posted
I'm a little rare on hatrack last time and i don't remember have an interaction with him. But I will address you my most sincere condoleance to you and your familly. I already lost three loved member of my familly, and i know the sadness we have in these moments.
Be strong. If you have bad times, go here to explain us : you will always have somebody to help you.
posted
Thank you for sharing that with us. I have been thinking a lot about him, and you, the last few days.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Everyone: Thank you for your remembrances, they are something we will cherish.
Morbo: I really appreciate your digging out that thread. It shows the strength of your community that you could go at it and still respect each other.
I find Steven's comments very poignant-I probably could pick all his out without knowing his screen name. i'm glad that you at least were not offended by his sometimes overly attacking tone. I think that was due to some excessive youthful exuberance. One of my biggest dissapointments is that being stricken at age 18, he didn't have a chance to develop from making arguments to being a more engaging persuasive advocate.
Posts: 19 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Ted, I found that he had already moved in that direction. Take a look again at the difference between the first posts he made and his more recent ones.
He really is missed here as well.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Newfoundlogic 's Dad: ... i'm glad that you at least were not offended by his sometimes overly attacking tone. I think that was due to some excessive youthful exuberance. One of my biggest dissapointments is that being stricken at age 18, he didn't have a chance to develop from making arguments to being a more engaging persuasive advocate.
Youthful exuberence, are you kidding?! I'm twice Steven's age, and became much more hostile and aggressive in that thread, to the point where I had to withdraw and cool off, while Steven kept his cool and countered every argument I made with a better counter-arguement.
That was typical of him in heated argument threads, to stay focused on-topic and why I posted that thread here: because Steven had class.
Notice how I gave him the last word, (in my own thread!), because I ran out of ammunition to argue with. He would have made a great attorney.
Posts: 6316 | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
I am so sorry for your loss. I too am one of the younger members of Hatrack -- I'm a 20-year-old college senior -- and as one of Steven's contemporaries, this hit me particularly hard.
While I never interacted with Steven outside of this board, he was a breath of fresh air in what (at that time) otherwise tended to be an older community. In a place where discussion of youth-related issues are both frequent and particularly contentious, it was nice to have an ally that was standing on the same ground . He stood up for me in a number of threats when he first joined, and I was always grateful for that.
Morbo's right -- he would have made a great attorney.
I will really miss him.
Posts: 1784 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Count me as another person who has been impressed in the past by nfl's arguments, debating skills and overall attitude. We were lucky to have him here.
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
I remember a funny exchange between Slash the Berzerker and Newfoundlogic. I've long forgotten the topic, but Slash kept ribbing Steven to trade in his "new found logic" for a pair of socks.
I've been thinking about this thread for a few days, off and on. That exchange, from a few years ago, stands out in my mind. I did play Ogame with newfoundlogic over last summer, but quit after a month.
Posts: 1813 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
I haven't been around much lately, but I was around a lot more when Newfoundlogic posted frequently. I didn't participate much in the debates on hatrack, but I enjoyed his company with the games and playful banter on the "fluff" threads.
Your family has my sympathies.
Posts: 4174 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
I rarely have time to check in. I am glad I did today. My daughter is a regular poster on this site and I have grown to know alot of the "regulars' on the site. My little girl is, Ryuko, in here and she is 20 yrs old. She tells me your son was quit the debator. I can't imagine your pain, it is too much to imagine. I can only compare it to losing both my parents and even that doesn't quit do it. I can't tell you the pain will get better only easier to bare with time. My prayers and hopes that you find a way to cope and ease the unbearable
Posts: 63 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Steven was a poster who, even if I was only skimming a thread, I made sure I stopped and read his whole post on the subject. No matter what else anyone was saying, one couldn't post intelligently on any topic Steven had already posted on, without absorbing his words. He wasn't the last word (on hatrack? Someone having the last word? Not bloody likely!), but he was always an extremely important word.
I will miss his words and his thoughts.
Posts: 4112 | Registered: May 2001
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I wasn't too active and knew nfl only little. But he is one person I never quarreled with or ever felt anything for but courtesy and friendship.
One person I'd have liked to know better.
בגן עדן תהא מנוחתו. לכן, בעל הרחמים יסתירהו בסתר כנפיולעולמים ויצרר בצרור החיים את נשמתו. יי הוא נחלתו, בגן-עדן תהא מנוחתו, וינוח בשלום על משכבו, ונאמר אמן.
(A hybrid of prayers.)
Posts: 2978 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
I can't think of any words to say here. I am so very sorry. Although I am not a frequent poster, I always enjoyed reading what nfl had to say. He will be missed.
Posts: 910 | Registered: May 2000
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posted
Has there been any luck on getting nfl's posts, Mr. Logic? If not, is there anyone here who could write a script that would basically open every thread from 000018 to 041000 (or so) and check if nfl posted (maybe look for "member# 3907" rather than his name to avoid posts where people might just be referring to him -- I don't know how to write scripts so I don't know what's involved; I tried to write an Excel macro, but I could only open HTML files and couldn't figure out how to save them so I gave up), and if he did then save the thread as an HTML file or something? If you (general) use the "printer version" then you don't have to check each and every page. It's probably one of those things that should be run at late night/early morning USA time, when the board isn't generally busy.
Also, just so it doesn't hit out of the blue, I plan to unsticky this thread after it's been up for a month.
posted
I am starting a script which should do that now. It will take a long while to run, but I have tested it on a short range I knew contained an nfl-thread, and it worked there.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
speed-wise, sure, but my script only takes fifteen lines, and a lot of that's just readability and such.
code:
#!/usr/bin/env python
from urllib import urlopen, urlretrieve import sys first = int(sys.argv[1]) second = int(sys.argv[2])
for threadnum in range(first, second): threadurl = "http://www.hatrack.com/cgi-bin/ubbmain/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=print_topic;f=2;t=%06d" % threadnum thread = urlopen(threadurl) for line in thread: if "(Member # 3907)" in line: urlretrieve(threadurl, "%06d.html" % threadnum) break thread.close()
posted
So far I have the files of 670 threads nfl posted to; the work is approximately three fourths done.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
I'll add my voice to the "thank you" chorus. I was going to bump pooka's thread and speculate about the possibility of doing it via the Wayback Machine.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
I'm sorry I didn't see this last night but I took the night off from retrieving and printing his posts-its hard to explain but its very draining. I apologize to fugu for not knowing he was undertaking this. The administrator was finally able to open up the search so it could go back further and this showed 713 threads going back to June 18, 2003. I don't know if the search fugu discussed would show any different results.
Apparently, before that is off the system. I tried to look at the wayback machine for the stuff before that-he joined around August 1, 2002 but randomly searching I didn't find any- I guess you have to know where to look, unless you have your own search mechanism.
I would be grateful if anyone knows a way of looking for that period August 1, 2002-June 18, 2003, or remembering something as one person linked. That youngest period is very meaningful to us as it really brings back memories and shows his growth.
Again, I apologize for not keeping the search responses current and would be appreciative of any help on the earlier period.
Posts: 19 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
It might be possible to use the Wayback Machine, an online archive of old pages that are no longer available, to find the posts. I used the advanced search to find a preserved copy of this forum from July 18th, 2003 that lists threads going back 45 days before then. It should be possible to get the threads for the preceding year via the Wayback Machine.
The catch is that I don't think there is any way to search through them for posts by a specific member, because the buttons on the Wayback copy don't work.
fugu, can your script be adapted to sift through Wayback?
Added: I've perused the Wayback archive a little further. It doesn't look like all threads are archived.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
Well, mine appears to be more thorough than the search -- so far I'm at 718 threads, and might pick up a few more (I'm not sure what number I'm processing right now, but its near the end of the range).
I'd have to look at wayback, but my script can mainly be kept so simple because of the high regularity of forum thread URLs. If I can manage to take advantage of that regularity when using wayback's capabilities, then I'll be able to delve into it.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
Guys, it is so cool that you are able to help out this way. I wish I could, but since I can't I will just be a cheerleader for you.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Thank you again for everything that you are doing for us. Its really incredible that you would do this to preserve the memory of someone you never personally knew. Its something I'll always remember when I look at his posts.
I'm glad a couple of you understand this, because I can't even explain how far beyond me you are.
Posts: 19 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
See...while we may have never knew him IRL, we DID know him here. It is weird...I have never been anywhere on the web that makes me feel as comfortable as being at Hatrack does. I would have laughed before I came here if anyone had ever told me I would get caught up in a message board to the point of meeting the people IRL, but here I am.
NFL was someone I wish I had met IRL, but even though I never will get the chance now I am glad I interacted with him here. I am sure other people here feel the same way, even though it i hard to express it to someone who hasn't experienced it first hand.
You should see me try to explain it to my parents sometime.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
010198 appears to be the earliest thread. There's no need to deal with This Thread Does Not Exist pages because those pages don't include the string I'm searching for, so they're discared anyways.
For now, I am uploading all the files to a web server I have:
posted
oh, I'm certain large chunks of data are missing, but there's nothing to be done about it. The only reason a thread as old as that first one is still around is . . . well, take a look at the thread
As a bit of an explanation for nfl's dad, the thread is a bit of hatrack history, and has been repeatedly bumped for ages.
I've started the script running on the other side, just in case. It shouldn't take many forum resources, and there are many fewer threads there, so it shouldn't take overly long.
I'd be happy to provide the files all bundled to anyone who wants them, however best delivered.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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