Winston wrote: ↑September 30th, 2020, 3:31 am
To be honest, i dont think yick and hypermak will really leave. The reason is very simple.
One take what they can. I can't speak for
@yick but, as far as I am concerned I have been using this forum to improve my writing and debating skills. For as much as you want to see my English as suspicious ("as good as Publicduende's", it seems), I can only be flattered about it.
My profession is an extremely hectic and fast-paced one. A couple of friends from the City were joking with me a few years ago, that a 5-star kitchen is the closest it gets to a trading floor in the City or Wall Street, with the exception that what gets cooked is not order books and the results are far more palatable
Yet, it's all about speaking and there isn't much of a chance to practice writing. The past few months being basically out of work and constantly banging head with my senile "nemesis" Contrarian Expatriate has improved my written/debating skills faster than the previous 7/8 years ever did. If I didn't have this kind of incentive, I would have probably lost interest in CE's constant bragging and personal attacks far, far earlier.
So, at least for me, the reason why I might stick around from time to time is that this is a very good gym for my English skills, as well as mildly entertaining if I ever were to get a dry spell like this again in my life!
You and some other members can think whatever you want about me, I won't care as much as if you give me a chance to post, reply, debate...in other words, if you engage with me. I will obviously try to do the same, within the boundaries of a civilised conversation so long I don't get unfairly and brutally provoked, like in CE's and (more recently) Spencer's cases.
Winston wrote: ↑September 30th, 2020, 3:31 am
You see for all its faults and flaws the HA forum is still a very authentic forum where u can be yourself and speak your mind. Theres an authenticity about it that other forums lack. So when u leave the forum u will miss that and return. Because other forums dont have that. U cant be yourself and say whatever u want on other forums. Not even on the roosh forum. That authentic vibe where u can be yourself is priceless and makes up for all its flaws. Its kind of like being in Russia.
Just like when u leave Russia u will miss it too. Because for all its flaws and problems, Russia is a very authentic culture and vibe where u can be yourself and not feel like a creep or criminal. The authenticity is like nothing u can ever experience in America. So u will always miss it.
For instance the vibe in Russia is a 1000 percent different than America. U feel free to say and do what you want and to be yourself. Nothing feels awkward. No social anxiety. Its a spiritual freedom that is hard to put into words. So when u leave Russia you always miss it. There might be a lot of trolls, scammers, gold diggers and rude people in Russia but you miss that feeling where u can be yourself and hit on any girl u like without feeling like a criminal or creep. That's priceless and hard to put into words. You know what i mean @ladislav?
Therefore once youre uses to the vibe abroad u can never get used to America again. Youre always in a state of reverse culture shock.
The HA forum is like that in a way. The authenticity and honesty and freedom to express yourself here, including your quirks and eccentricity, is priceless. You will miss it while you're away. Therefore even if u leave u will eventually come back.
Im sure if u ask @MarcosZeitola and hes honest, he will admit that he came back for that reason too.
I can't speak about Russia as I have never been there but, from the latter part of these paragraphs, you seem to paint HA as a heaven of free speech. Well, yes, it's an unmoderated, or very loosely moderated forum, that's true. Yet, when it comes to some members' openness to understand, let alone embrace, other people's experiences, ideas, opinions, perspectives...the situation is more closely resembling a bleak purgatory, if not hell itself.
Look at the way the few (happily) married posters, like
@MrMan or, among the old and glorious,
@davewe and
@pete98146, get treated by those who are absolutely convinced that marriage is a one-way to self-destruction. This, despite never being married and despite having proof of decent marriages, with all their ups and downs, at least with foreign girls.
Look at the way some posters, including yourself unfortunately, react against other posters who simply disagree with them. Again, not making names as you know who I am referring to. They twist and bend their original words saying that they got it all wrong, they are unable to understand the original arguments because of their limited age, experience, or intellect.
That is the textbook definition of gaslighting:
manipulate someone by psychological means into questioning their own sanity.
It never strikes some of you that people not agreeing with you are not retarded, mentally insane or immature: they have simply had a different upbringing, different experiences, they made different life choices and enjoyed/suffered different consequences, they perhaps have a different personality and take on life.
One might assume that this kind of healthy clash of minds and ideas is at the basis of a successful community, whether online or offline. Apparently, in HA's case, it's not. It seems to be all about those who shout the loudest or drag around their weight the most. In your case Winston, of course you are the one with the highest relative weight as you are the founder of the HA movement and the forum owner.
Of course you did have your baggage of travel and "happier abroad" experiences, especially in your younger years, so you have something to show for. Of course your life has been unique and remarkable, in some aspects. All good. However, and here is where you fall prey of your ego, or pride, or stubborness, of whatever you want to call it...you having your experiences doesn't negate other people's experiences.
You having your golden HA experiences in Russia doesn't negate the beauty or quality of a serene life as a husband and a father. CE having his investments and sugar babies (assuming it's all true) doesn't negate that someone could feel a strong sense of purpose even with a fraction of his (alleged) wealth, or doing a work that they (mostly) enjoy doing. Or it doesn't negate that some people could have very decent fun by hooking up with girls who don't look like Ukraine nordic goddesses. And so on.
In other terms, I like and I am often intrigued by the contents you often post about conspiracy theories, spirituality, philosophy and other deep topics. However, without a proper debate, HA risks looking more a poor man's Wikipedia than a forum where people share and debate their experience, without prejudices and preconceptions, and without indulging too much in personal attacks and pointless pissing contests.
Strictly cordial of course haha. But yeah, go there. Leave this sausage fest. It's good fun. And I've written a bit about the Philippines myself there and found the articles were rather well-received even by Filipinos.