# Don't you people have lives??? (Heavy SDMB usage) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 9, 2003, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254 "2003-07-09T16:01:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Davebear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Davebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Davebear)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/21 "2003-07-09T18:34:43Z")
What I’d like to know is why someone who’s been a member for nearly three years, and still only has 43 posts, even bothers to check in, here. Seems like the board must be of much interest. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/22 "2003-07-09T18:35:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zeldar \* > \*\*Until June 18 I was content sitting in my swing reading (on average) a book a day, catching a few favorite teevie shows, doing the hour or two tribute to Morpheus (not that one – the old guy) and otherwise enjoying my retirement. > > Hooked is how I would describe it over the days since. I just can’t seem to get up out of this chair for much more than head breaks (both kind), > > I love it here! \*\* The guys like **mipiace** I understand, but _you_ scare me … 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mipiace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@mipiace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mipiace)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/23 "2003-07-09T18:41:36Z")
Yeah & BTW I DO have a SO and when he is around SDMB doesn’t really enter my mind…😉 but he isn’t around from 8-5 so this is my prop instead… ---
**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/24 "2003-07-09T18:46:39Z")
While I don’t even have 1000 posts to my name, I do have oodles of free time. Summer, you see, and I’m a student without money. Therefore, I enjoy the finest free entertainment that I can obtain without breaking any laws or frightening passers-by. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/25 "2003-07-09T18:54:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ponder Stibbons \* > \*\*The guys like **mipiace** I understand, but _you_ scare me … 😉 \*\* BOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Scare you? Naaah I doubt you scare so easily. But if so, how? ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/26 "2003-07-09T18:55:09Z")
Like **mipiace** , I have a boring job. The SDMB makes the day pass a little faster. At home, though, I have to compete for computer time with **Airman Doors** , so I don’t post as much after work or on weekends. It would be nice to see my husband’s face once in a while instead of the back of his head… 😉 Robin ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/27 "2003-07-09T18:55:17Z")
What? ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/28 "2003-07-09T18:56:35Z")
That wasn’t directed at anybody. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/29 "2003-07-09T18:57:37Z")
From what I’ve seen, “just a message board” is the wrong way to think of the SDMB. A lot of people here are friends in real life, even significant others. A lot more people have strange, interestings jobs or life experiences that other people want to hear about. There’s Dopefests, and the simple respect that many people on this board have earned oodles of. So, here’s a better question, considering all the different social niches the SDMB fills for some people: How do the habits of a person who does 10-15 posts a day on the SDMB compare with those of a person who spends perhaps an hour talking on instant messenger with friends, then reads/sends their email, and maybe spends some time planning a get-together with friends? In that context, the time even high-number posters spend on the SDMB doesn’t seem odd at all. Or, maybe I’m talking out of my ass here. Who knows? ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/30 "2003-07-09T19:03:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zeldar \* > \*\*BOOOOOOOOOOOOO! > > Scare you? > > Naaah > > I doubt you scare so easily. But if so, how? \*\* Take a look at our respective registered dates and number of posts … you’re making me look bad!! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/31 "2003-07-09T19:05:28Z")
I think your ass talks just fine, **Mr. Excellent**. I too, sit at a computer all day at work and wait for people to get back to me so I can do my job. The longer people take to give me the info I need, the more free time I have. I don’t usually go to any other message boards because this one is the best. I only look at a few other Web sites during the day, and of them all, this is the only one that any sort of “interaction” and change. So here I be. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/32 "2003-07-09T19:09:33Z")
Well, I’m off for the summer and the SDMB has been extremely benefcial. People here have helped build things in my own yard that I never thought possible. Check out the treehouse thread in MPSIMS. When I work (during the school year I’m a teacher at a local college) I post from work between class, I ask important moral and philosophical questions and just simply enjoy being here. I too have wondered about people like **Handy** and **QED**. More recently I’ve been wondering what **QED** does, as he has only been here since January I think, and yet is up around 5k… Yo! **Q**. What do you do? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/33 "2003-07-09T19:13:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ponder Stibbons \* > \*\*Take a look at our respective registered dates and number of posts … you’re making me look bad!! 😛 \*\* Well, I have been averaging 6-8 hours per day since I logged on, so that’s not nearly as bad as I could be doing. I read maybe 1/10 of the posts/threads and reply to about half the ones I read. I _try_ not to overdo things, but sometimes I get into a topic and it just happens. ---
**Author:** ![PeeWee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@PeeWee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeeWee)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/34 "2003-07-09T19:25:25Z")
Davebear - I normally check in once a day, only to read the latest columns, and never even make it to the SDMB. When I do, I rarely make it past the first page of General Questions. The other forums don’t really interest me (except in this case!) or piss me off (The Pit - what a bunch of whiners?). I generally read one or two threads on the GQ, and go back to work, or surfing elsewhere. Being an ocean engineer, I tend to be more interested in engineering/boating related questions, and there don’t seem to be that many of them, which is why I rarely respond to anything. Lots of computer questions (I find boring), or very specific “help me” type questions. I guess some people like to add their 2-cents to every thread, whether they really have anything of merit to say or not, and that doesn’t bother me at all, it’s often quite amusing. I tend not to reply unless I’m pretty confident of what I’m saying, and I have the time to do it. I’ve already spent more time on here today, reading everybody’s posts (THANKS for responding!!!) than I have in months. \ My suspicions are becoming more confirmed however, that the heavy users have dull jobs w/ computer access, or are students who should be far better spending their lives out living it than spending hours chatting or SDMB’ing, etc. This place has a genuine purpose, but try to keep it in perspective for crying out loud. \ ---
**Author:** ![PeeWee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@PeeWee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeeWee)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/35 "2003-07-09T19:29:02Z")
Zeldar…dude…go out in the sunshine man, or wo-man. ---
**Author:** ![Padmaraga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@Padmaraga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padmaraga)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/36 "2003-07-09T19:30:59Z")
My story is just like **mipiace** and **Gorgon Heap**. I agree about this message board being the best I’ve seen, too. It isn’t that easy to find boards that are not dominated by teens and/or people who are, um, “blissfully free of the ravages of intelligence.” Not to **demean** those people; I just don’t particularly enjoy their input. You know, you can come here on any given day and: 1. learn something; 2. express an opinion; 3. have your beliefs challenged (usually respectfully); 4. have a good laugh. And more. Where else can you get a deal like that? Especially since being a jerk is discouraged here, it’s a great place to hang out while you’re getting paid to sit in front of a computer. And this is my 101st post! Woo hoo! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/37 "2003-07-09T19:35:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PeeWee \* > \*\*Zeldar…dude…go out in the sunshine man, or wo-man. \*\* No thanks, **PeeWee** , it’s a mite hot for that. Another reason to hang out here. (And it’s man, if that matters.) Your observations are interesting enough that I might start a new thread on how people decide what to read and what provokes them to post. There have been quite a few “get to know you” things in the past few days. Maybe longer. Hard to say with less than a month’s exposure. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/38 "2003-07-09T19:37:44Z")
I got a question for you PeeWee. Something you’ll be interested in. I’ll head over to GQ and post it… Regarding a problem with my 30 foot [Grady Marlin 300](http://www.gradywhite.com/300/). An Ocean Engineer huh? ---
**Author:** ![Blonde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Blonde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blonde)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/39 "2003-07-09T19:40:49Z")
I guess I fall under the “dull job with computer access” (and a private office) category. **PeeWee** , I see your point to some extent, but going out in the sunshine is quite uncomfortable in my neck of the woods this time of year. 🙂 I think the board is a fine place to learn from others’ experiences and opinions. ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254/40 "2003-07-09T19:48:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PeeWee \* > \*\*Davebear - I normally check in once a day, only to read the latest columns, and never even make it to the SDMB. When I do, I rarely make it past the first page of General Questions. The other forums don’t really interest me (except in this case!) or piss me off (The Pit - what a bunch of whiners?). I generally read one or two threads on the GQ, and go back to work, or surfing elsewhere. \*\* Yep. You are displaying the classic symptoms of SDMB addiction. You are clearly in the denial stage. There’s really no sense fighting it. It’s inevitable–it’s happened to all of us. Next comes resignation and soon you will posting like a fiend and truly be one of the Teeming Millions. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-you-people-have-lives-heavy-sdmb-usage/187254.md?page=3)