I think I’ll be a lot better at it now that I’ve been to my first Dopefest. I don’t know that I’ll remember everyone’s real names, but I’ll definitely pay more attention to the posts of the folks I’ve met IRL.
There are other people here (featherlou, jsgoddess, any of the baseball fans, some of the Pit dwellers) who I also specifically know by personality because they tend to hang out in the type of threads I’m interested in. But by-and-large, I don’t know that I could necessarily identify folks just by the style of their posts.
I remember OpalCat, but I’ve been here a while. When I started out, there was a guy named Esprix & a young woman called SwimmingRiddles who were memorable. I recognize Polycarp, Otto, & Der Trihs easily. I now mostly keep BrainGlutton & Diogenes the Cynic straight. I think there’s only one guy with “Airman” in his name.
But… I keep thinking Green Bean is Drain Bead. There are least two members with “T_nk” in their names (Trunk, ExTank, & ?) that I don’t quite keep straight. And… I used to keep thinking Speaker for the Dead & Enderw24 were the same guy.
I’m probably about average at keeping straight in my head who’s who if I’ve interacted with them on enough occasions. Like twickster said upthread, interacting off board makes it a lot easier.
Some names will never leave me, even if their owners are (or seem to be) gone for good (I’m looking at you, Munch and Montfort).
I will remember your kids, cats, dogs, hobbies, allergies, and mother-in-law’s occupation. Name or face, not so much, and I’m generally incapable of putting a name to a face. Or at least, the right name with the proper face.
No idea who’s who from one thread to the next, but at least that means each one starts with a clean slate. No prejudices! (but also no knowledge of anyone’s gender, back story, etc.)
That’s me. It always suprises me when another poster claims we had a prior knock-down debate a couple years ago. I might remember the debate, but rarely the posters involved.
I’m crappy with names IRL, even more so here. And I actually tend not to read usernames when I go through a thread, so most of the time there’s nothing to remember. I’ve had conversations go three posts each deep before realizing I was talking to someone I’m friends with.
The only Dopers I remember without fail are those who fall into the following two groups: “abject assholes” (of which there are 37) and “women so hot my heart skipped a beat when I saw their picture” (of which there is precisely one).
I’ve often wanted to just start creating profiles for Dopers…a new word doc for every poster. As I read through threads, I take pertinent info from their posts and add it to the document. For example…so-and-so lives in this state, has kids and a dog, likes bicycles and knows a lot about computers. With links to especially important threads they’ve started. That way I could always have a reference and a picture in my head of who is posting.
It would be scary how much info I could amass. More so if I utilized the search function.
However, that will never happen because I already spend too much time here. So, you are all safe!
I am glad you haven’t had time to begin your program of serial stalking dopers. If you ever end up with the time, please remember how nice I’ve been to you and kill me last.
heh…I can count on one hand and part of another which Dopers I’m going to recognize, what they’re like online and what kind of humor or ribbing they’ll respond to. And then there’s the dozen or so I have absolutely no use for. Ever. Usually because of a single event. Pretty sure that one’s working both ways though.
I do remember scraps of information, but it may only last a week or two before fading. Some of it stays around and becomes permanent “knowledge”, filed along with other bits of useless trivia that no one ever asks me for.
