strategy and our gurus a greater opportunity to flex their intellectual muscle.
In the meanwhile, I’d like to thank everyone here who has taken a moment out of their lives to reply to my posts and especially those that have introduced themselves to me. On the whole, the past 8 years on azb has been a lot of fun. Sometimes a bit dramatic, sometimes stressful but on the whole, the experience here has been incredibly rewarding for me. Mike Howerton & the rest of the AZB staff, thank you for azb!
It’s taken me a while to get from 5k to 6k for many reasons. The biggest reason simply has to do with how busy I’ve been. Society Billiards combined with my other responsibilities have made it hard for me to post with the frequency I once did. What’s more, the volume of people who view my posts is a bit overwhelming. It’s strange to me when I meet people for the first time that have read what I’ve had to say. The feeling I get is something similar to being naked in a crowded room; revealed in an unrevealing place. I often wonder if the post they read was when I was writing in anger or if I was being curt with someone. For the most part, it’s led me to refrain from topics that inherently stir emotions and, if anything, try to see the other person’s point of view when replying. Hopefully, the lessons I’ve learned stick.
I continue to be a part of this forum because of my love for pool. Daydreaming about the previous night’s success and failures often brings me to Wei’s diagrams and posting right on the forum. It’s allowed me to drill home the lesson, open up my mind to other options and take fun in the banter I share with many other online members I’ve become familiar with. It’s also a pleasure to help someone else’s game. I firmly believe that pool is an acquirable skill and that anyone with reasonable coordination and eyesight can attain a competent level. I’d like to think that there are members on this forum that can say they learned something from the debates I was a part of (oftentimes started). Hopefully, when I get more time, I’ll go back to posting more diagrams and offering those that come here a greater opportunity to learn more about play-strategy and our gurus a greater opportunity to flex their intellectual muscle.
In the meanwhile, I’d like to thank everyone here who has taken a moment out of their lives to reply to my posts and especially those that have introduced themselves to me. On the whole, the past 8 years on azb has been a lot of fun. Sometimes a bit dramatic, sometimes stressful but on the whole, the experience here has been incredibly rewarding for me. Mike Howerton & the rest of the AZB staff, thank you for azb!
