Who do you hold closest to you on SoSZ?

[Tigger of Kai]

Yeah I'm just on pretty late UK time -- call off the search!

[SunXia]

Haha yeah I have to try to lie down earlier these days and nobody is about when I do that so I haven't really chatted there in a while as I adjust to work schedule following botched surgery!! Glad to know you haven't abandoned us!!

[Sun Fin]

Yeah I'm just on pretty late UK time -- call off the search!

Good good!

[Jordan]

Dong Zhou: #1. Taught me I was an idiot when I first joined this forum (I conflated the novel with history at the time, and specifically had erroneous opinions about Pang Tong). The experience was humbling. I reverted to a Socratic sort of mindset thereafter, assuming I knew nothing in all things history and looking more closely at three kingdoms research before posting. My methods are still not very scholarly, but I am trying to improve. Dong Zhou remains a great member of the forum who contributes to the database more than probably anybody, as well as to community discussion on three kingdoms history.

James: An outright good person who treated me civilly even when I was a complete dickhead and deserved to be banned.

Lady Wu: She's done so much in terms of translations and content on the site. It's staggering.

The earlier post I made in this thread makes me want to go back in time so I can punch myself. There are lots of other greats on this forum. Many have come and gone and many have stayed and been fantastic members. But the three I mentioned have been the most influential and inspiring to me personally.

[Mitsunari]

Ahhhhhh, a few blasts from the pasts in that post! Most of us were active in a few other forums as well as SoSZ at one point. FuguNabe is the only one there who I wasn't that close to at one point or another!

It seems like most of the people who were commonly present around here for my first year or so aren't currently. A lot of people either moved on or became too busy with life to participate... myself included. I didn't have the pleasure of being a member yet when FuguNabe was here. I have read posts of his when I read through some old threads. It seems like most of you all had a lot of fun during those years.

I emailed FuguNabe-sama a few years back and he replied saying work was pretty intense, also he mentioned one of his close friends was terminally ill and it was affecting him quite badly. It's a shame he's not still around, he was a patient teacher and knowledgeable on so many things. Plus he had the best sunglasses of anyone on SoSZ haha.