I don't know that anyone does... the board's history has changed a lot, and that stuff is definitely beyond the searchable base. I'm not even sure which hosting service we were using back then.





I'm of a mixed mind about 9/11 observances. I think it's appropriate to look back and remember, especially on anniversaries such as today, but I also think the media in this country has far too much of a tendency to wallow in it all, treating it like a ratings event. Makes me a bit cynical, which I would prefer not to be.

On an individual level, however, I think there's nothing wrong with reflecting and sharing where we were and how we were affected by the whole thing.





As I work from the home, signing online was one of the first things I did and the Parodyverse remains my homepage then and now (although with tabs and browsers that remember previous sessions, I no longer open directly to it every time, sadly.) I remember sharing my shocked disbelief with the board as events were unfolding (first thing in the morning for me, being in the Mountain timezone back then.)

Since then, I've seen various people online argue that there have been incidents of far greater loss of life, and other tragedies that should eclipse the events of that day, and on a cold rational level that may have some truth. But the attacks that day held a rather distinctive psychological difference that I'm not sure has occurred before or since. We were able to tune and witness things live, in progress over the course of a few hours where the outcome was still very much undecided. Had the towers fallen instantly, even had video surfaced afterwards, I don't think it would have affected us to the same degree... It would be much like other disasters, where we'd hear about them after it was already too late to hope for the outcome.

To people who didn't hear about it until later, I suppose that's exactly what it was. But for a stretch of time that morning millions of us were just left to watch helplessly as people had to choose death by fire or by falling from the top floors on live television before the buildings finally gave way and took them all. We had the opportunity to be invested in the outcome, and that's what makes it so especially haunting.