# How much time have you ''wasted'' on the SDMB? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 18, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-have-you-wasted-on-the-sdmb/285355 "2005-01-18T13:29:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-have-you-wasted-on-the-sdmb/285355/1 "2005-01-18T13:29:46Z")
Inspired by something said by **Punha** in a thread by **Klintypooh** re “prolific” posters, I decided to crunch some numbers. I’ve got about 9100 posts at this point, plus lost another 900 or so during the Winter of our Missed Content. So I’ve posted approximately 10,000 times since joining around mid July, 2001. Now assuming that each posts represents about 20 minutes of time, including reading threads, thinking about what to post, research, coding, etc. That means that I’ve spent about 20 x 10,000 minutes, or 200,000 total minutes over that time on the SDMB. Now this works out to roughly 3,333 hours. Or 139 days. Or 20 weeks. Or 4.6 months. A little more than a third of a year. Worked out over the 3.5 years since I originally joined, that’s about 57,000 minutes a year. Or 952 hours/year. Or 40 days/year. 5.6 weeks/year. Or 1.3 months/year. And that doesn’t include time wasted on sleep, eating, other necessities, etc. Now, admittedly, it’s not all wasted, but there’s a lot of frittering and procrastination and “Mundane Stuff” thrown in there. (I don’t include time spent at or getting to Dopefests, since I consider those real life interactions). So, how much time have you “wasted” here? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-have-you-wasted-on-the-sdmb/285355/2 "2005-01-18T13:52:59Z")
I’ve _spent_ a lot of time here, but I haven’t _wasted_ a second. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-have-you-wasted-on-the-sdmb/285355/3 "2005-01-18T14:02:20Z")
Not very much time, but I’m sure that if you asked my estranged wife, kids, friends and family then you would get a very different answer. :dubious: Seriously? I type slowly, rewrite every phrase at least twice and lurk a lot; each of my posts probably represents one to two hours of lost time. I’ve probably idled away six months of my life here. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-have-you-wasted-on-the-sdmb/285355/4 "2005-01-18T14:10:51Z")
7,400 posts \* 20 minutes = 1480000 1480000 minutes on the board / 60 minutes = 2466.66 hours on the board 24666.66 / 24 = 102.77 days on the board Three months and 12 days altogether or a month and three weeks a year so far going by your method. That is incorrect though. Ever since mid-November of last year, I have spent the majority of each day on the board since I am homebound with no TV or any friends to talk to. Assuming only eight hours a day (and that is being pessimistic), I have spent a full 21 days on the SDMB in some capacity in the last two months. Extrapolated to the end of the year, that’s 130 days and another 9,000 posts if my math is right. That won’t happen, of course. Once I am healed, my presence here will die down but it’s still interesting to figure out. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-have-you-wasted-on-the-sdmb/285355/5 "2005-01-18T14:11:40Z")
…That said, this is a heckuva social outlet. It would be great to have a real-life version of the SD where one could meet with intelligent people from all walks of life, but I’m not sure how easily that could be done, and even if it could be done I don’t know if we could stay on topic. A business networking group might be a real life comparison… maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-have-you-wasted-on-the-sdmb/285355/6 "2005-01-18T14:12:54Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > … extrapolated to the end of the year, that’s 130 days and another 9,000 posts if my math is right. For 2005 alone, I mean. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-have-you-wasted-on-the-sdmb/285355/7 "2005-01-18T14:14:53Z")
Only the time I spent reading \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*'s posts. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-have-you-wasted-on-the-sdmb/285355/8 "2005-01-18T14:20:03Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Now this works out to roughly 3,333 hours. Just thought of something else. I can, at least hypothetically, bill out at $100 or more an hour. So in dollar terms this represents about a third of a million dollars. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-have-you-wasted-on-the-sdmb/285355/9 "2005-01-18T14:27:21Z")
But you probably spent 1/3 of the hours you billed here, so you have wasted nothing. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-have-you-wasted-on-the-sdmb/285355/10 "2005-01-18T14:29:08Z")
It takes you 20 minutes to write a post? Dude, you’re thinking too much. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-have-you-wasted-on-the-sdmb/285355/11 "2005-01-18T16:14:52Z")
If Shirley Ujest got on a train that left Chicago at 3pm heading east to New York at 55 mph nonstop and her clone, Shirley Ujest1000, got on a Train in New York heading for Chicago at 65 mph with twenty two stops inbetween, how many posts would she contribute during this time period? None. She doesn’t live in chicago or NY and though she does have a lap top, it’s not wifi or whatever. Hell, she can’t even get out of the first game in her Excalibre Hand Held Chess game that she _had_ to have last year. This post is an example of how new math is just wrong and so is this entire post. Time spent on The Dope is never wasted.