[Isoverity]

I can't say much from before 03 (and pre 03 seemed like a interesting time) but I can make recollections from 03-04.

Imagine a "Serious" forum where a post could go from the top of a page to the bottom in 20 minutes if it wasn't replied to. Ruin had fewer forums, and between 6 and 7 thousand peepers so it moved very fast. I mean it could be like posting in a digital rodeo where varied threads were bursting all around.

People also weren't boxed up and divided so many different ways. Posts would be about ED's, SI, Bullying etc but all in same forum. Young as well as adult would answer threads (though Ruin was still pretty young compared to most SI sites).

A lot of people were protective of the site. If someone started to bash the site there would be an uprising of sorts. Someone in another forum (still extant) once posted some negative comments about RYL and a whole Posse of people went over there on a raid. Harley (the webmaster) had to go over and apologise for the counter attacks.

There were more guys on Ruin. Not a lot more but it didn't feel like a harem or a school for girls. Harley was also present all the time. If he was posted to a reply was very soon to follow. In that sense, it felt like someone was at the wheel and driving forward (and Harley always had a new thing, and new level to get to).

It wasn't all peaches and cream. If someone posted they "wanted to die" and got a lot of replies - there would be a dozen "me too" threads that would pop up. People would get upset if they didn't get replies. The atmosphere could get very negatively charged in a condensed way. The forums and chat could get tense. Harley threatened to shut it down for a few days now and then.

There were some people there writing about some serious problems and events. The most horrible things I ever read I from people I read at Ruin. Some of the people with more serious problems thought a lot of the people at RYL were just attention seeking kids. Peachy Princess once made a post describing members as wallowing on their "pitty pots" and the eruption was memorable.

There was a lot less clutter visually. Many people did not have avatars or sigs. You could see 6 or 7 replies at once on a small screen and the comments flowed and focused attention on the dialogue and the persons posting. A person didn't have to struggle to locate the replies scattered around the Olsen pics and the Evanescence lyrics (so 2004 I know - RYL V2 was the worst for the clutter. A person could make a 2 word reply (like "Me Too!) and it took the whole screen there were so many craplets littering).

There were a lot less photos since there was no photo forum. Every other month or so a photo thread would pop up and you would see peoples pics. A lot of the time you had no idea what most people looked like. Not many "how do you like my hair, dress, shoes, gerbils, piercing, tattoo, pencil holder (etc) threads. I still remember pics the most from the Ruin days just because they were so few and seemed more special. Harley's infamous missing nipple pics were something everyone seemed to save from then (made by Turk Boy - who did have a bright avatar).

There were a lot more trolls (a lot of fake deaths, goetze pics (sp?), posters on how best to off yourself).

Ruin had a pretty graphic collection of SI pics on main site. They were not there for entertainment or gratuitous purposes as I recall as much catalog of what SI could be about. Some people could use those in a "pro" manner and Ruin was sometimes critcised for them in some other (and I recall Harley almost being banned from a site because they thought his site was pro) sites but I thought unfairly. Some of those pics could scare people to get over SI.

There was not the smothering amount of labels presently evident. It seems every thread now is marked "Triggering' or "Radioactive" or something. Ruin didn't seem as clinical-ish as latter versions with all the labels and slots. But - Ruin was also overcrowded and moved too fast.

Too me it also seemed more spread out globally. Maybe that was because Ruin was on forum within Ezboard which was a whole collection of many forums that people travelled around in. I couldn't tell where the place was located for the first couple weeks. I seem to recall more people from Australia, Singapore, West Coast of US and the night seemed busier then ( but that could be because there were less forums). I recall it was easy to stay up all night on Ruin and watch more waves of people come on as time zones changed (but UK was always the most busy of course).

To me, Ruin could also have more searching sorts of people in that some seemed to wonder more about life and threads could really evolve more. Now I Hardy even get a reply to a posters thread. Not that I need it personally because I dont - it was the way whole threads could unfold that I recall as different. That's not to say every thread was a work of art because it wasn't. Plus Ruin was getting so crowded and sometimes hostile that whole groups of people were leaving even before V2 opened.

There was no huge MySpace or Facebook to suck energy away. I see a lot of people spending hours on MyFace these days when they would have spent them on Ruin in 02 or 03 etc.