My Big, Self-Indulgent MOM Post!

[RedStarRocket91]

I've been trying to think what to say here for a while now. I wasn't really expecting to be MOM: I've been around for longer than almost anyone else here and I'm not really one of the regulars in the Shoutbox (for those who're interested, at time of writing I have just 338!), so I've always just kind of assumed that I'd escape notice for MOM status altogether, let alone actually earn it.

 

In consequence I don't really know what to say: I want to tell you all how much I love you, how even if I'm not joining in the conversations I read pretty much everything you say in the Shoutbox and forums, how I'll often start long replies to what you say, only to discard them because I don't think they're good enough for you to waste time reading.

 

And then I realise just how creepy that sounds!

 

In the end, I remembered that when I first joined, I never actually did an introductory thread: the first post I actually made was in the Halo: Reach forum complaining about Armor Lock - a fairly common topic at the time. So, to make up for that, I thought that maybe I'd use this as a chance to actually introduce myself properly. After all, there's nothing wrong with telling people who you are more than a year and half after they've first met you, right?

 

So, without any further ado...

 

Hi, I'm Red!

 

My favourite colour is green, my favourite number is seven, and my favourite letter of the alphabet is E. Yes, I have a favourite letter. No, I can't adequately explain why. In my spare time I like to act in plays, play far too many videogames, and write way too much. I have a book which I'm working on and hoping to have published someday, once I decide it's not too embarrassingly terrible.

 

I've been playing games quite literally since before I could talk, and have yet to noticeably improve at them. The first thing I ever touched was Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on my Sega Megadrive (that's the Genesis, for all you yanks out there) and it's still one of my favourite games to this day. It's also one of the games I've yet to actually complete!

 

Sonic games were always my main source of entertainment until the PlayStation II arrived: though I did play on them regularly at my friends' houses, I've never actually owned an original Xbox. Instead I spent my early teenage murdering years not in Halo 2, but in Quake, TimeSplitters and Battlefront. Though I did eventually pick up an Xbox of my own in late 2008, I didn't get online with it until mid 2010 - probably explaining a lot of my ongoing hatred for day-one DLC and online passes included as part of a game's purchase price. While I did play a lot of Halo 3, it was necessarily at LAN parties and against friends via splitscreen: hence why when killed at playdates I'll regularly accuse everyone else of looking at my screen!

 

In mid 2011, I got sick and tired of the forums over at bungie.net, which by then were made up almost entirely of trolls, clans, and people desperately attempting peddle their Forge map remakes, and decided to jump ship to a Halo forum that, well, actually wanted to talk about Halo. And the rest, as they say, is history. A history which I'm now going to bore you all with.

 

The forum was a lot smaller when I first joined. There was a core group of maybe 15 regular posters, and perhaps twice that many again in the shoutbox. As such, I got to know a lot of the early forum members well in a way that I don't seem to manage so much these days: I've never really been a big fan of the shoubox, and while back then there was little enough content that it was possible to really get to know someone via forum posts alone, now it's much more important to be able to chat in real time in order to get to know fellow members. On the other hand, we didn't have playdates back then, so now at least I can get to know you all whilst being shot. In the face. Repeatedly.

 

For a very long time, I wasn't terribly 'active'. I'd log in, have a quick look around, and then log back out: things didn't really take off until early 2012, when I discovered that it is in fact possible to contribute regularly even with post lengths as outlandish as mine. In the end, I went kind of nuts: over the course of three months I went from about 100 posts to over 700, as I slowly got more and more involved and began to feel comfortable posting my own threads more often.

 

I even began to get involved with contests as my university schedule lightened up and had more free time to do so: I joined in the second of our Forge contests, and lost, and even managed to make it to the finals of the 1v1 tournament, the first game of which I also lost, before winning the second and drawing the third. Thus claiming perhaps the most misleadingly titled 'Winner' award in history, I completely fell apart over the exam period and began to disappear for months on end, as various pressures in real life began to have an impact.

 

Things have changed a lot since I've been back. There are a lot less of the old faces around now: most of those who I knew when first venturing onto the forum are gone now. Some of them left for their own reasons; some promised a return, but never did; some just stopped appearing altogether; others didn't leave on their own terms at all. I think I'm the longest-active member outside the staff now, and in its own way, that makes me kind of sad. I don't really know why.

 

The bright side, though, is that with the constant influx of new members there's never any shortage of opinions flying around, of new and interesting ideas to discuss. As a forum, we're growing by the hour: some of us may stay just long enough to create a single thread before disappearing again forever, but others start reading, like what they see, and decide to stick around for a while longer. It's up to those silver and purple members among us to make the newbies feel comfortable enough to join the latter camp, and so it's always great to see the regular shoutbox and Introduction forum contributors doing just that.

 

It's not long now before I'll be hitting my thousand post landmark. Perhaps I'll be able to use that to actually talk more about myself as a person instead of just descending into pearly-eyed reminiscing - though don't bet on it.

 

Here's to a thousand posts' worth of shared opinion, tears, and joy. And here's hoping for another thousand posts' worth of the same.

 

Until then, it's been a pleasure and a privilege knowing you. And what better way to show that than by murdering the hell out of you all on tomorrow's playdate?

 

Verbosity is not a crime,

 

Red

[SykoWolf]

Wow.........

That was long

 

Congratulations Big Red Rocket xD

Nice to see you in the big pink

[Church]

It's good that there are still good, steady members like you out there. I too have been around a while, and remember the quiet evenings spent reading others posts, times when the shoutbox was a new and exciting thing. Congratulations on becoming our next MoM, RedStar! And you're right; verbosity is DEFINITELY NOT a crime!

[MCPO Mayh3m]

Ahem...

WELCOME TO THE FORUM! If you ever need.. ah you know all that already.

 

Incredible MoM post Red. I enjoyed it very much.

[Choot 'em]

Wow that was excruciatingly long RedStarRocket, lmao!!

 

You know I was just kidding and it was in fact a very interesting read! As far as the somewhat misleading title of "Winner" of the heads up singles tournament (competitive division), the title is shared with you by one other member. gone is well.....gone! Therefore you are and always will be considered the "Winner" of the tournament, lol!

 

Congratulations on MoM RSR!! Truly well-deserved and thank you for sticking around and giving us fine postings and ideas!! Look forward to seeing more!

 

- Choot

[Vaulting♥Frog]

Even in a thread that is supposed to be tailored to bragging rights for yourself you're still a gentleman.... Dude that is like member of the year material at least.

[Azaxx]

Good to finally have Mr Grammar King get the MoM position. Love to read your indepth and interesting threads/replies on the forums, they're interesting, well structured and funny to observe you break someone else sometimes.

Though with that said, I expected a lil' better Red. Because I do see some grammatical errors there

 

Well done on MoM! Hope you love the month!

[Drizzy_Dan]

Excellent RedStar buddy I read the whole thing. You're a historical landmark of a member here on the forum and we're all very glad that you've stayed so long. It really says something about the forum and to its members. It says that this place is worth the while and it's great to have you as our MoM. I hope to catch you at the Staff vs Members Playdate tomorrow playing on our side .

 

 

 

WHAT'S YOUR MOM WISH?

[BeckoningZebra1]

Congratulations on MOM and nice to meet you. If you don't mind my asking, why is your name RedRocket and your favorite color green? -just curious-

[SatanicBagels]

tl;dr

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just kidding. Very interesting and congratz again on gettin MoM.

[Ash]

Congrats on MoM, do us proud in your pink red

[Caboose The Ace]

wear those coulder well red they will go after a month but

 

welcome to the comminty i hope u enjoy it here lol

 

well done red u earned the coulers

[Mr Biggles]

Well done Red!

 

Fantastic Player! and guy!

[DoctorB77]

Well done man. I know whenever a post is made by you that it is going to be good.

[Cpt Nut Fluff]

Congratulations!!

[Victory Element]

You mentioned not seeing the "usual" members around as much, but I can tell quite a few came to read this thread. I find myself similar to you in many ways after reading your post. I greatly appreciate the humility and knowledge that I have seen you display around the forums. Congrats and I hope ill be seeing you around more

[SternuS]

You demonstrated again to be likeable, polite and a nice person. Your posts are a source of information, well grounded and well explained. I can recognize a nice person from far away, and so the first time I saw your post, I understood you were one of those. So keep on with the great work, you truly deserve this.

[Father B]

Woo! 'Gratz, RedStar. I recall and understand everything you mentioned. Good to see you're still around. I was one of those who vanished under mysterious circumstances. Came back, but now, too, am saddened by how many of my old Shoutbox friends have left us here. I only hope they are doing well and keeping their noses clean.

 

Anyway, this is about you being the MoM of February 2013! THAT'S SO COOL!

I trust the community has been good to you during your reign, and continues in your final week.

 

 

edit: I spelled "meantioned" and never caught it before submitting.

Edited February 22, 2013 by Father B

[Harbinger]

I have been reading your post and seen you shout a couple of times, but everytime I see one of your post or see you in the shoutbox your either trying to help someone or explaining something(which you do a great job) and if the book your writing is half as good as your post then I'm sure you'll get published so fast you won't even have a choice. You are definitely deserve to be this months Member of the Month. Congrats and I hope to see more of your posts in the months and years to come.