September 11, 2006

7:29 AM

This Is What We Said While It Happened This is truly the essence of online community. A transcript of the first two hours of posts on Echo, a 16-year old, New York-based internet community, on September 11, 2006. (Disclaimer: I am one of the many whose posts are quoted.)
posted by ereshkigal45 (15 comments total)

Technically, you should've chosen a MeFi proxy to post this for you. Flagged.
posted by Smart Dalek at 7:47 AM on September 11, 2006

A PASSENGER JET OUT OF ATLANTA HAS BEEN DIVERTED FROM SAN FRANCISCO AFTER AN UNCLAIMED BLACKBERRY WAS FOUND ON BOARD. NORAD SCRAMBLED FIGHTER JETS TO SHOOT MISSILES AT THE BLACKBERRY IN CASE IT MADE ANY THREATENING NOISES AND THE JET WAS DIVERTED TO DALLAS BECAUSE, AFTER ALL, IT'S JUST DALLAS.
posted by quonsar at 7:53 AM on September 11, 2006

(Not to derail, and we can take to MeTa if you like, but I don't think linking to an article, in which I was one of about a hundred people quoted, really constitutes a self-link. There's no self-promotion here, and you can't even identify which of the many Echoids I am since there's no connection between my handle there and my username here.)
posted by ereshkigal45 at 7:58 AM on September 11, 2006

ereshkigal45: I may not be part of Flickr, YouTube, or Digg; if I were to post a link to MeFi featuring content I uploaded to those sites, I would be in violation of MeFi's rules. If I were part of a forum elsewhere, and felt a topic I was part of was discussion-worthy to MeFI, proper equiette would entail my finding a MeFite not affiliated with that fora to post said thread here in the blue.
posted by Smart Dalek at 8:16 AM on September 11, 2006

MeTa
posted by deadfather at 9:41 AM on September 11, 2006

we had our own '9/11 while it happened' thread right here. why is this an interesting post?
posted by quonsar at 9:44 AM on September 11, 2006

You weren't there, quonsar. You don't know.
posted by Eideteker at 10:14 AM on September 11, 2006

I thought the immediacy of it made it interesting; people hearing things on TV, people seeing things out their windows, lots of questions with no answers.

I was once an Echoid, though, so I may be biased towards that pace, that mode of expression. (I have no quotes in that thread, but I do know a lot of the people involved.)

I'd like to see the thread Quonsar mentions, too. I think sharing personal experiences is one of the better ways to commemorate the event.
posted by bink at 10:14 AM on September 11, 2006

AAAHHH-hahahahahahahahaha!
posted by sonofsamiam at 10:18 AM on September 11, 2006

the 9/11 thread
posted by quonsar at 10:19 AM on September 11, 2006

Well, as a fellow eye witness, I think this is a perfectly appropriate thing to post on the 5th year anniv. It really calls to mind the terror and confusion I felt that day.

I'm going to go take a hot bath now....
posted by lumpenprole at 10:26 AM on September 11, 2006

You mean 2001 not 2006.
posted by A189Nut at 10:28 AM on September 11, 2006

11-SEP-01 9:29 Brian. Minnesotan. The.
holy fuck. I just woke up this morning and heard the hubub. If this WAS Osama Bin Laden, I want the fuck taken out. Oh man. Praying for everyone involved, especially Fish's mom.

Was anyone else here thinking about the name Osama Bin Laden at 9:29 that morning?
posted by Derek at 10:29 AM on September 11, 2006

Let's get him!
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:39 AM on September 11, 2006

I remember waking up around that time (i was bartending the night before) and there was already pictures of Osama Bin Laden on the news. By noon there were montages of the towers and Bin Laden's face across the network news programs.
posted by djseafood at 10:46 AM on September 11, 2006