Lurkers: Has any of the information from this board..

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changed your opinions on the severity of Y2K. I am wondering whether or not the information that is supplied on this board been beneficial or not. Has anybody been persuaded one way or the other from your previous view of y2k?

-- y2k dave (xsdaa111@hotmail.com), September 23, 1999

Answers

Yes. Since absolutely no evidence has been produced to back even one claim of expected catastrophy, and since all predictions to date have been gross exaggerations, my expectations of the severity of Y2K has plummeted from minor to insignificant to practically non-existent.

Regards,
Andy Ray



-- Andy Ray (andyman633@hotmail.com), September 23, 1999.

Dave, One of the chatters in my y2k chat room recommended this site to me. I have only been mostly lurking for a few months. Because of the information gleaned here I have been able to cut out about 15 other sites including the chat rooms.

I have never seen so much up to date info. on EVERYTHING pertinent to y2k. I have also gotten a lot of help from very intelligent people.

This site and the prep site is informative, interesting and NEVER dull!

Thanks, FOX

-- FOX (ardrinc@aol.com), September 23, 1999.


I found this forum about 2 months after starting to look at the y2k challenge this past Spring. It become very apparent to me that the ONLY reasonable thing to do was to prepare for an average scenario. We have moved from a 1/2 to a 8/9 in terms of preparations. As we move into this fall, and we put the final pieces into place in terms of preps, we are feeling nervous a bit, if things to GTHell, but confident that we might ride out the storm and help some others along the way. In mid-Nov., the family will have a 1 week drill, to see how it would feel in Jan/Feb if the things we take for granted were no longer there.

-- thomas saul (thomas.saul@yale.edu), September 23, 1999.

Yes. Most Entries in Green Lettering are Worthless Unsubstantiated Tripe. And offensive to common sense.

-- Dumbass_Is_Epidemic (Not.Much.Time.Left@Waiting.Now), September 23, 1999.

Andy Ray hon, the gang here misses you so, please visit again!

-- Porky (Porky@in.cellblockD), September 23, 1999.


I have found most of the people who post on this forum to be intelligent, articulate, thoughtful, with a great sense of humor. It has helped in my preps as I have not felt quite so alone. (Hey it DOES help to know others with educations and higher than normal IQ's GI LOL)

-- Stacia (ClassyCwgl@aol.com), September 23, 1999.

Also see this (long) thread, that I started a few days ago. Many very interesting comments. <:)=

********** LURKERS ********** Please check in!

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), September 23, 1999.


Y2K Dave, thank you for asking this question. I appreciate that you have invited the newbie/lurker perspective.

I came to this forum a complete ingnoramus. Even though I immediately recognized the spectacular potential for y2k problems, I underwent two months of paralysis in starting my preparations.

I found the threads that examined the difficulties of action vs. reaction to be particularly helpful.

About my paralysis (for whatever it is worth) ...

There's a certain psychological dynamic to the overwhelming implications of y2k. Everybody knows about that. That alone can cause paralysis, obviously.

But we ignorami don't come to this board as Believers. It's an acquired "courage," if you will. The majority of participants here provide insightful perspectives and moral support for acquiring it.

However one element that I can honestly say added to my paralysis were the regulars who respond so stridently, dismissively (and even insultingly) to the legitimate points/questions raised by pollies.

When you insult a polly, you oddly insult open-minded newbies. Earlier on in my TB200 lurking career, I was given to self-doubts re my concern about y2k when confronted with a voice like Paul Milne's. I thought to myself that I'm nuts listening to this crowd.

Voices like that really were an obstacle to me. (One I eventually overcame.) But the voices from people like Lane Core, Robert Magnus, Big Dog, Mara, Ed Yourdon, Linkmeister, you, and MANY MANY others have offered a good keep against the self doubt one encounters. These voices have helped me feel confident that I wasn't just buying into a cult meme. MANY here provide clear, intelligent, analytical, unemotionally-presented counterveiling information. Those voices have helped me decide that it's NOT a matter of my neurosis finding a convenient host.

Please forgive me (truly) for not remembering all the names of ALL the people I would like to acknowledge, but I'm writing this at work and hammering it out in warp-speed time.

Now, I realize that Paul Milne might argue that time is short, loud alarms must be sounded, there's no time for moddlycoddle, it's time to be strident. And perhaps that is true. I suppose that in every movement, word has to get out in a number of ways from a number of different "voices." But so too, different people hear different voices. The Milne-type voice is so shrill, dismissive and hair-trigger combative, that I cannot hear them without having serious misgivings about the legitimacy of the whole y2k concern. I DO NOT DISCOUNT the fact that Paul Milne has likely waken many people to the problem and I don't discount the potential importance of the role he's played. Nonetheless, his voice has presented an obstacle for at least this lurker.

Another example: Flint provides interesting perspectives, always well-written and presented, and he generally seems to be respectful in tone. I consider his points, but generally end up disagreeing. I know many regulars here are frustrated with him playing the devil's advocate role. Sometimes, I too, wonder if he does it for amusement. But to people like me, his voice is helpful for a number of reasons. He raises cogent counter points that I would be too timid to raise. His points are valuable, and ultimately, somebody answers his points credibly, and that's valuable.

Earlier on in my lurking career here, I started to think I'm nuts assigning the regulars such credibility when a faction of them would flat-out insult Flint. (Of course, I got over that.) Still, it always gives me pause when it happen. Some people treat him disrepectfully because they are regulars, hence "in context" and they are familiar and frustrated with his tactics. That's understandable. But newbies AREN'T familiar and probably many like me regard points he raises as worthy of consideration.

I wish more regulars would TRUST the ability of newbies to identify the fallacies in pollies' arguments if we are provided with clear, unemotionally-presented counterveiling information. Fortunately, many of you do this and you seem respect the newbie dilemma in trying to sort it all out.

I also appreciate how willingly and respectfully so MANY here answer questions from the ignorami. (One memorable thread: "Is it possible y2K is a hoax." Many people answered in earnest and quite respectfully.) I also appreciate very much those who scout for news and post it in this forum. I am intrigued by the strong community effort to provide information and support to others. In fact, the ultimate in respect for newbies came when you set up TB2000 preparations forum. This forum really helped me get moving with preps.

Like I say, this is just for whatever it's worth. It's merely a perspective. Again, thanks for asking.



-- A Lurkess (IgnitoCog@aol.com), September 23, 1999.


Well, Lurkess-

I have spent the last eight hours reading through as many of these forums as my eyes and brain could absorb. And, as of today, I too am both a virgin lurker and a "spent" and extremly satisfied "newbie"...(all these new terms are entertaining). I am not new to this website, but new to this forum. I have been following Y2K for 15 months now and actively preparing for 12. I was in desperate need of input from people who buy into this movement, for I seem to be the only one in my circle (my wife too, of course) who believes a world of hurt is coming soon. My prayers were answered when I ventured into this plethora of thought, discourse, and passion. I too welcome the believers and non-believers, for all opinion breeds thought...although not all thought perhaps deserves an opinion. Anyway, go easy on me. I promise, unless otherwise engaged, this will be the longest discourse I will present. Thanks to all for keeping my fire lit and my cup full. The Shepherd.

-- shepherd (mjmcinnes@aol.com), September 23, 1999.


I've been lurking here for many months and love this forum. Very up- to-date info (no need to go to other forums). I love the sense of humor posted and the hissy fights. I've posted here and there. I am a mom with 2 daughters and a GI hubby, been prepping for 1 1/2 years since G.N.'s site. Believe it will be a 8 or more. This forum has helped me to prep properly and I feel like we are all one big family. I am VERY thankful for this forum. Thanks to you all!

-- Debi (LongTimeLurker@shy.com), September 23, 1999.


Yes, this forum (and others) have impacted my opinions. Whenever I'm in danger of being lulled into complacency by the happy talk coming from the PR flacks, I pull into this site and read Ed's latest essay debunking the conventional wisdom.

First became concerned about Y2K in Aug/98, began serious preparations in Dec/98. Took the summer off and am wrapping up preparations now.

I really don't know what to expect but I don't expect the "very worst", at least from an infrastructure standpoint. I do believe that from a social breakdown and economic standpoint, anything is possible. We are truly entering "uncharted waters."

I view our family's preparations simply as a prudent form of insurance against the unknown. We are blessed that we have sufficient resources to prepare.

-- Steve Young in the Rockies (syoung@exapps.com), September 24, 1999.


To A Lurkess (and company),

"...It's an acquired "courage..."

What a beautiful way of putting it!

And... newcomers or lurkers alike... please don't hesitate to post a reminder to someone who is being overly rude. Or barring that, contact the Sysops at the offical TBY2K Forum e-mail: y2ktimebomb2000@yahoo.com and we'll see what's appropriate.

We try to allow a wide range of commentary here. Sometimes... it's just too much.

Calmer Y2K waters are found... by design (and BigDog's Sysop/ Moderation)... here...

TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) Preparation Forum (Y2K Prep Only Discussions)

http:// www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a.tcl?topic= TimeBomb%202000%20%28Y2000%29%20Preparation%20Forum

Thanks for your comments!

Diane
One TBY2K Sysop (and part of the larger Moderation team)

@}'-->---



-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), September 24, 1999.


Dave: It has been a privilege to lurk here and read the thought's of fellow GI's who have so much knowledge on things i barely knew exsisted before finding this home. Although i can't say that it has changed my own feelings on the outcome of Y2K, it has encouraged me to continue to warn family and friends of the impending disaster. I owe a great deal to all those who post here for giving me the imformation to speak to others about preps and about the interconnections computers have brought to our society. The standard "i don't see how 2 little digits can cause so much trouble", became much easier to answer, armed with the daily dose of TB2000. I have been successful in getting all my extended family to do some amount of preps and that in itself has been worth all the hours + that i spend here daily. A heartfelt thanks to all who share here, you have become my cyber- family. I wish i could meet you all and thank you personally, but reality only allows this all too impersonal way. So thank you all again, and may God bless us and bring us all into the new century safe, warm, feed, loved, and free.

-- kitten (kitten@vcn.net), September 25, 1999.

yes Dave. I was starting to get caught up in y2k hysteria, and then I found this site! After seeing what y2k can do to a person, I've decided I want no part of it.

I did appreciate the links I found to the debunker sites tho'. Very helpful!

-- Tawnya (ex@chicken.little type person), October 21, 1999.


Tawnya: Don't base your assumptions just on the basis of what that piss-ant, Andy Ray, says. We have a lot to offer in the way of helping you prepare for Y2K, which is but a tad over two months away.

By the way, do you mudwrestle?

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), October 21, 1999.


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