Hi!

[Alexander]

My name needs no explanation, and I hope to have a great learning experiance.

Am doing A level at Charterhouse School, Surrey, and I don''''t focus enough in my Philosophy classes. So I''''m here to learn and discuss topics I wouldn''''t otherwise do at school.  

Just like to say how amazing it is to be able to sign up to a forum with my own name!! I can''t believe there are no other Alex''s here. Normally I just use an Anglo-Polska compound (Olekander) Olek = alex Ander= last bit of the name .

[Gareth Southwell]

Hi Alexander,

Welcome to the forum. Perhaps I should use that as advertising: The site where you can use your own name!

[Alexander]

Aha, yeah sounds like a good idea to me, I was shocked to see how few people have signed up the forum, when this site offers so many interesting answers.

ANyway, their loss.

I think you're in competition with a much bigger American website which does much the same thing. But I can't bear reading about articiles in which

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"[s]Math"[s] and "Colo[u]r" and all those annoying differences take place. [/s]

[Gareth Southwell]

Their loss indeed!

Actually, to use a cafe analogy, I like to think of Philosophy Online as a local independent place, where you might spend a leisurely hour or so, chatting to the guy behind the counter, or else pop in for a quick think on your way to or from work. We have our regulars - a rag-tag bunch, but we like them! - and those who just stop by now and then. (I've just realised that I'm describing "Cheers!" if anyone remembers that?! - Where everybody can choose their own name, perhaps?).

We leave those big Starbucks-type philosophy sites to themselves - with their roaring trade in heated discussions and resources with extra shots and your choice of syrups. We plough our own furrough, and have a quiet confidence in our friendly, homely approach.

Y'all come back now, y'hear!

The Guy Behind The Counter.

[LostInAShaftOfSunlight]

This forum is doing quite well and has great potential.  The key thing in this case is the 'guy behind the counter' - someone with things like background (for example a published author), tolerance for the stumblings and wrong paths of beginners (a teacher), humour, and a strong will to helpfulness, among others.  The handful of other forums i found had degenerated into a lot of nonsense, personal attacks or were just uninteresting.

If this is Cheers, then i want to be Harry the hat.

[Gareth Southwell]

Thank you - you are very kind.

Who was Harry the Hat? I can't remember him.

[Alexander]

Cheers is not my time . But I was having a funny discussion about the usage of this word on a language forum I go to. (My degree will be in french and russian). We were trying to work out when most people use it, and in what parts of the country. Anyway, this is not the place for that discussion !.

[LostInAShaftOfSunlight]

Sorry, i'm nothing if not obscure.

Harry the hat, was a local con man who appeared in a handful of episodes over the years, notably tricking Gary, of "Gary's Old Town Tavern", into demolishing his bar.  He would also con the Cheers regulars, but was very fond of them.

On a sad note, i just tried some Cheers quizzes online and it appears that my once encylopedic grasp of Cheeers trivia has mostly atrophied.   :'(

[h.art]

hi!

[Gareth Southwell]

Hi There! Welcome to the forum.

[rey]

Hi Emily from Southampton, more oftenly referred to as Rey.

[Gareth Southwell]

Hi Rey,

Welcome aboard! If you could just swab down the desks, trim the mainsail and hoist the halyard then we're good to go - just common newbie duties.

(Sorry, got carried away with my own sailing metaphor - note to self: never post on an empty stomach.)

[talktoellie]

Hi!  I'm Ellie!

[Gareth Southwell]

Hi Ellie - welcome to the forum! Enjoy your time here.

[cliffdwelling]

Hello everyone and anyone.