Since lurking isn't productive....

[okwhat]

Yeah well, been stalking these forums for way too long and thought I should post a 'newbie' thread.

There you go, glad to see this site starting to make a bit of a comeback.

Yeah my name is terrible, if you don't like it, fuck you.

[ChubbyTeletubby]

Fuck you too, bitch.

And welcome!

[Ryan_DuBois]

Okay, what?

[okwhat]

Thanks, are there any new stories being made? I've pretty much read all the older ones that are any good.

[mizal]

It's been kind of slow lately, but there's going to be some new stuff put up around the end of January for a contest. (Hopefully mine included.)

Other than that I don't know, maybe the creepily intelligent spam bots we have here will reach the next level of evolution and start posting stories too.

[Usoki]

Blunt, and to the point. You'll survive well.

Well, the "New Stories" section of the main page doesn't actually update. But, there are still new stories. If you use the search function, and sort by 'newest', you'll find 'em.

[Cat2000]

Checking Recently Active can work as well.

[okwhat]

Alright, Is this person Patricia that sent me a message when he/she has no posts a bot?

Or a alter ego of someone here? Don't seem to be selling anything.

[Ryan_DuBois]

Almost certainly a bot. Here's what she sent me over a year ago:


Hi,
I'm new here, how's it going?

"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things as a meaningful unity" - Albert Einstein

---
Patricia
http://patricia2.t35.com

[okwhat]

Yeah I don't know, weird way to run a bot.

Hi,
I'm new here, how's it going?

"Love is the great miracle cure. Loving ourselves works miracles in our lives." - Louise Hay

---
Patricia
http://www.psend.com/users/james2

[ChubbyTeletubby]

Well I love the Einstein quote.

Buddhism has always been one of my favorites, although there are so many sects, it's hard to determine which is REALLY Buddhism.

I do like what it aspires for, though, generally. A universal 'oneness', which seems to flow along consistently with what science is showing us. It IS a cosmic religion, in that sense. Whereas Christianity and Islam are dull and insult ones intellect more than anything.

Rational objectivity is really quite exciting, and spiritual. How can you not study the cosmos and believe that there is SOMETHING more. So much more. If you are an atheist, fine, but even an atheist has to come to the conclusion that science, at the end of the day, leaves you feeling spiritual.

The thing is is, spirituality and science aren't mutually exclusive. They are interwoven and actually the same thing.

There's only ONE truth. Religion tries to find it, and so does science. All roads lead to Rome. Science does it in the most rational and...well...moral way, however.

[Ryan_DuBois]

Certainly weird, but the almost identical messages confirms that it is a bot. We've had a lot of odd bots lately. It's almost like they don't want to spam us anymore... they just want to join the community and be treated as equals.

[Cat2000]

"Votes for bots!"?

[okwhat]

They'll be asking for suffrage for bots and equal rights soon.

[ChubbyTeletubby]

I find bots more intellectually stimulating than most people I know in real life, sadly.

Luckily, I don't know anyone in real life.

Yay for living in my grandma's basement!


Don't you judge me.

Bots don't judge me...

[Ryan_DuBois]

Very true.

As for being "spiritual"... I guess it depends on how you define it, but I'm an atheist and I don't really consider myself all that spiritual. I mean, I believe in some kind of "witness" to your existence (call it a soul or conciousness or whatever you want), but that's about as far as it goes. I don't, for instance, believe in things like free will or intelligent design of any kind.

Any scientist has to admit that the universe is very strange and seemingly paradoxical at times, though.