# Guest Status? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 7, 2004, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-status/267992 "2004-10-07T06:15:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-status/267992/1 "2004-10-07T06:15:34Z")
I usually lurk around here, as I would rather track down the answer to a question myself than post requesting an answer. However, this has me really stumped. Recently I started to wonder about “fnord”- what it means, where it comes from- so I started searching. I didn’t get all that far (it’s late and time for bed), but I did run into some old posts by a character named **fnord1966**. His join date is from the year 2000, yet he is listed as a “Guest”. Can anyone explain how this is possible? PS- I’m still trying to figure out “fnord”… don’t spoil the chase for me please. ---
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-status/267992/2 "2004-10-07T06:24:12Z")
OK- found two good definitions for “fnord”, plus a seemingly unrelated acronym: “Foundation for Neo- cognitive and Ontological Research and Development”. Still wondering how anyone whose join date is listed as 2000 can be neither “member” nor “charter member”. How will I sleep tonight? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-status/267992/3 "2004-10-07T06:33:57Z")
Paying to join is a recent thing. I’m guessing that he joined in 2000, but declined to pay when paying became necessary for membership. His posts would not have been deleted and he can join as a guest temporarily. Fnord is a weapon of the illuminati - [exerpt containing fnord explaination - offsite](http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/~boogles/Illuminati/fnord.text) ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-status/267992/4 "2004-10-07T06:45:49Z")
This is what I found somewhere in February… not sure where I found it, but it’s quirky enough. 😉 [Do not reproduce the work of others on this site; we do not have right of republication. Links are okay, small excerpts are okay. Total republication is not. your humble TubaDiva, who removed the work] I believe I found these on alt.discordia buxton@uiuc.edu ---
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-status/267992/5 "2004-10-07T06:56:14Z")
Thank you **Yllaria**. So **fnord1966** is a former “Member” who is currently a “Guest”? This makes sense, 'tho it seems strange that this person waited until well into the paid membership regime to exercise his “Guest” privilege. Can anyone confirm or deny? On preview I find a very nice post from **Flamsterette\_X**. While I have satisfactorily found an answer to “WTF is fnord?” on my own, your definition is much more beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-status/267992/6 "2004-10-07T07:43:18Z")
Thanks, **coven**. Wish I could remember where I found it… probably in someone’s LJ, but I’m sure they found it someplace else… oh well. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-status/267992/7 "2004-10-07T12:19:54Z")
Actually, we’ve has several “fnord” user names, including “Joe Fnord” and “Saint Fnordius”, most of them posting only once or twice. **fnord1966** was around for quite a while,he joined in 2000 and his last post was about six months ago. Generally, after the payment process was implemented, anyone could have posted for a month for free and got the title “Guest.” Failure to pay up within a month, and those posts would continue to be labelled “Guest” until the person pays. A person who doesn’t pay, the posts will remain as “Guest” ad infinitam. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-status/267992/8 "2004-10-07T15:11:03Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > …ad infinitam. **Ed Zotti** edited this post for you, didnt he? ---
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-status/267992/9 "2004-10-07T15:28:10Z")
Thank you **CK Dexter Haven**. Really you only reiterated what **Yllaria** originally posted, you just typed slower so it would be easier to understand. Makes perfect sense, no great mystery. :smack: Back to lurking!