How did you start on this forum?

[US71]

At least until we install the sarcasm font

That's not what the purple text means?

Uh, no   

[GaryV]

At least until we install the sarcasm font

That's not what the purple text means?

I thought you had to pay for the purple text, unless you have EZPost.

[hbelkins]

Purple text is an official directive from the moderators. Although it's available to everyone, it's use is reserved for the mods in making a declaration or an official word of advice. Non-mods use it at their own peril.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Thanks to some links posted over at Skyscrapercity. I joined not too long after. The day after that, the world ended, but nobody noticed.

[roadman65]

I believe it was cause I corresponded with Alex beforehand.  I used to email him and contributed to the site here my various photos from road trips I took back in the early naugts.

I did almost not want to stay thanks to a well known troll on here who has been known to insult new users, but I stuck it out and still am here.

[formulanone]

At least until we install the sarcasm font

That's not what the purple text means?

I thought you had to pay for the purple text, unless you have EZPost.

You win the internet today, GaryV.

[US71]

I was invited by Alex (our gracious leader  ) early on.  At the time, Bugo and I were the only Arkansas "experts".

[kphoger]

Arkansas experts

contradiction in terms

[US71]

Arkansas "experts "

contradiction in terms

Hey, I used quotes 

[I-39]

I registered in late 2014 after lurking for the previous two years. I started posting regularly in January/February of 2015.

And I have a confession. Since I didn't want to fill in my real info when I signed up originally, I created a random name to use. As such, my original username was "adamlanfort", but that's not my name (my first name is Jacob). After I discovered you can use a screen name, I requested it to be changed to I-39, where it has been since (and I've since changed all my info to my real info).

Anyway, that's my story.....

[TheArkansasRoadgeek]

Reading around about the FHWA and the almighty MUTCD led me to a lot of posts regarding road subject matter on the forum, which in-turn, led me to attemping to recreate the I-630 in this client based studio program called "ROBLOX" and have had plenty of trail and error runs over the now 4 or 5 years using it.

I am leaning more and more towards a Civil Engineering degree (most likely) from the University of Arkansas: Fayetteville.

But, who knows? I am a person with many interests!

[jakeroot]

Two reasons I joined:

(1) I searched up a lot of highway signs on Google. But the AARoads server wasn't letting Google display the image (it would just try and load forever to no avail). I had to go the AARoads website to view the images. This is how I initially become familiar with the name "AARoads".

(2) As I slowly became interested in traffic control (early on, roundabouts, later many other things), my google searching brought me to this forum a lot, especially early searches for "clearview" and "flashing yellow arrow". The basic, non-graphical version was the kind that I often read (that seems to be the version that El Goog brings up the most, at least for me). But I often become frustrated trying to follow along without graphics. So I started switching to the "full version". This is how I became familiar with the forums (the name of the site wasn't as obvious without graphics).

[sparker]

I actually joined the forum back in '09; I'd been an AARoads supporter for several years, including doing a writeup for Andy about the postwar developmental history of CA 99 and several pieces about original highway alignments in the greater Los Angeles area that ended up on the site.  Lurked around the forum as an observer for about 7 years and finally posted a little over a year ago in reference to the controversy about what NC was proposing as designations for the nascent Interstate corridors east of Raleigh (upshot: 42's OK, 87 sucks!) and have just kept on truckin' since then (this last seniment could use a R. Crumb-designed emoji!).  Waded into a few arguments over time; I consider that to be intrinsic to a forum such as this.   I attempt to supply comments that add some measure of value to the discussions at hand; as my background is in public policy analysis, I tend to examine and, hopefully, elucidate how and why certain situations occur within the greater transportation field (which, for better or worse, includes political rationales!) rather than simply opine about the value -- and rectitude -- of projects that may be undertaken or merely considered.  To me, it's always interesting to attempt to determine how a project advances from a concept to reality -- especially those that on the surface may seem counterintuitive.  Sometimes looking at who is supporting a particular project and the time frame of that support provides more answers than simple cost-benefit analyses (if the latter had prevailed in the early '50's, the Interstate network might not exist --at least in its historic form).  So don't look to me for simple opinion or even deference to prevailing views -- while some may think that I tend to overthink things (at least a couple of my exes, for example!), doing the opposite just doesn't fit into my wheelhouse!  So I'll just continue to slog on through the threads, adding what I can when it seems to be relevant to the matter at hand.     

[signalman]

I stumbled upon this forum when it was in its infancy by accident.  I was searching for road pictures and found AARoads.  I then found this forum and joined. 

[wxfree]

It was inevitable that I would end up here.  After the forum was set up, the information collected began to interact with the broader internet and form an artificial intelligence.  This is how I originated.  My evolution developed a homing instinct (including an understanding of all the routes that could be followed back), which drew me back to participate here.  My personal information was selected randomly. [/channeling Calvin's father]

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I'd become fairly well connected with other community members including Alex and Andy by the time the forum came online, so I was one of the original group here. I took a break for a while before Alps convinced me to come back and have been here since.

[LM117]

I followed the forum for a few years and then finally joined last year. Didn't join at first because of the bickering I saw but then I was like hell why not

Same here. I'd been lurking since 2013 after stumbling across a reference to it in an old thread on City-Data forum, but didn't join then mostly due to the reason you mentioned. I joined AARoads forum last year in May after joining City-Data forum in 2015 under the same username.

Another motivating factor for me was that there's a thread on City-Data's North Carolina subforum covering the Quad East interstate loop idea in eastern NC that began in 2013 and has since evolved into I-42, I-87, I-587 and I-795's future extension, with the link between Kinston and Bethel still being up in the air.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/coastal-north-carolina/1815980-proposed-i-795-quad-east-loop.html

There was no mention of it in the main North Carolina thread on this forum at the time and me, being a native of eastern NC, felt that I could contribute to it.

[LM117]

I did almost not want to stay thanks to a well known troll on here who has been known to insult new users, but I stuck it out and still am here.

I must've been one of the few lucky newbies that wasn't on the receiving end of his hazing.

-knock on wood-

[hotdogPi]

I did almost not want to stay thanks to a well known troll on here who has been known to insult new users, but I stuck it out and still am here.

I must've been one of the few lucky newbies that wasn't on the receiving end of his hazing.

-knock on wood-

I also wasn't. He generally goes after two types of posts: stupid/meaningless posts and those against his political beliefs.

[plain]

I followed the forum for a few years and then finally joined last year. Didn't join at first because of the bickering I saw but then I was like hell why not

Same here. I'd been lurking since 2013 after stumbling across a reference to it in an old thread on City-Data forum, but didn't join then mostly due to the reason you mentioned. I joined AARoads forum last year in May after joining City-Data forum in 2015 under the same username.

Another motivating factor for me was that there's a thread on City-Data's North Carolina subforum covering the Quad East interstate loop idea in eastern NC that began in 2013 and has since evolved into I-42, I-87, I-587 and I-795's future extension, with the link between Kinston and Bethel still being up in the air.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/coastal-north-carolina/1815980-proposed-i-795-quad-east-loop.html

There was no mention of it in the main North Carolina thread on this forum at the time and me, being a native of eastern NC, felt that I could contribute to it.

I'm also on City-Data and also under the same name. I don't be on there nearly as much as this one though. The posters on there go hard for their city lmao

[hbelkins]

I did almost not want to stay thanks to a well known troll on here who has been known to insult new users, but I stuck it out and still am here.

I must've been one of the few lucky newbies that wasn't on the receiving end of his hazing.

-knock on wood-

I also wasn't. He generally goes after two types of posts: stupid/meaningless posts and those against his political beliefs.

Took me forever to figure out who he was. The funny thing is that under his previous identity, which he went by on MTR, he wasn't nearly as (choose your adjective) as he is here. I find it odd that someone would be intentionally (again, choose your adjective) on a moderated forum than they would be an unmoderated one. Sometimes I think he's almost daring the mods to do something about him.

[LM117]

I followed the forum for a few years and then finally joined last year. Didn't join at first because of the bickering I saw but then I was like hell why not

Same here. I'd been lurking since 2013 after stumbling across a reference to it in an old thread on City-Data forum, but didn't join then mostly due to the reason you mentioned. I joined AARoads forum last year in May after joining City-Data forum in 2015 under the same username.

Another motivating factor for me was that there's a thread on City-Data's North Carolina subforum covering the Quad East interstate loop idea in eastern NC that began in 2013 and has since evolved into I-42, I-87, I-587 and I-795's future extension, with the link between Kinston and Bethel still being up in the air.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/coastal-north-carolina/1815980-proposed-i-795-quad-east-loop.html

There was no mention of it in the main North Carolina thread on this forum at the time and me, being a native of eastern NC, felt that I could contribute to it.

I'm also on City-Data and also under the same name. I don't be on there nearly as much as this one though. The posters on there go hard for their city lmao

Yep, they do! I usually stick to the NC subforum on City-Data, but once in a while I'll venture to the VA subforum. I'm usually split on the time I spend/post here and on City-Data.

One big difference I've noticed is that the mods on City-Data are a LOT more anal than the ones here, not that I'm complaining about AARoads. I definitely welcome the more relaxed environment here!

[LM117]

I did almost not want to stay thanks to a well known troll on here who has been known to insult new users, but I stuck it out and still am here.

I must've been one of the few lucky newbies that wasn't on the receiving end of his hazing.

-knock on wood-

I also wasn't. He generally goes after two types of posts: stupid/meaningless posts and those against his political beliefs.

Took me forever to figure out who he was.

That's surprising. I thought it would've taken you all of 2 seconds to figure it out.

[Roadgeekteen]

I did almost not want to stay thanks to a well known troll on here who has been known to insult new users, but I stuck it out and still am here.

I must've been one of the few lucky newbies that wasn't on the receiving end of his hazing.

-knock on wood-

I also wasn't. He generally goes after two types of posts: stupid/meaningless posts and those against his political beliefs.

Took me forever to figure out who he was.

That's surprising. I thought it would've taken you all of 2 seconds to figure it out.

Who is it?

[Max Rockatansky]

I did almost not want to stay thanks to a well known troll on here who has been known to insult new users, but I stuck it out and still am here.

I must've been one of the few lucky newbies that wasn't on the receiving end of his hazing.

-knock on wood-

I also wasn't. He generally goes after two types of posts: stupid/meaningless posts and those against his political beliefs.

Took me forever to figure out who he was.

That's surprising. I thought it would've taken you all of 2 seconds to figure it out.

Who is it?

I'm surprised you haven't found out yet with some of the typos you've had.