Wow. I grew up in the 80s with the Dope books, found the site as soon as it moved off of AOL, and asked my first question here about six years ago. And now, my thousandth post. It sure took a long time, what with my semi-lurker habits. But I think I’ve read well over ninety percent of GQ threads, and you can extrapolate from there. A thousand posts always seemed so far off, and I never though I’d come to think of it as something special. But here I am. I find I don’t want to waste it on some computer question, wise comment, or whatnot. So I thought I’d tell you all what I thought of you (with no worries that this will end up in the pit).
I thought about naming some of the many posters that I’ve found the most informative, entertaining, or interesting. But I soon realized that this post would grow too large for easy readability, even if I tried to limit myself just to the upper-upper echelon. Suffice as to say, I wholeheartedly agree with every post in the various ‘who is your favorite poster’ threads. I will, though, make one exception—I miss you WallyM7.
So, how much do I appreciate the SDMB community, as made up of the posters, the mods, the admins, even the hamsters (working or not)? Well, it’s a bit complicated. First, take the number of threads I’ve read since the first time I opened up the SDMB. Now, multiply that by the total number of posts in those threads. Raise the product by the number of registered users raised by the number of posts made in the wrong forum times the number of closed threads. Of course, multiply this number by three for obvious reasons. That’s a small number compared to how much I appreciate the SDMB community. Thank you all.
Rhythm
And you?
I’ve found answers to burning (not to mention merely lukewarm) questions here; I’ve gotten excellent advice; I’ve gotten much-needed emotional support; I’ve had a blast a the half-dozen or so dopefests I’ve been to. And I’ve laughed so hard at times that my kids thought I was losing it.
This is where I get pretty much most of my intellectual stimulation. My job is technical, and my friends aren’t into science or politics. I appreciate this place quite a bit.
Like Revtim, this is where I come for intellectual stimulation.
I’m here to learn. I post a lot, but it’s just meandering drivel. I love what I do learn here, because it’s more than *just * cold, hard facts. It’s opinions, it’s advice, it’s questions I never thought to ask, it answers many of my “whys” and “why nots”. I learn about how people feel and react, good and bad. Throw in a good story or two, just for fun. Every forum has something to learn from.
I’d like to stay here a while. I’d like to one day contribute more than my random channellings of the combined Reverend Spooner and Dr. Freud.
I’ve got a new beau, and we were talking about the role the Dope plays in my life. He seemed to be starting with the assumption that it’s something I do instead of having real relationships with real people – but a) I consider what goes on here “real,” and b) they’re totally different things. I sent himlinks to my “I broke my ankle” and “I broke my VCR” threads in an effort to explain, and I think he kind of gets it intellectually, although he still doesn’t really, yanno, get it.
I come here for the sense of community, which I experience as being about a group of distinctive personalities, some of whom I like a hell of a lot and some of whom I can’t stand; and I come here for the sense of fun and intellectual openness. I love a place where I can start a thread on whatever damn thing I’m thinking about – some GQ on bird behavior, or a reaction to a book/movie/TV show/piece of music, or a dumb joke or bit of celebrity gossip – and have people come in with either thoughtful responses, or some delightfully off-the-wall tangent, or both. Bad puns and loving advice – all from the same group.
The thing about the SDMB (or any message board, really) is that it has absolutely no analog in real life. In real life, you’re never going to get that many people, that many opinions, that many viewpoints, that much expertise all crammed into a room together. It’s odd, in a way – in real life, most of us make up our circle of acquaintance almost entirely among those who are like us… and here what we value is in many ways the opposite.
The other thing about the SDMB (unlike other message boards I’ve seen) is the caliber of the people on it. I don’t think I have to elaborate on that, since I think it’s widely recognized (among ourselves, naturally). I think most of us are willing to do justice even to the people who infuriate us, and recognize what they bring to the table.
I will also say that I’d damn well better have good things to say about the place, given how much time I spend here!
Actually, after subscribing here (the first message board I’d ever looked at), I checked out some others. They are pathetic by comparision.
Beside the fact that there’s almost always someone who knows what their talking about, there are always those people (e.g., Thaidog) who come along with something which is not only hilarious, but which generates hilarious responses.
As long as my computer is on, there’s an active SDMB tab somewhere down there.
Actually, after subscribing here (the first message board I’d ever looked at), I checked out some others. They are pathetic by comparision.
Beside the fact that there’s almost always someone who knows what their talking about, there are always those people (e.g., Thaidog) who come along with something which is not only hilarious, but which generates hilarious responses.
As long as my computer is on, there’s an active SDMB tab somewhere down there.
It widens my experience. It gives me things to think about, and sometimes questions to obsess about. When I go to some other boards I can’t believe how lame the posters are in general-- it’s not perfect here but compared to a lot of places on the intarweb it’s pretty civil and sophisticated.
Good point. I’d add something to it: On a message board (particularly this one), you can always say your piece; in real life conversations, I often find that speaking my mind fully would take too long and become too involved.
The message-board model is how real-life conversations should be constructed if the participants wanted to actually decide things.
As I often say after getting responses to my questions: “I love this board.”
It’s great for me in a few ways. First there are those simple down to earth questions where I don’t know the answers. For the most part I can throw out a question, come back in a day, and the answer is there.
Then there are the more complicated questions. Sometimes questions about how to deal with my kids. Most recent one had to do with a work presentation. Sometimes just reading the responses triggers the right thought process in me. Invaluable stuff. Maybe if I worked in some setting where you have about 20 or 30 bright helpful people in earshot and you don’t give a damn if anyone thinks you’re an idiot and most of the time people are sitting around gazing at thier monitors waiting for something to happen, I wouldn’t need SDMB. But my office is nothing like that so it’s been great.
Now if we could just set up three more boards, as I recently posted: medical discussion, virtual book club, computers for dummies.
I love it here. Even if I don’t feel particularly chatty and have nothing to contribute, I can always find an interesting thread to read.
But I really like joining in, too, and adding my two cents to discussions. The Lost discussion threads alone make the subscription worth it. Then there’s all the questions I get answered within minutes of posting, and all the laughs I get.
I wish I could convince my man to join in the fun, because I know he’d fit right in and probably enjoy it more than is good for him. So far, no luck.
I like this place. I’d never seen a message board before this one, and from the descriptions, I don’t need to check out other ones. I don’t think you could find as educated and eloquent a collection of people anywhere else by accident or design.
Where else can you read threads about boners in a non-pornographic context?
