The Big Sleep

I've been a member of Entmoot for quite a while now. I was drawn in by discussions on... I believe it was Creation Science and the Quebec sovreignty issues.

I've never read any of Tolkien's work. Perhaps I will someday, or perhaps I'll stick to the realms of Grisham, Crichton, and Clancy. Thus, I've been more or less confined to the "General Messages" forum until a while ago, when I strayed out into the RPG forum. I was arguably the threadkiller on Hobbiton... (arguably).

There have been a number of interesting discussions here on Entmoot, around topics as varied as abortion and the American elections.

In this way, my experience here reminds me of my experience on other boards - namely, NTS (operated by our friend IronParrot) and the now-defunct HogWild's Freedom Forums (I would be very surprised if any of you had been there before its demise).

However, there is one difference between my experiences there and here. I'll get to that in a minute.

Last night I asked myself a question. It wasn't the first time I had asked myself this particular question - I did it shortly after the end of the ToSv2 debacle (again, I'd be very surprised if anyone other than IronParrot is familiar with what I'm talking about).

The question I asked myself was...

"Why do I come here? What do I hope to gain?"

And for the first time, I couldn't answer that question.

When it came to NTS, I went there to catch up with old friends, and to fight battles with people I cared about over issues I cared about, with some form of goal in my mind.

When it came to HogWild's, it was a learning experience. I discovered an abundance of facts and techniques that I hadn't encountered before.

I could either seek to convince others of something, or learn something new for myself.

But here and now, I come here, and I find myself on a hamster wheel. I keep running into the same things over and over. Repeating myself, others repeating themselves, nothing being accomplished, no ground gained or given.

I thrive on confrontation in life, but I don't here. When you can see the faces of the people whom you oppose, suddenly everything becomes more real.

What seems really unreal is that I'm here, talking to myself, thinking that most people probably won't have read this part, which I had to put in for posterity.

You see, I still haven't grown accustomed to the way that I have to drag myself away from the plain truth to make arguments that people will understand. I did far too much of that in school.


In any case, I don't have the mental stamina to continue on another running shootout (this time over Communism, for all things).

To juntel: If you believe that I'm... how did you put it?... up to my "same old tricks", then I won't try to convince you otherwise. I can't expect you to understand that my brain can tax itself until there's simply nothing left. I won't give you the insight into my life to help you understand why I do what I do, whether you want it or not. So believe that you're right, think that you've got me figured out, claim you've won. After all... it's "your opinion which is of no consequence at all" (Radiohead - Paranoid Android).

To Shanamir Duntak: We still don't see eye to eye. I doubt we ever will. However, perhaps you will take interest in the fact that since our sovreignty debate, I (through other sources than yourself) have come to understand the rationale behind the separatist, and it's making a lot more sense now. I still don't agree, but...

To bmilder: I don't think I was ever really wanted here. I was a disruptive influence here from the start. I don't think I did any major damage... except for that one poor person who ended up quitting because of my "hostility". My apologies to them for any damage that I may have done to them, and my apologies to you for corrupting your board, wasting your time, and being the proverbial "wrench in the works". (And no, I'm not being sarcastic, so please don't interpret it that way)

To Gilthalion: I envy you, and your way of building bridges. Best wishes to you in your current and future discussions. May the God of Abraham take care of you and guide your path.

To everyone else: No, I didn't necessarily forget you... perhaps I simply didn't have enough contact with you to write something here. Or perhaps I'm running short on time. In any case, sorry for upsetting you (as I undoubtedly did at some point during my stay here) and wasting your time.




Perhaps some day I will return to Entmoot, but if that day comes, it will be in the form of The Dark Lurker. You see, I am not Johnny Lurker any more than Dan Castalanetta (sp?) is Homer Simpson (to paraphrase cr0bar). Johnny Lurker is simply one of my "characters". The Dark Lurker is quite another.

Good bye (for a while).

you upsetting?... sorry, cannot rememeber.

well, take some rest if you need it... and read LOTR in the while

You're leaving? Why? I never felt you were out of place, or any more of an annoyance than I am (sorry, I guess that's not saying much ). I never really got to close to you, but whenever there was a discussion going on, you were always there to say something that I would agree with or disagree with. You always seemed like a good person, someone who would participate in conversations and stuff. You always had my full respect. And with the RPG, I was just getting started. I didn't know much about your character, but it seemed cool, and it was dark, and I would have allied myself with you in a second. Too bad.

An answer to why you come here everyday:

To chat, to talk to friends, to discuss issues, and to have fun!

Well I'm always sad to see people go.

True, there were times where I found you annoying and a pain, but still we value everyone's opinion here.

What is the point of a board at all? It's just a "place" to spend your free time discussing people with common interests. But somehow it seems to become more than that for some people. Of course, if coming to a board becomes too stressful, it could be a sign you need to stop. That happened a lot at the Jedi Council, as I recall.

Should we even have these debates at all? Everyone is convinced that they are right and wouldn't concede to anything that anyone else says. So what happens is that people state their opinions over and over again... slightly altered each time to respond to individual posts. But what do you expect; not everyone is just going to agree with you. Maybe debates are too emotional - I haven't seen Quickbeam since his creation science arguments were torn to shreds (imo, and probably everyone else's) by juntel, and even juntel seemed wary of entering debates until very recently.

To everyone: should we perhaps ban debates for awhile? But that's like banning all discussion...

bye! The only thing annoying about you was your "NT"s. But thats about it...mostly :P

Oh no!! I just realized Entmoot will be loosing the second biggest Rage fan!!!

Umm, obviously I haven't been here long enough to know you well, Lurker, but I do hope you'll come back.
I hate seeing anyone get burned out on a board they used to like-and you liked it well enough to post almost 400 times! And you've not read Tolkien, either. Please cure your burnout soon and come back here!

I never thought I had you figured out.
I never tried to figure you out.
I've never claimed to win anything.
Hell, I was out of this board for, what, one, two months?

"I won't give you the insight into my life to help you understand why I do what I do"

That is your choice. I do visit your website though, since through it you do seem to want someone in the world to understand you, or at least hear you.

I make no concessions, unless I make a mistake (and I did in the past and excused myself, you know that).
You make no concessions too, but the problem is you think you make no mistakes... or at least are not prepared to admit them.

Making mistakes is natural; they are not a defeat, they are merely growth.

So, whether you make an ideological mistake, or a football mistake... it isn't the end of the world...

"I keep running into the same things over and over. Repeating myself, others repeating themselves, nothing being accomplished, no ground gained or given."

And that will be true in real life also. There, much more than here.
Get used to it.
I did.

Hey Johnny Lurker if you lurk in here again, I always enjoyed your sense of humor though I may not have directly talked to you very much. Have fun in whatever you do, and I will hopefully see you later! adios.

The Big Sleep was a great movie. The Bogart classic, behind Casablanca. The Chandler novel it was based on was really good, too. Review coming...

Wait a minute, did I just misinterpret the title of this thread?

"Get used to not having the truth spelled out to you. Get used to the idea that you can't count on having someone there to fold, spindle, and mutilate their ideas so they'll fit into your head. Get used to the idea that people won't always stick around to repeat themselves."

So, that was your role here... to tell us the Truth?
And to fold It because our heads are too small compared to yours?


"But when you're banging away at your keyboard, kicking a faceless man's opinions up and down the block, and you suddenly realize that their opinion doesn't have half a flying rodent's behind to do with anything in your life."

Took you long to realize that.
I knew early on that other people's opinion were not important to you...


"It pisses me off when people turn a political discussion into a religious one and especially when they turn it into something about Christianity.
I mean, I can explain that I have a relationship with Christ, and I can explain how I arrived at that relationship, and I can explain what it's done for me...
If I'm really feeling energetic, I can even explain why they should do the same...
... but when they get Christianity confused with the various governmental systems that corrupted it, or decide to play games with selectivist history...
It's game over."

When people use their religious morals (or their morals influenced by their religion) to justify their political opinions, they shouldn't be surprised that their religion comes into play in a debate.
Moreover, they shouldn't be surprised that religiously influenced governmental systems be mentioned, since these also take their religion as grounds for their politics (often doing injustice to that religion through strictness and literalism, etc..).


"You think you know me
You will never know me
You are lost
And scared
You know what I allow you to know
You're just a puppet"

I... think you have certain problems in your life.
Get help.

Juntel, what are you responding to? Did JL make another post? If so, it seems to have disappeared...

His web site...

Did it ever occur to anyone that he won't come back to see any of these goodbyes? Oh and just what rodent was he talking about? I can't think of one that flies..... =)

look! its arwen.....its iteresting, when the "old" members come back to the board every once in a while, we see how little posts they have. I mean I thought that arwen posted a lot, but appraently not. Same with Galadrial..........

Well, it was certainly interesting and I was glad of the back up!

But, Johnny, I would say that (since I imagine that you'll return to read this some day) you absolutely MUST read Tolkien!

Though I can't imagine that you won't go see the trilogy on the screen!

One word: meek

As for the arguments/debates:

Since I seem to be eldest, let me say that this is indeed a part of life. I've done talk radio for years and news for many more years and this board for a few months.

There are repetitious arguments (watch cable news for 5 hours a night for 35 days!) and unending debates.

History repeats (or mimics) itself.

There is nothing new under the sun. (As Solomon observed.)

What is important is how we meet these consternations!

As I'm sure everyone knows, I get utterly confusticated upon occassion! Nevertheless, I think the effort important.

Even though there is truly nothing new, there are always new people. And everything is new to each of us, though it may have sat covered in a jungle for centuries, waiting for civilization to rediscover it.

Even in this high-tech, high-speed age of digital thought transmission, there is nothing new.

Including burnout.

You're in my prayers, Johnny Lurker! You've been a good sport and will have learned a lot more from your visits here upon the reflection time away will have lent.

Take care and Godspeed!

At least he now understands the way I was feeling when talking about Québec...

occasional burnout & the resulting restlessness are what brings interest & change to life...

Gil - one addendum. there may not be anything new under the sun, but what's inside the minds of creative & special people IS new.

aryne *

Not in my prior capacity, nor as The Dark Lurker.

Just saw a few instances where I could share my knowledge.

WASSUP!!!!!!! YOU'RE BACK!!! (although probably not for long )