What is this forum too you?
 

What is this forum to you?

Why do you keep coming back?

What makes it so special? What does it mean to you?

How has it changed you and your life?

It's one of the few things that makes me happy on Earth. It's somewhere I can talk to real friends who understand, and it's one of the few things that I personally have or do that matters to me. Without it, not only would I have quite probably lost it (and I really don't want to think what would have happened then) at several times when I've felt really bad, but it's also given me so many of the moments I can remember as good, and it's one of a few things (including Avatar) that can move me enough to care about something.

For me this forums mean family. :) A place of refuge as well where you can discuss almost anything that you want to with people who will take their time to talk about it. This place is about sharing our love of everything Avatar but most importantly it's also about the members here and how we get along together. I was glad to know that I wasn't the only person who felt so strongly about Avatar when I got here with everyone else. I keep coming back here to catch up with everyone and see any Avatar news. We have strong bonds here. ;)

I wrote sort of an essay about this recently :P I was never really prompted to find an Avatar forum before recently because I knew someone IRL who loved it like I did. Only after the 2011 meetup did I realize that I could be a part of a global community of people like me :) ToS has made Avatar a living entity for me, relevant in my every day life past my typical arguments with film majors I run into >.> To say the least, I am so glad I went to the Avatar exhibit in Seattle ;)

Oh dear.

I had severe PAD after I saw Avatar, I still do sometimes. This is a place where I can converse with other people.
It means something to me cause it's the only forum I'm an active member of.
It hasn't changed my life whatsoever.

I guess, for me anyway, it's not very much about Avatar any more. It was an excellent movie, to be sure, but it isn't the reason I keep coming back. There's something else, something special that brings me back here and keeps my attention.

The community. The people. I enjoy talking with them all every day, whether on IRC, the forum itself, or even outside it. I think this is the one and only forum where I can honestly say that I feel love for every person here. I'd definitely like to meet you all in real life, but until then, I'm still going to visit this forum every day if I can.

As for what it's done for me, I guess it helped me grow up, mentally at least. A hell of a lot, actually. I'm proud to call this a stepping stone for my childhood. :)

"Gross, when did you get so cheesy?"

An inside joke understood only by those who watch MLP:FiM, episode 23 to be exact. Anyhow, just like Twilight Sparkle, I'm not always into to the whole sappy stuff, but at times my inner cynic gets tired and gives a little room for my inner romantic to fuss about.

I'm always glad you did join :)

When I noticed this thread pop up. Go figure. :P

I hate saying this, but this forum isn't that important to me anymore. I've moved on from Avatar and now I'll check the fun pics thread and post any Avatar references I've seen.

Well, like everyone else, the feeling of being a community and one big family. The fact that ToS allows each and every single one of us to say what they feel and share what they know is one of the many reasons why I'm here. (Even though I've stopped coming to this site for about half a year prior to joining ToS). But now I'm back :D.

Welcome back Bigtris! :)


Also, I remember that sig from way back....pure awesomeness. :D

To me, this forum is a happy reminder that there are still Avatar fans out there. But at the same time, it's also a sad reminder that where there was one community, there are now two.


Why do I keep coming back (lurking)? Because I'm still an Avatar fan, I still watch it when I see it on one of the HBO or Cinemax channels and whenever I do, I like to check back to see whats going on avf and here. That and I'm terrible at learning languages so I don't think I could *ahem* "learn navi".


How has it changed you and your life? When this place was first set up, it caused more depression in me than the movie itself. That's about all I can say regarding how the avatar forums changed me personally. Mostly because I don't really actively post, I just lurk. I could be wrong, but I think this is my first actual post here even though Saph convinced me to sign up..... a year ago.

Don't be silly, the joke only works properly when it's used on a person that is not like you, and the stuff you wrote is exactly the kind of sappy stuff we all expect to hear from you.

Anyhow, to add something to the topic itself, I just like to talk with people, and what fun people they are in here.

Like Crickett, this place is at least a place I know I can find other people who still enjoy - perhaps crave for - Avatar in the same way that I do, but for me, it also holds a saddening spot in my heart.

This is because it's a bitter reminder of what things used to be like here many moons ago... It used to be such a tight-knit community of people all driven to try and find something they felt deep in their heart. Now, i'm not saying that all people here have lost that, nor that they should have had it in the first place... I guess it's just that as I see every section or post lie vacant, and most of the rest of the others become clogged with arguments and bickering, I just have to wonder what happened. Then again, for whatever reason, maybe i'm excluded from being a part of something here. Perhaps I even excluded myself (even though that was never actively attempted).

Nowadays, i'm not here for much. A few good friends, perhaps a small family and a few threads here and there that I feel 'allowed' to post on, but not much else. Though I keep coming back, because every time I take any break away from it, I feel even more lost and alone in the open world.

It certainly changed my life, though... Without it and many of it's people, I could have been in a much more terrible place, and I wouldn't have had the drive and thought to try going to the places in the world that I have. And for that, I am extremely grateful for everyone helping to play a part in that, even if they didn't reaise it.

Griff, I'm sad to hear that, but I hope life goes well.

To me this forum is a refuge from life. A place where Pandora seems more real. A place where there are other people of who share their love for Pandora.

At times I feel like I should let go of Pandora, and focus on life. But I just can't. Sorry for the cheesy quote, but it honestly feels like Pandora in my mind is more real than the reality outside my mind. There's those awkward moments in life now, where I'll be with friends, and they'll talking about who's succesful, who's doing what, what job they want, and they'll ask me, and I'll so "Oh what? Hey, yeah that's cool." Because I forget sometimes that most people have goals and plans in life that aren't Pandora. To me, life almost seems silly anymore I've been thinking about Pandora so much. Sometimes I feel like I need to stop that, but most of the times I say "Why should I move on?"

And this place has really changed my life. I suppose it was more AF, but I kinda see ToS and AF as the same, since I wasn't there during the split. But this forum did something great for me. It made me realize that people do things in life for reasons other than money or personal gain. I used to think that was the only reason people did anything. Then I met lalorz/profoundheart. Idk if you guys remember him from early AF days, but boy did he change my life. I never talked to him personally, I was too shy, but I read his posts. His posts about love changed me. I realized love is real, and people really do care, and not everyone is motivated by personal gain. And that, that I will remember for the rest of my life.

But, one of the saddest things about these forums is seeing people who aren't active anymore. Looking through the lists of members who used to post here and on AF, but don't anymore is one the of saddest things I can do. :(

Yeah, sometimes when it's very quiet in here, I go through the very old threads, and I see almost no one familiar to me, all people who I guess don't visit anymore.

Brings a tear to ma eye

There's nothing preventing people from being more active other than barriers they've created for themselves.

I still like to think that many of the people who don't post so much still think of Avatar... that they'll be back, perhaps for Avatar 2 - it's not something you can forget, and people will want to come home sooner or later. It's in the nature of any forum though that people join and disappear, perhaps return for a while, then again.

I don't think the forum is less close - indeed, it's got through a LOT of problems very well, despite some sections that do encourage argument. Even if there's less that is new to discuss about Avatar, people still come here, while there are lots of forums based around a work that fail in the dead periods inbetween releases.

Then why are you talking about how cheesy it is if it's my average behavior throughout the forums? :P

I won't go any more off topic then that though.

Yep, you said pretty much everything I feel about ToS. :)

I think the word refuge fits very well

;) It's really true for a lot of people here. At least here we can discuss Avatar and our love for Pandora and not feel shunned or misunderstood. The general public seemed to have forgotten Avatar a few months after it left the cinemas..

Haha thanks Aketuan! Long time no see, it's been awhile. After re-watching Avatar for the fifth time, I just can't help but come back to ToS.

Haha yeah, it WAS way back. Thank goodness I actually saved the image it to my external hard-drive, because recently my computer got a virus which meant I had to restart it from scratch. :shock:

I am one of those people... Lurks often, posts seldom. More than anything I really enjoy reading the posts that others have made here. I spent considerable time learning Na'vi... so at times I seemed to have disappeared, but I have been here all along, mostly on the outside... looking in. (My forums avatar is an excellent depiction of this)

The fact that ToS has endured to the degree that it has, keeps me comming back for the occasional visit now and then. There are lots of good folks here, for whom Avatar has changed their lives... It's nice to see that the spirit of the movie is kept alive by you all. To me, it is admirable. Alot of people would think it silly to carry on about a "movie" this long... I reckon that they just don't "see", nor will they ever.

If there is a thread that catches my interest here, I will usually post in response. If I see something out there in the real world, that I think pertains to Avatar, I will usually start a new thread. (Hope you all enjoy these things).
If someone needs an ear to bend, I am a good listener. I may not have a solution, but I will never turn any of you away. (Eywa forbid someone would come to a bloke like me for advise... I'm usually at a loss for words in that department).

That's my bit... When I'm not here, I'm flying an airplane somewhere... either in the real world, or in virtual reality.

Cheers -- Tey'Kan ;)