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I joined this site 16 years ago!
I was 18... I was in college, studying IT. I was still a kid, living with my parents. Playing video games. Watching movies online. In other words, I pretty much had infinite free time, or so did I think back then.
It was a weird period of my life. You're an adult, yet, still a kid. Nothing in particular defined me.
I was bored.
Being a giant movie nerd, my favorite movie was Back to the Future. I'd listen to the soundtrack on repeat. Watch the movies every now and then. Check DeLoreans on eBay Cars. Yep, I had that kind of free time.
Then I turned to the Internet, see what I could find about Flux Capacitors and time travel in general. Figured it would be interesting... Who knows! That day, I discovered fluxcap.com and HDRKID's websites. Keep in mind I didn't care yet about those HDR stories and stuff. And I didn't know about John Titor either. So I'd read and re-read stuff about John Bajak's Flux Capacitance Time Travel Circuit. Wondering if it was any real or just a bunch of nonsense.
Sometimes, when clicking links on HDRKID's websites, I'd end up on a forum and I'd get to read discussions between people. The forum's name was The Paranormal Network. There was stuff about aliens, conspiracies, time travelers, etc, you name it. For some reason, I didn't fully understand how forums worked yet. I remember feeling disappointed when a discussion wouldn't fully conclude, or wouldn't have an actual answer, resolution. It seems I preferred actual articles. So I wasn't a big fan at first.
I came back a little while later and noticed that new discussions, new weird stories, and interesting tales appeared regularly. So my interest in that forum increased over time.
After some time, I was able to recognize a few usernames here and there. That guy whose avatar is a beating heart. The HD-something-KID. The Einstein guy. The Frog guy.
At some point, I decided to create an account. It was on December 15th 2005. Figured I could take part in the discussion with the cool kids! Little did I know, I needed a username... For the first time, I had to invent an online identity. Being a big Lord of the Rings fan, I decided to name myself Numenorean7. I have a hard time processing that 16 years have past since then.
So, as the noobs do, I introduced myself. The first person to greet me was Harte. As a fellow LOTR fan, he told me he liked my username. The next day, I posted a thread about the Piri Reis Map, to which he replied it was a fraud. I still remember that crushing feeling! LOL
I have very fond memories of the old TPN forum, The Paranormal Network, that would eventually become Paranormalis a few years later. The link below leads to an archived version of the forum, dating from Dec. 27th 2005.
Even though I was mostly a lurker at that time, I remember a lot of members. Some are still around, others are not. Looking at the online list at the bottom of the page is a trip down memory lane.
As they say, join for the discussion, stay for the people!
What a journey!
I was 18... I was in college, studying IT. I was still a kid, living with my parents. Playing video games. Watching movies online. In other words, I pretty much had infinite free time, or so did I think back then.
It was a weird period of my life. You're an adult, yet, still a kid. Nothing in particular defined me.
I was bored.
Being a giant movie nerd, my favorite movie was Back to the Future. I'd listen to the soundtrack on repeat. Watch the movies every now and then. Check DeLoreans on eBay Cars. Yep, I had that kind of free time.
Then I turned to the Internet, see what I could find about Flux Capacitors and time travel in general. Figured it would be interesting... Who knows! That day, I discovered fluxcap.com and HDRKID's websites. Keep in mind I didn't care yet about those HDR stories and stuff. And I didn't know about John Titor either. So I'd read and re-read stuff about John Bajak's Flux Capacitance Time Travel Circuit. Wondering if it was any real or just a bunch of nonsense.
Sometimes, when clicking links on HDRKID's websites, I'd end up on a forum and I'd get to read discussions between people. The forum's name was The Paranormal Network. There was stuff about aliens, conspiracies, time travelers, etc, you name it. For some reason, I didn't fully understand how forums worked yet. I remember feeling disappointed when a discussion wouldn't fully conclude, or wouldn't have an actual answer, resolution. It seems I preferred actual articles. So I wasn't a big fan at first.
I came back a little while later and noticed that new discussions, new weird stories, and interesting tales appeared regularly. So my interest in that forum increased over time.
After some time, I was able to recognize a few usernames here and there. That guy whose avatar is a beating heart. The HD-something-KID. The Einstein guy. The Frog guy.
At some point, I decided to create an account. It was on December 15th 2005. Figured I could take part in the discussion with the cool kids! Little did I know, I needed a username... For the first time, I had to invent an online identity. Being a big Lord of the Rings fan, I decided to name myself Numenorean7. I have a hard time processing that 16 years have past since then.
So, as the noobs do, I introduced myself. The first person to greet me was Harte. As a fellow LOTR fan, he told me he liked my username. The next day, I posted a thread about the Piri Reis Map, to which he replied it was a fraud. I still remember that crushing feeling! LOL
I have very fond memories of the old TPN forum, The Paranormal Network, that would eventually become Paranormalis a few years later. The link below leads to an archived version of the forum, dating from Dec. 27th 2005.
The Paranormal Network Community - Powered by vBulletin
A paranormal discussion forum covering over 3000 topics, including: Alternate history, time travel, UFOlogy, conspiracies, cryptozoology, telekinesis, telepathy, vampirism, fringe archaeology, dream interpretation, ancient astronauts, ghosts, and much more.
web.archive.org
Even though I was mostly a lurker at that time, I remember a lot of members. Some are still around, others are not. Looking at the online list at the bottom of the page is a trip down memory lane.
As they say, join for the discussion, stay for the people!
What a journey!