Or not. But I just can’t let the occasion pass without wallowing in one of the SDMB’s most time-honored orgies of self-congratulatory narcissism. So here we go: whoop-de-do, *blows noisemaker, 1000 pearls of wisdom (or a reasonable facsimile thereof), don’t choke on them.
A few FAQs -
Q:What does RTA mean?
A: RTA comes to us by way of one of the great American movies of all time, Pee Wee Herman’s Big Adventure:
Texan: “Well hell, boy, what DO you remember?”
Herman: “I remember … the Alamo?”
All Texans: “Yaah-hoooo!!!”
I realize it’s a moderately stupid user name, but I’ve used it for over 4 years all across the internet and I’m not about to start switching it just because you think it’s stupid too, or that I might be able to think of a jazzier one. It’s worn in and comfortable to me. (Some of you mysterious strangers here at the SDMB who’ve changed your names all around since 1999 … oh, never mind.)
Q: How is it that you were one of the first 450 or so registered members of the SDMB?
A: Opalcat and I used to hang out on some other boards. She took a little shine to me, and invited me to start posting on her World Domination Headquarters boards. Then when this here SDMB started up, a re-invention of the old, old AOL Straight Dope board, she immediately sent me a heads-up. Back when there were maybe 1500 members it was a completely different board than it is today, I might add. (Hi, Opal.)
Q: Why don’t you post so much?
A: Well I was travelling for a few months … but I think I post almost every day, actually … The difference here is that I think the SDMB is a message board, where a dialogue of messages are posted on a board, whereas some of you people treat it like it’s a fucking chat room, where we send all our bandwidth resources right up the chimney, just so certain people can quadruple-post “omigod me too! LOLOL”. It makes it hard to log on sometimes. Note to your mindless, nattering, flirtatious, weak-attempt-at-humor self: the SDMB is not a chat room. It was not designed to be a chat room. Maybe they should have a official Straight Dope chat room, but they don’t right now.
But I understand the question. Compared to some of our more prolific posters (one of whom I suspect is actually a boy who lives in a plastic bubble with only one form of communication available to him) I don’t post that much.
Anyway there you have it, friends, foes … the big RTA’s 1000th post extravaganza. Flame me, praise me, ask me a question - or let this thread sink like a stone into the eternal flotsam. I promise it won’t hurt my feelings if it does.
