by Justin (a.k.a. SG Member: mydogfarted)

Not even sure where to begin this, having been a member for 8 years now and proud owner of an SG tattoo. Probably best to start with the small changes, then work my way up to the biggest and best change.





Friends. Lots of them. Some of my closest friends in the real world are people I met on SG. It took me about a year after joining, to start attending local member events. Taking the screen names I’d chatted with and putting faces to them. Parties, camping trips and other gatherings with people I’d met on the boards and groups, expanded my social circle internationally. Any given point in the day, I have someone I call a friend to talk to, somewhere in the world.

A few years ago I was diagnosed with an illness that I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life. I found many places online for information and support, but none of them were comfortable for me. Then I found there was a group for people with this same illness on SG – an already comfortable place for me! Found a bunch of people that I knew across the site were either suffering from this illness, or were the support system for someone who had it. Not only did it make coming to grips with my diagnosis easier, but I have a big group of people who I can reach out to when I’m struggling.

Just recently, a member of this group had a particularly bad attack. Another member caught on to it, contacted me, we got a few other members together and managed to comfort this person while we tracked down some of his family to go help him. Everyone involved were in different states, and I was outside the country. It was an amazing experience. One that I admit I never want to have to experience again, but would in a second if I had to.

The biggest change in my life? My family. My wife, khoos, joined SG about a year after I did. She was a hopeful, and we shared a lot of the same groups, but never interacted. I was smitten. For years I just assumed she didn’t know who I was. Early 2007 I started spending time in the chat rooms on SG. One night in July 2007, I was in chat as usual and she popped in. We were both a little drunk and just fell into conversation. I was just happy she was talking to me! Out of nowhere she starts telling me about how she’s had a crush on me, but didn’t think I knew she existed. I laughed and told her that I’d felt the same way for years.

The next day we started spending large parts of our days chatting over IM, text messages and our nights together in chat. Eventually we set up plans to meet. Knowing we’re both kind of terrible at making the first move, we decided that when we met there would be not words before a deep kiss. Needless to say, we’ve been inseparable ever since. Now we have two beautiful daughters, who occasionally have play dates with the kids of two other members we introduced to each other.

I think SGHQ should seriously consider changing the site motto to “Come for the boobs, stay for the people.”