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I have a friend who I send hatrack threads to, because sometimes it is easier to send a link, than to re-write trying to explain the messy business of my life.
She sent me this e-mail and I thought I'd let you guys respond.
quote: Hi.... I am so fascinated with your interest in hatrack....so I got online and tried to discern from the website where he is coming from, and was at a loss. He's LDS, a science fiction writer, also rewrites biblical history via science fiction novels, writes weekly commentary. Where he is coming from? Liberal, Conservatice, religious.....what fascinates you, what is this all about?
I think that is the fun of it. Orson Scott Card (OSC) himself is a bit of an enigma. He's a conservative democrat that sounds republican at the moment. I don't think many people who actually participate in the forum agree with his political opinions, or his movie reviews but they do generate discussion. When I first started reading OSC I didn't realize that the LDS religion allows for life on other planets, this apparently is part of what fueled his speculative fiction and sci-fi writing. Not having actually read the book of Mormon I didn't know at first that a lot of his stories were loose re-writings of some of the stories there. Apparently he often likes his non-mormon audience better in a lot of ways because we actually read the stories for what he is actually saying, not for what we think he is saying as a commentary on the Book of Mormon. Because he means them to be stories, he doesn't mean them to be commentaries.
The people on the forum are why I stay. OSC hosts the forum but rarely posts himself. Somehow the sort of people who read and like OSC's books are extroardinarily cool. I say cool deliberately, because they passionately disagree about everything under the sun, and yet most of the time remain civil and discuss it. Maybe because they all do have the core belief of decency in how you treat others in real life. I know when I have met them in real life they are "kindred spirits" to borrow from Anne of Green Gables. I think most of them do have an excellent sense of fun or enjoyment in life despite leaning towards the nerdy side of life. This is why there are so many bizzare but funny fluff threads. Like "Its sacrilicious" for example. http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=007137#000000 They like escapist literature to begin with and are often Lord of the Rings fanatics (right now that is pretty much THE hot topic). Quite a few battle extreme depression, and occasionally let everyone else see that side of them. Hatrack is a place where it is ok to say what you really think, even if you might not say it quite the same way in real life. You will get called on an idea if you are being selfish and at other times witness amazing generosity. For a holiday charity project, the members took it upon themselves to raise money for a literacy project called First Book, which gives children's books to underpriviledged kids who don't have any. We raised ~$500, which isn't too bad for an internet forum!
I like the intelligent interaction I get from the people there, that is sometimes sadly lacking in my own work day. It definitely breaks the tedium of the day and gives me something to be thinking about while I do other tedious things. So what fascinates me? I'm not sure if it is completely definable, but it has something to do with the juxtaposition of people with some similar interests and other radically different interests coming together in a self-defined community. It isn't utopia or anything but it is still a fun place to be.
I don't really think one can explain the attraction to the Hatrack River forum by looking at OSC's homepage. Many of us came because we were fans of Ender's Game or other of Card's books. Some came cause they were invited by friends. We stay because we enjoy interacting with the other people who come here - the discussions and the fun, and sharing what is going on in our lives, both good and bad.
posted
I have quite successfully explained Hatrack to my best friend. She would like to join, or at least lurk, but she doesn't have much internet access.
Posts: 5700 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
I'm so proud of Elaine. I remember when he first came, he was sort of wierded out by paragraph hugs. Elaine got my first paragraph hug ever given, I think.
Posts: 1753 | Registered: Aug 2002
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