Thank you to Dwynter for inspiring me to create this thread! The time has come to finally come forward and tell everyone just how my life has changed since I came back to Everypony. I'll bet many of you don't even realize that I was here before the thead that made my life change, but I was around since August of 2011 and the aforementioned thread wasn't made until November of 2011. There's a story behind me and my social history. This thread will cover that and explain why I am the way I am; the title will make sense in time. Grab some popcorn and sit down; you may be here for a while. The online bit all started in 2003 when I joined up at my very first internet community and began to discover who I really was. At first people seemed to enjoy my presence there but before long, it ended with me being ostracized. I eventually left and moved to a community that branched off from the one I was at. That lasted for a while and while I had a few friends there I had many enemies there as well. One of my friends eventually decided that he wanted me in a managerial position there and I slowly worked my way up the ladder to an administrator position. When I got there, there was scandal and I had members lashing out at me in threads. Eventually I had to step down and leave the community. Around that time, I tried to go to other communities and see if I could find any place to call home. I got very similar problems at every other place I went. Some people ignored me, others teased me and still others thought it would be a good idea to kick me out. During all this time I was slowly discovering myself offline. I began to realize my bisexuality and my being transsexual. Long story short: my connection with the socially-conservative area I live in began to deteriorate at this time and my relationship with my parents was decimated. I was heavily verbally abused for years (it still hasn't stopped completely) and felt ostracized from the area in which I live. I had a very messy break-up with my ex-fiancée and I used college as a distraction. A whole year later I met my boyfriend and now we're devoted highly to each other. However, all the abuse and other issues took its toll and my boyfriend has had to have the patience of a saint. I've come a long way but I have a long way to go. Then came 2011. I was finally accepted into the nursing school I'm at now and I discovered the Everypony community by recommendation of Yetione, who I knew from one of the aforementioned communities that ostracized me. He told me of a community where I'd never know loneliness and hatred again. I was highly dubious and told him I didn't believe him. However, I decided to give it a shot and made this introduction thread. Things seemed to go well at first, but I did notice that the community was extremely close-knit and I began to question my place here. I decided to actually take my leave of Everypony when I saw this thread get stickied. The thread thanked the same batch of people over and over and I decided that I had no place at Everypony. I stayed away for most of my college semester, but then Yetione found out about my reason for being absent. He told me to get right back here to Everypony and take another chance. I spent several days considering this action, but ultimately I did come back. I sat here for weeks not knowing what to post or how to talk about anything with the members here. I tried making a random post in the Christmas thread, but the only attention it got was from the thread starter: He called me gay, despite stating I was female before and me showing as completely dressed and decked out as female in the Christmas pictures. It got me to thinking about how I should present myself at Everypony. I knew that coming out as Transsexual was a bad idea at every other place I'd been on the internet, but then I saw "The Gay Thread" and I decided I'd take one last chance on Everypony. The rest, of course, is history. It was the best decision I've ever made in my life and it is truly the first positive interaction I've had with any community offline or online. There has not been one negative response to The "T" Thread and it's gone into the double-digits in page number. While it's now part of the community archives it remains a testament to a life-changing event for me. This whole community has embraced me and has made me feel like I am a good person. You have all made me feel like I can finally be a part of something wonderful and you've all been amazingly supportive and loving. This brings me back to the title of the thread. The credit does belong to you; each and every one of you has made a huge difference in my life and I am eternally grateful. I'm proud to call myself a member of this wonderful community and I count myself as very fortunate that I came upon this community. That's my story. I want to encourage others here to post how they came to this community as well, if they want. I'll see you in the forums, my wonderful friends and supports.
Thank you so much, Yetione. The whole community has been amazing and I'm elated to be here! *hugs you back tightly*
Yay! This post was very heartwarming to read and I'm glad you are staying. When I first found this site, I too was unsure if I should join or not. The community seemed small and closely-knit as you said. So I wasn't sure if I had joined that I would be an outcast. So basically I would kind of lurk around reading posts trying to learn how the community functioned and what the people were like. I had seen The Gay Thread and your thread, and everyone seemed really nice and accepting of people's uniqueness so I decided to give the site a try. I am so glad I joined and so far its been amazing.
I'm so glad you decided to stay here. I know I joined after you, but I feel like if this site hadn't excepted someone like you... Then I probably wouldn't be accepted here and I would just have ended up leaving and eventually spiraled even deeper into depression. It makes me happy to see that this site has changed your life like it has mine. Keep on going even when the losers get you down.
Oh, wow. I had no idea that my thread would end up being somebody's inspiration to take a chance themselves. I'm elated to hear this; I could not be happier and I'm very glad that I was able to provide you with this! Thank you for being part of the community! Wow, a second person who took inspiration from my presence? I am truly honored. I'm so glad that I could give you inspiration to become very involved here and avoid a life of depression. Thank you for being part of the community as well!
http://tf2wiki.net/w/images/4/4a/Spy_cheers01.wav http://tf2wiki.net/w/images/d/dd/Spy_goodjob03.wav Anything we can do to help, Matty. That's about... all I can say!
Thank you, Saikyo (I hope it's okay that I call you that). You have all done a whole lot than just help me, though. You've changed my life and I am forever grateful.
Well, I'll post this, But I think you already have come to know this; You're forever welcome among us, You forever have my unwavering support - And I hope the support of others on this forum as well! You've had a positive influence on me as well; Subtle, but it is there! I'm happy that you joined, (Partially because that's how I got to be your friend!) Thank you for being part of the community. Thank you for everything you have said, It makes me feel good inside, But you yourself have help others, And I can safely say you're one of my best friends. *hugs*
You can call me anything you want, I don't mind. *Tips Hat* Enjoy Life, for it is fleeting. Finding yourself makes life a whole lot easier.
*hugs back* Wow, thank you so much, grey. You have been an amazing and very vocally-affirming support of mine here and I am elated to have you as a friend as well. As for me making a difference in your life: I am very honored to hear this and I am elated that I've done this for you as well! Thank you so much for taking a chance on me! I could not agree more, Saikyo. Thank you so much for your support as well!
Jus' doin' what I feel is right, ma'am. Helping people is what I plan to do with my life. Why not start here?
Truly a very noble aspiration. I wish you the best with that and I can safely say--considering what I know of you from seeing you here--that you are well on your way to meeting your goal! EDIT: I just noticed your signature. You are not arrogant in the slightest.
'ppreciate it. I truly do. What people need to realize is that there are indeed people like you; those who only want help unbiased based on religion, sexuality, gender, etc. Turning you away would have hurt my very heart and soul. There is a reason people such as you and I (Trans and Bi respectively) kill themselves on a regular basis; it's because people view us as different. We're people too. It hurts to see people turn you away. It would have haunted me for the rest of my days to NOT hear you out.
Wow, thank you so much for sharing that with me. I am forever grateful for the community and for the individuals in it. You've been here for me ever since I posted my thread and it makes my heart soar to hear you say how you feel about my situation. I really hope that more people find this community and become involved with it.
Again, anythin' I can do to help. People like us deserve to live too. The ignorant masses are corrupted by their parents and by the media, unfortunately. The only way we can stop this idiocy is to change it themselves. We have to somehow teach them that they are wrong. How, I don't know. But youth must know that we're people, not monsters.
Thats why I love this community You're always accepted and never questioned about it Glad to see you'll be sticking around with us Matty
We simply must do what we are already doing: showing love, tolerance and support and using our knowledge to plant seeds and break down the walls of ignorance and hatred. It takes time but we'll get there eventually. This community's existence has helped me to see that hope is not lost. We'll get there, Saikyo. EDIT: True enough, and thank you very much, Johnn4523!
I hope for humanity's sake that you're right. I'll be here for ya all the way, Matty. We're family, so don't forget. We're here, too.
We are family, indeed. I am elated to be part of this family! I'll always be here for everyone and I'm sure they will be here for me.
