What did ATOT look like on and after 9/11?

Broohaha

Banned
Jan 4, 2001
3,973
0
0
I wasn't here back then... wondering whether just about every message was about the attacks and how long after that was still the main topic of conversation? Can anybody give a brief overview? Just curious...
 

AreaCode707

Lifer
Sep 21, 2001
18,447
133
106
The thread grew so long that it was split into other threads. People were posting events as they happened: four or five people would post in nearly the same second the moment the second plane crashed, or the towers fell. Reading it now is eerie, takes you right back to the moment.
 

Broohaha

Banned
Jan 4, 2001
3,973
0
0
Originally posted by: shinerburke
Looks like you joined in Jan of 2001 to me.

i joined at the suggestion of my roommate... used it to get some tech questions answered.... then used hot deals a ton..... didnt get addicted to OT till much later...

 

MacBaine

Banned
Aug 23, 2001
9,999
0
0
There were a bunch of threads started right around when the first news got out... a few people in NY gave us first hand reports... eventually the mods started locking threads because so many were being made. At first, nobody knew what happened, and then once the news coverage got out, it was pretty much the only thing discussed. The thread got up to around 5-600 posts I think, if not more... but I can't recall for sure. A lot of people were worried, because they knew people in NY... and even some ATOT members were un-accounted for. The whole atmosphere lasted for quite some time.. they even gave us the American Flag avatars.
 

LethalWolfe

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2001
3,679
0
0
IMO it very much mirrored what was going on in "real life." confusion, fear, sadness, disbelief<sp?>. It was also a great source of info. Everyone was posting links, and providing info that a single person could never gather in the same amount of time. I remember more than one occasion reading something in OT then minutes or hours later hearing that same info on the news (which was on 24/7).

Then the "why do they hate us" threads started popping up. Like usual politics divided AT, but the threads seemed more civil and soul searching than the current "iraq" threads. Of course, that might just be me and my rose colored glasses.


Lethal
 

Grasshopper27

Banned
Sep 11, 2002
7,013
1
0
Originally posted by: Hatari Chic
The thread grew so long that it was split into other threads. People were posting events as they happened: four or five people would post in nearly the same second the moment the second plane crashed, or the towers fell. Reading it now is eerie, takes you right back to the moment.
I remember that...

I was out flying at the time, got back and watched the news and logged on. Several thousand posts in a few minutes time.

None of the major web sites were working very well. All had super basic pages and they were still completely clogged.

Hopper
 

Legendary

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2002
7,019
1
0
Just remembering it gives me chills.
The amazing number of conversations I had the following days - AIM, IRC, watching ATOT...it was unbelievable.
 

ROTC1983

Diamond Member
Oct 2, 2002
6,130
0
71
Originally posted by: datalink7
-->:(<--

:( I just read this....

I was in school when this happened and one of my friends came up to me and said that we are going to war...I just stared at disbelieve at him, thinking he was joking. Then we sat down and watched the news in class and the horrible truth came forward :(
 

LiQiCE

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,911
0
0
ATOT imho was a useful resource on 9/11 because at work we had no access to TVs, and most news websites were down and out from the amount of people trying to hit them up.

One of the most chilling links was someone who had taken Digital Cam pics of the Pentagon minutes after it was hit ...

But the best part was the information. Everything I got was in drips and drabs but I got a lot of info from ATOT.
 

LethalWolfe

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2001
3,679
0
0
Originally posted by: LiQiCE
ATOT imho was a useful resource on 9/11 because at work we had no access to TVs, and most news websites were down and out from the amount of people trying to hit them up.

One of the most chilling links was someone who had taken Digital Cam pics of the Pentagon minutes after it was hit ...

But the best part was the information. Everything I got was in drips and drabs but I got a lot of info from ATOT.

I complete agree. For instance I heard about Flight 93 here way before I did on the national news.


Lethal
 

BigJ

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
21,330
1
81
I was in school at the time so I really didn't see ATOT right as it happened. What I do remember is my principal coming over the loud speaker and saying "Something terrible has just happened." Immediately, I thought the president had been assassinated. Little did I know it was something far more catastrophic :(
 

TapTap

Golden Member
Apr 8, 2001
1,043
0
0
I distinctly remember some of the same idiots posting stupid, inappropriate comments then, as are posting today following Columbia's destruction.
 

ProviaFan

Lifer
Mar 17, 2001
14,993
1
0
Originally posted by: LethalWolfe
IMO it very much mirrored what was going on in "real life." confusion, fear, sadness, disbelief<sp?>. It was also a great source of info. Everyone was posting links, and providing info that a single person could never gather in the same amount of time. I remember more than one occasion reading something in OT then minutes or hours later hearing that same info on the news (which was on 24/7).

Then the "why do they hate us" threads started popping up. Like usual politics divided AT, but the threads seemed more civil and soul searching than the current "iraq" threads. Of course, that might just be me and my rose colored glasses.

Lethal
There were even some posts by dumbasses stupid enough under those conditions to say "we deserved it" - those really pissed me off. :|
 

ProviaFan

Lifer
Mar 17, 2001
14,993
1
0
Originally posted by: TapTap
Originally posted by: pookguy88
didn't some people harass Anand was well?
Yes--goes with above comment
IIRC weren't they upset because he posted some comments about 9/11 on the front page of the site, and they thought that said comments shouldn't be there because this was an "international" site, or some dumb sh!t like that?
 

Red Dawn

Elite Member
Jun 4, 2001
57,529
3
0
I remember that all the partisan bickering that is so prominent at ATOT stopped for about a month or so and everybody came together as Americans first and foremost. All the Republicans stopped whining about Clinton and all the Democrats stopped Bellyaching about Bush. And when Falwell and Pat Robertson blamed the 9/11 tragedy on our decadent ways saying God was punishing us for them everybody responded by correctly pointing out that they were no different than those who attacked us.