A member of our ATS family, jsobecky, has passed away.

R.I.P jsobecky

BH, Marg, DG:

I miss the old days too.

Originally posted by _damon
reply to post by dgtempe

 

And life goes on...

Yes it does, but while you are here, show some respect will you..

R.I.P Fella..

reply to post by loam


Yes, we all do, Loam, we all do, I need to get the excitement back, that urge of posting and waiting for the posters that will spike my attention the most.

I feel that we are now the grandparents just watching over the young ones, while we can read the post and find amusement on some of the threads I just wait for the ones that will step in and do exactly what we used to do back when our member activity was at its peak.

Now more than ever I am making sure that if something happen to me you all will be informed in the boards. Just like BH suggested.

R.I.P

reply to post by marg6043

Originally posted by marg6043
Now more than ever I am making sure that if something happen to me you all will be informed in the boards. Just like BH suggested.

I guess I'm really pathetic, as I wouldn't really have that option.

I tend to carry my anonymity to an extreme. No one, other than my wife, knows I post here...and I doubt it would ever occur to her to let anyone know something happened to me.

If I ever stop visiting this place, then I guess you can all safely assume I've gone to join some of our friends in the elsewhere. Hopefully, that doesn't happen anytime soon.

I hope JSO's family and friends take some measure of peace knowing he has been missed.

RIP.

Peace has found you

RIP my friend



Peace

Originally posted by marg6043
reply to post by dgtempe

 

Dg, my dear, this is very sad news, we remember Js from back in the days of ATS, we used to debated so much about politics in the political forums when it was a board on its own.

I have not seen him in the boards in over a year, I always felt that he may had changed his profile but was still around.

I sure miss the debates and heated discussions.

Is so sad to hear this news, for those that remember JS, his post and threads, we all be missing him.

I am very, very taken with this.

Thanks for the update Dg.

I also miss JS and the "old days". Discussions were exciting and passionate in those days and with you all. Listening and reading both sides helped me to a broader view of how life and especially politics work. It helped me understand that those who had different opinions from me were ethical, strong and showed me good points from their views. Thank you Dg and Marg. R.I.P jsobecky

RIP Jso.

I remember a few conversations with Jsobecky when I first joined ATS on my previous account. He will be missed.

edit to add: I miss the old days too.

R.I.P

Originally posted by loam
No one, other than my wife, knows I post here...and I doubt it would ever occur to her to let anyone know something happened to me.

It's the same with me. My instructions are for my husband. Although he has an account here, your wife could log into your account and let us know...

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As regards the "good old days"... Warning: Book Ahead...

I want to thank jsobecky, whose untimely death has provided the forum to reconnect with some of the people who have meant the most to me on this board. What a gift! Thanks, Jon. I wasn't sure anyone else felt the way I did about the loss of the old environment and the spirit of cooperation that we had in our discussions and debates... back when we didn't hate someone or see them as the enemy simply because they had a different position...

I have thought that the only way to foster that environment is to contribute to it at every opportunity. My personal experience is that I have tried doing that for a couple years now, but with the vast and overwhelming numbers of members who treat ATS like any other POS soap box on the Internet, and who are hateful, combative and do their best to find the right insult, I end up feeling drowned in a world I no longer recognize - and one which I don't want to be a part of... I have pretty much lost hope of 'going back' and I don't know that that's possible, desirable or should even be attempted. You know I believe in moving "FORWARD".

And the only way I know to do that is to Be the Change You Wish to See and hope that others catch on and like the idea. We cannot control the environment, except by what we contribute to it. It would be REALLY nice to control other posters and force them to post with courtesy and respect, so the overall environment would be elevated to be more like it used to be, but with so many members, who are accustomed to and actually prefer the combative and ignorance-filled forums seen on the rest of the 'net, I don't have much hope for change.

One problem is that the majority of the older members, who came here for the unique environment, have either left, have succumbed to the style of hateful posting that is the norm here now or they have become moderators and they post so rarely on the main board, that it suffers greatly from their absence.

It is a dilemma... I struggled for a long while over deciding what to do because I felt I had a huge investment here. I have added a lot of content to this site and I enjoyed SO much of it! It was as much a part of my life as feeding the dogs. It was hard to accept the change I was seeing but accept it I had to do. And with the way the negativity was affecting me and spreading into my personal life, I finally decided the best thing for me to do would be to basically leave ATS, for the most part.

While I used to come here everyday, I now go weeks without even looking at the board, and then I just skim the titles, not wanting to even read the contentious posts and personal attacks I KNOW I will find inside... the same old hateful rhetoric back and forth... and when I do open a thread, I see what I knew was there and I shake my head... "Why did I even open that"? Any thought of posting my thoughts reminds me of dipping a cat into a shark bin. No, thanks.

But I will continue to post as I do, on those rare days that I come here to pop in and see what's going on... I'm so glad I looked yesterday and learned of jsobecky's death. It has been a tool to reconnect with you all and I really appreciate it.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


I remember those conversations, too. Heated. Angry. Disrespectful, at times.... ...but always, always, fun. It's what kept bringing me back, day after day, hour after hour. ...and I sometimes actually learned something, too.

Peace jsobecky.
I am sad and at a loss for words. Others have so eloquently shared their words, which make up for mine. And that is what I find great about ATS.

I didnt know the poster but I wish him well on his journeys.

If funny how we take the people on this forum even more for granted than the real people in our life. Simply because the names and pictures never age.

Thank you to Jsobecky..even in his passing he is making me think.. now THATS an ATS member.

A good day to you sir..........

My condolences. Can't say if I've ever interacted with him on this site, but anyone willing to stick to their guns here, even those I don't agree with at all, are good in my books.

Very sad indeed.

reply to post by dgtempe


Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. My thoughts go out to you and his family. Best of luck to all those who knew him.

reply to post by Mahree


Hi, Mahree, nice to see you posting, yes we were quite a bunch of contradictions, facts and opinions (more opinions than fact sometimes) back in the days.

But it was fun, great nice fun, I am so happy to see some of our old friends back in this post, remembering our good friend JS.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Benevolent Heretic you just summarized my feeling very well, that is how I feel also, sometimes I just can not take the bickering anymore, because one thing you learn after been in aboard for so long is that some of the ones bickering start to sound like old records, like their post are cut from the same scripts, specially when it comes to certain topics, none politics when it comes to those you can see the agendas a mile away.

That didn't happen before, it wasn't allowed, you got the mud pit for that, but this board has grown so fast and gotten so big that I can only imagine the work load that moderators have this days.

ATS became very political during our early days because 9/11, I miss the political board, now, that's where all the action was at that time, the mud pit was before that and I only got a small participation in that one before was taken away and got my butt kick as a new member.

I Remember Rant was the one that always came to my rescue and because my problem with language and always encouraged me to post as it took me months after I joined the board to do my first one.

But when it comes to the Political board that Was JS and us strong hold and dominated territory for a long time.

Originally posted by loam
BH, Marg, DG:

I miss the old days too.

I certainly took my beatings here. Maybe my wording was messed up, but the context was right(for the most part).

Well, maybe we should make an effort to make it what it used to be (minus the insults, i guess:@@

Whether i'm here or not i never forget you guys.