Lets Count
Thread series in the HS Courtyard.
Started by Shelli Selby, "Lets Count" was a thread in which people (mostly) counted up (the original thread started at one (presumably- I will not be verifying this))[1] and counting one number per message, with no person going twice in a row. (mostly)
History
The original thread simply had the title of "lets count" and was posted on September 12th, 2022. After quite a few messages, it started to get very laggy. If you went to notifications in teams, and the top one was a reply in the counting thread, it would crash teams, if not your whole computer. So, Shelli created a new thread called "Lets count: CONTINUED" on 4/10/23. However, that thread eventually experienced the same problem with lag. Since Shelli Selby had since left NSA, Hallie Griffin took up the mantle and created a thread called "Lets count: CONTINUED: Continued" on 10/15/23. At the beginning of 2024, that thread also began to lag significantly. It lagged so much that the participants started talk of making a new thread. On February 3, 2024, Jacob Grady started a new thread called Lets count: CONTINUED: Continued: Again.
| Name | Date posted | Number of messages sent | Number of participants | Number counted to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| lets count | 9/12/22 | 4183 | 79 | 3610 |
| Lets count: CONTINUED | 4/10/23 | 3121 | 72 | 6533 |
| Lets count: CONTINUED: Continued | 10/15/23 | 2621 | 50 | 9073 |
| Lets count: CONTINUED: Continued: Again | 2/3/24 | 1668 | 26 | 10140 |
(Update as needed. Last updated 2/8/24 at 6:19 pm CST by Owen Behrens.)
Trivia
In my research into the origin of the thread to fact-check this article, I stumbled across a thread posted by Shelli Selby called "lets count again." It was posted on 1/17/23, apparently because the original thread had died off. However, it only got 122 replies, and didn't seem to have much significance. The thread started over from one, and reached 63. Many of the numbers were sent as GIFs. After 63, Shelli said "i only made this one because i couldn't find the other one but now i did find it so the first one is my main focus XDD"
On 11/7/22, Daniel Simmons posted a thread titled "LETS COUNT BACKWARDS" It started at 2048, since that was the last number in the normal counting thread. It only reached 1035 before people lost interest. The last message was sent on 11/12/22. It had 24 messages from 7 respondents.
One interesting thing about these threads is the number of reactions they get. For example, the original "lets count" thread had 30 reactions, of 13 different types. "Lets count: CONTINUED" had 39 reactions, 23 of which were the infinity emoji. "Lets count: CONTINUED: Continued" had 24 reactions with the infinity emoji. (this might be a record for most number of the same reaction? I'm not sure.)
The record for the most number of numbers posted in a short period of time was set by Isaac Rivers and Jacob Grady, when they posted a combined total of 534 numbers in ~37 minutes.[2]
At 8:49am CST on 2/8/2024, the counting thread (Lets count: CONTINUED: Continued: Again) reached its first five-digit number, 10,000. Isaac Rivers sent the message.[3] To accomplish this feat, Isaac Rivers and Jacob Grady beat their own message record, with 534 numbers in ~37 minutes.
At some point around two thousand, they began counting backwards - I'm not sure if that is true, or if it is, when they turned around again and started going forwards.[4]
MS Counting Thread
On 2/5/24, the middle schooler Tripp Tamayo posted a thread titled:
"Continue counting until 1000 i changed 10,000
baaaaaahhhhhhh
(GIF of minecraft steve)
I need to write smth soooooo baah?"
I think this truly embodies the difference between middle school and high school ._ . Anywayyy, the middle school counting thread started at one, and it currently at 683. There have been 822 replies from 18 participants. (as of 2/8/24 at 6:41 pm CST, last updated my Owen Behrens) However, this thread does nOT have the unspoken rule that one person isn't allowed to send more than one message in a row, so there are many instances of the same person counting up three or more numbers in a row.
Notes
- ↑ It did start at one, unless my memory absolutely fails me. I watched it for a while, and then got involved around 400. -Owen
- ↑ (If you have a recorded instance of larger amounts in the same time, please edit this)
- ↑ Gabe Nelson claims that his computer shows that he sent the message first. However, I haven't seen any screenshots of this, so unless I do I'll say that Isaac got it - that's what my computers all show, and I've seen multiple screenshots of the same.
- ↑ Confirmed by Samuel Grady: After 2082, Keene Elkins jumped to 2100. Sunda Schwertfeger then proceeded to count backwards (probably to correct the jump). Then, after a few hundred backwards-counting messages, the counting continued forwards as normal (is there anything normal at northstar?), with some mild confusion to those who saw this afterward.