Hello (again) and a Few Questions

Please post all introductions in this forum. Tell us how you found the philosophy forums, what interests you about philosophy, and a little about you, such as your age, where you live, what you do for a living, etc.
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cgrapski
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Joined: December 13th, 2019, 6:00 pm

Hello (again) and a Few Questions

Post by cgrapski »

I just found this Forum, having been looking for some place that the old listservs and usenet and yahoo groups may have migrated (I see Yahoo stopped maintaining Groups some time back). Many of those groups were quite active and had a lot of academics on them (many of these groups trace back pre-WWW days). They were well-moderated and I used to belong to several and participated actively in many. But that was years ago. It just seems to be a natural "product" of the internet - that would organically exist (and had once). I am not sure if that is what this Forum is aiming to be - or if its sights are slightly lower (from what I see of the forums - there is a wide area of coverage. But I don't see things like individual author groups and individual work groups. Maybe they are here. Or maybe someone knows where they went. (Or if they literally just faded away over time).

I am interested in becoming more active here (and in any other forums there might be of this nature) - as I am trying to get back to some of my "work" - but I am isolated from what had been my universe (a university and a university community) as I am caring 24 hours a day for my father (spinal cord injury due to hospital negligence [he was there for anemia] almost five years ago).

I finally got motivated to get back to trying to write - and to complete some other work (study some other areas to widen and deepen my knowledge) - and I set out looking for what became of those groups. Usenet still exists but not you have to pay to access it - and I don't know how active those groups there still are. Yahoo left the groups existing but stopped supporting them. Not that long ago I believe. From what I can tell they have all died out (although you can still go and try and join the group - none of the administrators seem to be around. There was one person (I can't recall his name and I didn't save the link) who was very active in getting philosophy groups in that forum (his web page is still up - I have to try and retrace my steps from last week when I discovered it to get back) that covered most thinkers, and indeed even had groups dedicated to individual works.

It seems natural that the internet would have groups of this nature - in particular as a "meeting place" and discussion forum for those who specialize in a particular area ... but also mixed with those there for other reasons (one primary one - to engage that community as they engage a particular author/work). I don't know why such a thing doesn't exist. (Or if it does - that I don't know about it .

I notice a lot of the threads have last posts of many years ago (while glad to see a good archive exists) and nothing recently - but I do see some activity. Turns out that I had found "you" once before and registered an account. Not sure why I didn't become an active user. But I am here now.

I will try and become more familiar with the forum and format. My initial concern is where I might ask a question or start a conversation - whereas I would be more naturally looking for a more focused forum/community [for that particular matter]. I worry about posting too much, or too much on one topic, etc in the broader forums.

Well all that aside - I am back. And am trying to get involved and engaged. Hopefully I will find my way - and there are others still active here that have similar interests and knowledge.

As a way of an "introduction" - as I said I am currently a full time caregiver - but before that I was teaching (I miss that) as well as finishing two dissertations. [Other events in my life coinciding with my need to care for my parents interrupted me just as I was finishing (all that was left was the writing of the "polished" works ... I could have written something in a weekend and submitted it (now I kick myself saying I should have) and been finished ... but I was focused on the work (not the finishing of it ... or finishing it "enough" to move on). I didn't do things the orthodox way but I had my own ways to do so - I wasn't expecting a set of factors that disrupted my life (let's just say I lost all my possessions - including computer drives, printed works, notes ... and a significant library. That was just one element of what I went through then - it was worse than just that (although that is pretty bad) - and shortly after that I left my home (and hometown of three decades at the time) to move down to my parents - to help with my mother, whose health was failing, and to give my father some help (His health was excellent until he fell in the hospital and hit his head leaving him a partial quadriplegic ... and [this occurred shortly after my mother passed away - and I was about to return to my former life - but my father's care - after spending 9 months in four hospitals with him 24 hours a day - teaching him how to walk again (in his 80s) - requires me to be with him 24 hours a day. I wish he would move, so we could move to an academic community where I would feel more at home, but he is content in his house (which he used to say he wanted to sell and get a smaller one). So I am hoping that I can find some places (and am hoping here will be one) where I can engage others in conversations on philosophical topics - and seek the assistance of others in working through works ... instead of living solely in my own mind.

Any suggestions ... let me know. Hope to see you around.
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