I don't check in often for a number of reasons.
But first up all this "a true pirate this and that" is a lot of shite.
It was about the journey and it started with people that already had a kinship through the URWRC, moved over and took over the ultra threads took the jump into Ironman along with a couple of people that had completed 1 or 2 - i.e we knew the square root of fk all. The kit, name, sound track and everything else came afterwards.
Somehow it captured the imagination of the forums and quickly grew. Novices became mentors and each year those novices grew in confidence and long standing members drifted off and new members took up the starring "me me me" roles.
It evolves into whatever the members want it to be!
Yes there's nostalgia for those happy early days (mainly by those involved), the day of the warnings threads (nothing to do with tri or pirates) will always be one of the funniest days of my life, where I stiffled laughing for 6 hours trying to look semi-professional.
Back in those distant days it was pointed out to me that the RW forums are a bit like a pub, full of people that you like, some you never speak to or rarely notice and the odd arsehole. But like a pub and its regulars, the clientel change. Some old-timers will still be at the end of the bar (in the case of Moldy, looking for you guys, the cougar that she is) others decide they'd rather just sit at home, drink a bottle of wine and invite their close friends round, others become tee-total and take up kayaking (is there a thread on why so many IM vets take up sitting in giant bath toy going round lakes and rivers - if not there should be?!?)
The bar may get a make-over and the old boring regulars might decide to move and a new vibrant and excited crowd take over and become the regulars. The old-timers pop-in from time-to-time, say their piece and are probably ignored by the younger generation that knows it all.
If the bar is now dead - well maybe its time for another makeover, or if you're looking for the old crowd then maybe finding who's house they're having drinks at.
I'll leave you with this quote as it makes as much sense as my bar analogy...
"When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Thank you very much."
