History and Legends of Ru.com

[yralika]

HISTORIANS/WRITERS WANTED!

Russia.com :::Members:::Ancient History:::The Legends of the Personals Board

This is the short history of the Personals board by a Russian immigrant, Caliteen Uraika. I'm not much of a poster, though I've been on this board for quite a long time(since fall2002). This is but a short subjective sketch and analysis of one section of the forum. I don't fancy myself as a writer and this is just my subjective opinion. If anyone wants to post some /different/ any
version of Ru.com's history or any of its section's/ board's, you're more than welcome!

1)Grunt - a middle-aged Texan guy vying for an ideal Russian wife. He is a sort of a legend down at the personals board. He was dominating this board and thus stepped on the heels of other individuals groping for power some half a year ago. Grunt struck a fine battle against the Secret Society organised by an obsessive Russmenophile (American)HATALbR aka Natasha and the newly emerged (Californian?) Carter, a porn writer who praised the deyvs of Moscow and a skin head leader and writer Lemonov alike. Though grouchy on the outside, Grunt was rather idealistic and innocent. He was made a scapegoat by said blood - thirsty individuals and had no other choice than to leave. To save the last shards of dignity he directed a poisonous post at Natasha which was later interpeted by Carter as the evidence of his love for this maniac who has the largest thread on the entire board - "What about Russian men" .Thus, in some respect Grunt and Natasha do appear similar. However, according to Grunt, he wasn't looking for any "feminazis" as he called them. His only reason for existance on the Personals was Valkiriy, a Russian girl of twenty-something currently living in Spain. She was rather extraordinary, exotic, and unattainable (and thus desirable) for Grunt who confessed to be a blue-collar redneck. She was a chemist, highly educated, and rarely had time for Russia.com forum boards. Whenever Grunt felt overwhelmed with pressure on the boards he called for her, even organising special threads - Valkiriy, where are you? And she would eventually come and comfort him. Grunt was a selfmasochist, not a tyrant. He planned and planned to go to Russia, but something always stood in his way. His last decision was to go in March - too bad we will not see his reports from that trip now, thanks to some. This would've been a fine ending of this legend. Anyway, I wish Grunt to find his soulmate wherever she is. Seems like this story will be without a Happy End. But who knows?

2) On a similar note, another legend of the Personals is Butterfield's travels to Moscow, Russia. This was the period of Renaissance, a period of fresh air after the despotic rule of compulsive Grunt. Her weekly, sometimes daily reports about life in Mother Russia were a reason for the natives to stop by the board and try to catch and soak in the tantalizingly familiar shadows and reflections. For this I am grateful. This was a chance for the non-natives to read (perhaps?) exotic stories of an unfamiliar land which is more different and more similar than they would imagine. Other enlightened individuals of those times at the personals included CastleStormer
(Texan?) and Andrew the English Knight who are also very active members of the Religion section and rather open - minded. Like B8, they enjoy traveling.

3) Then, there was the rule of Carter, the time of decay. It is hard to comment on this era as it is modern history. Carter is a rather gifted writer, yet his writing is not constructive and full of life and positive force like the writings of Pushkin, Gogol, Efremov, Gorkiy, and to a smaller extent Tolstoy(more calm). His is like those bitter and decayful Saltikov-Shedrin, Pelevin (Generation
"P"), Nabokov, Chekhov, and Zoshenko. I am not that familiar with foreign authers, but I would place Gerald Darrel(British) and Ray Bradberry in the first category and Steinbeck in the 2nd. The Secret Society fell apart right after the fall of Grunt as there was now no apparent need for its existance.

What will come next? Time will show, only time can tell.
The first historian of Ru.com, Uralika

(Your amendments and constructive criticism are welcomed, and please contribute)

[Edited by yralika on 18th April 2003 at 00:54]

[HATALbR]

Yralika:

Severely erroneous!

Grunt & Carter alike are "new kids on the block." Thus, you are not speaking of russia.com history. I, natalie Lemmer [HATALbR], was here two years before their untimely appearance. However, I am also a late arrival if you are speaking in terms of "history."

Search the archives if you wish to study the history of this board.

If you desire to know more about me...you will have to read the entire "what about russian men" thread, as well as several other threads. Until then, "zatkinese durak!"

P.S. I will be more than happy to assist you in your writing endeavors, if you don't mind having two as*holes!

Sincerely,
NatalieLemmer
aka HATALbR
aka Natasha, "natural-born russian-lover."

[yralika]

Sorry if I offended you. You're absolutely right - I haven't been on this board for as much time as you, so I don't know as much of this board's history. As I mentioned in my post above I do NOT plan to study Ru.com's history. This sketch was just a spur of the moment thing. I haven't seen anyone do that before(to try and put everything together), so I first wrote it for my own pleasure(I had nothing betteer to do today!)and then decided to display it here after some hesitation. This is not objective history or a serious study - just my generalized perception of the Personals for the last half a year.
You're more than welcome to research and write the WHOLE history if you want to. You seem to be a professional writer - I am not.
P.S. I read about half of your thread.

[carter]

Nabokov? You compare anything I've ever written here with Nabakov? In what way? Certainly not style or anything else imaginable. An Invitation to a Beheading isn't really so much about a beheading so certainly there's no comparison in subject material. That makes me wonder what are you smoking. Chekhov, decayful? Cheery Chekhov? What type of booze is in your bong? Positive, Tolstoy? Beware, mixing sleeping pills with Tolstoy can cause a brain aneurysm in mid-snore.

Books I know, they're not that difficult to get to know. All you need is disdain for stupid people and a convenient public library.

I suspect you're not actually reading but merely cutting and pasting names out of an encyclopedia then bellowing them out randomly on a windy day.

Uh, and take note, there are no real personal ads in the personals. There's just unlimited naivete bantering about a effed up country I used to live and work in.

The Age of Decay, ah ah ah ah ah, and now we're heading for Carthage in the Age of Reasonable Decay on a crypto-logic crusade!

Anyway, carry on, I'm just taking a break from reading, I'll get back to it.