I love the SDMB. Thank you!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

No, nothing dramatic happened to me. I just, well, wanted to express my appreciation that this board exists, and in the form it does.

I have the occasional quibble with the board management or posters, sure—but they’re just that. Exceedingly minor issues with and greater whole. The fact is that this is one of the smartest, most well-behaved, well-managed (both in mods, and software), and level-headed places I’ve ever been online. Or anywhere.

These boards have been a lifeline, a breath of fresh air, and a sturdy rock for me. I just don’t say that enough. Thank you!

(And, by contrast, too many other forums/fandoms are like a pack of shrieking howler monkeys jammed into a sack. A sack which is given solid thwacks with a bamboo cane, at random. Which is what inspired this post, aside from an expression of affection.)

2

I absolutely concur with Ranchoth and I am so pleased that it has given me an opportunity to sharpen up my vocabulary, and work on my articulation, not to mention impressive and practical, invaluable advice. :slight_smile:

3

What are ya? Some kind of weirdo? :stuck_out_tongue:

I’ll let someone else “you’re welcome”, I’m only here for my own entertainment.

4

Well then, why don’t you show your appreciation by signing up for a membership? Erase that ugly “Guest” below your name!

5

'Cause I’m grateful, but I have an exceedingly tight budget at the moment. :frowning:

6

Your check’s in the mail. (I wish)

7

Thank you. You just gave me an epiphany. After years of living under marshal law I realized I am now free to make credit card purchases as I see fit.

And so, shortly I shall be returned to member status.
ETA: And it’s active already. Wow!

8

I love you too.

9

Right back atcha, slick. :wink:

ETA: Here

10

A quick look back on some of the message boards I’ve been on over the years.

Improfanfic - arrogant intolerant close-minded egomaniacs. Some Beatmania IIDX fansite - everyone marches in lockstep, no actual discussion whatsoever (and the only place I ever saw that “distended anus” pic). DDRFreak - anarchy, inmates run the asylum, maybe one person banned ever. GameFAQs - went from well-regulated and courteous to mud-flinging anarchic free for all where no one ever gets banned virtually overnight, absolutely betrayed. Some Samurai Shodown fansite - discussions peter out, some absolute gutter trash piece of crap takes over every discussion and is never restrained in any way; I give an extremely harsh parting blast. Bemanistyle - discussions range from civil to heated, no real help with any of my questions, eventually just lose interest. Codebreaker - No help whatsoever, degenerates into rude denunciations of the very damn device they’re supposed to be assisting with.

And that’s not even counting the ones that I only ever lurked. CNNSI’s boards, in particular, were a cesspool. Good lord, if I never have to see The Notorious KOT blather about “crying towels” again, it’ll be too soon.

And now I realize that of all the message boards I know and have ever known, this is the only one I still post to…AT ALL. Not that this should be much of a surprise. You read the news stories, about how a lot of websites are finally realizing that letting people post whatever they want has been an unmitigated disaster, and now they’re finally regulating the boards, hiring real moderators, keeping a close eye on every thread, cracking down hard on flamers, trolls, and spammers, banning offenders, and removing offensive posts, all things that the SDMB got right from day one.

Subscription fee? That’s nothing. Every other board was completely free to join and use, and in each case I got exactly what I paid for. If a place deserves my money, it’ll get it.

So yeah, Ranchoth, nice sentiment, appreciate it, but nothing we didn’t already know for a long time.

11

An SDMB grattitude thread!! Ranchoth, I’m right there with you.
:slight_smile:

12

Count me in! :smiley:

13

I honestly have not spent one second even glancing at another MB my entire life, and I have no plans to do so anytime in the future.

14

:slight_smile:

A joy in life.

15

Trouble is it is so interesting, it is a time sink. Right now there are things I should be doing, rather than reading threads and responding.

16

I’m a Mod on a board for teachers of English (TEFL - Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and I steal stuff (usually interesting ideas) from here and post them there, either as a Mod or as my sock. I’ve even had new boards started, just by telling the admin (owner) about what I think would be good for our members. Those ideas often came from threads on TSD. So thank you, very much, all.

Our members (about 30,000 and growing by 100/day) are almost all in their early 20s, Americans (maybe 80%, the others are from the UK, NZ, Oz and Canada), intelligent, teaching, often at their wits end, heavily indebted because of their education, trying to make a difference and make sense of their worlds. To help them is hugely gratifying. The site is the best I’ve seen for a TEFL teacher so I’m proud to be contributing.

This site is one of the first I turn to, in the morning. The level of communication here is way above most others so I try my damnest to post logically and positively. Sometimes I will be … for want of a better word - crap. Apologies in advance.

17

I appreciate this board quite a bit. Some of the topics are just fascinating. I don’t participate as much as I could though, because I have a suspicion that while I’m (perfectly) charming in small doses, in large doses I make people want to pull their hair out. :wink:

Become a member? Hm, will have to consider that when I have a little extra money!

18

Agreed.

19

So true.
I spend way too much time reading threads, posting and replying and perusing the archives. :frowning:

20

This. I tried adding it to my IE “blocked sites” for a while, but going cold turkey didn’t work for long.