Here, my level of interest in my primary hobby (Which is regarded as a somewhat distasteful and unhealthy obsession by many 'uneducated' folks.) is admired, respected, and appreciated.
Additionally, I can write REALLY well without much effort, a talent I haven't used much since I got out of school. That ability, combined with my level of study about firearms, has earned me something VERY valuable to me: Credibility.
I look really young for my age. When I'm 50, I'll be the envy of all I know for my spry appearance. Today, at 35, I can easily pass for 22. When I was 22, I apparently looked like I was a high-school kid. People my own age refer to me as "young man" when they don't know my name. The fact that I have a tendency to talk quickly also conveys "youthful energy". Basically, I'm a 'bubbly' person, but my faith in my own judgement, which is based on experience and sound thinking, has a tendency to come across as "brash youthful optimism".
For my entire life, being taken seriously by my nominal peers, rather than being DISMISSED as "some kid who knows nothing" REGARDLESS of the validity of my opinion, practically has to be beaten out of the world at large with a CLUB when interacting on a face-to-face basis. (I have to be the only person who can't wait to get older, as I am heartily sick of being "young".)
This place, along with TFL before it, has NEVER let my appearance interfere with my communication. I am taken as I present myself, as a mature, albeit a bit odd, adult. No second guessing. No condescension. No patronization.
That is unique in my experience. You'll pardon me whilst I savor it with almost frightening intensity. This place matters to me.
Things that enable me to interact here on that kind of level seem to be unique to this place. That takes the form of the attitudes that (most) people have foremost in mind when they communicate on the board, which happen to be a few other things I value almost obsessively, as they seem to be going by the wayside in society at large:
Honesty.
Integrity.
Accountability.
Politeness.
Good manners.
4th-hand RUMORS of other places' members lacking such qualities is enough to prevent me from so much as checking them out to confirm or deny it.
TFL was the second forum I landed on when I finally got regular Net access some 2-ish-plus years back. I abandoned the first more than a year ago.
The High Road makes the third. I feel no need to go anywhere else. This place validates my existence like no other.
And for that, Fellow HighRiders, I most thankfully salute you all.