I'd Like to be a Doper but...

Geez, you know, I’d really like to be a full member in this community instead of just a guest. Here are some things holding me back:

1 I’m not really great with computers. I didn’t grow up with them and I’m not sure how to work all the do-hickies on the toolbars. In my Stooges thread, I double-posted and screwed up the quotes function in one of my replies.

2 As my chosen names states, I have two cats. I’d love to post about them but I don’t have any way to post pictures of them as per customary rule for pet posts.

3 I’m actually not all that certain about the difference between a guest and an actual Doper. Can you guys tell me?

4 I’m a little leery of using my credit card on the net. Also I’m cheap.

5 I worry that if I get involved in a good rousing debate, I’ll be tempted to post from work, and I’m not sure how my bosses will feel about that if they catch me.
I think they’re considering spyware.

6 Hi Opal!

I guess that’s about it. Do I have to bring pie or something now?

  1. Much of the membership is not great with computers. Keeps those of us who are busy in GQ.

  2. No one can embed images here. Upload your photos to a hosting site such as photobucket or imageshack and post a link back.

  3. There is none. Once you’ve registered a username, you’re a Doper. Guests are unpaid accounts and Members are paid with the added perk of not having to view ads.

  4. No need; see 3. If you insist on wanting to pay, see the ATMB forum for the subscription help sticky thread.

  5. Post real quiet-like.

  6. Stop that. Seriously, I’ll hurt you.

I’d agree with all that, and would add:

  1. Guests can’t search for past threads

Take the plunge - become a Doper! C’mon in, the water’s fine.

Yes we can, actually. That was a difference before the board went back to free posting, but is no longer the case.

Really? I was thinking about letting my membership lapse and just becoming a guest, but if I can’t search I may have to rethink that.

Members have bigger PM mailboxes (100, instead of 50), and our locations and post counts show.

Not everyone finds those advantages worth $15.

Welcome – glad you found us!

The only real difference between a guest and a member so far as I can tell is that members have visible location and post count fields.

I miss having a location and feel everyone should have theirs visible, but since I have near 11,000 posts, I don’t mind people not seeing my post count.

The water’s always fine. Hey, the squid likes it. (You know about newbies and the squid, don’t you?)

Hello and welcome!

Don’t worry about the squid. The squid is just a rumour. There is no squid. And no goat either.

There is ice cream, however. Really [del]frisky[/del] fresh ice cream.

Most of us don’t bite. Please join us.

Not to mention that paid members become totally irresistable to members of their prefered sex. And we don’t care what that preference is.

Umm, could somebody tell me when that’s supposed to kick in, please? I’m still waiting over here.

There’s two reasons my mother can’t be a poster:

  1. she don’t speak no English, señor. Well, enough to tell someone who calls mangling my name in English to “call three, three, son home, speaks english.” (my brother)

  2. I wouldn’t be able to rant about her!

Anybody good enough with computers to compose the OP is good enough with computers to be here. Heck, you can even spell!

And the reasons I’m a guest are:

  1. the letter reminding me to renew got triggered during one of my bouts of “week in a hotel for business reasons,” which is not a good time for my inbox in general.

  2. I was too lazy to renew, afterwards

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I knew you’d all make me feel right at home.

I read the OP link in the forum as:

“I’d like to be a Doper but…
Two Many Cats.”

And then I had to wonder for a moment why how many cats one owned would have anything to do with it…

First, make sure that your preferred sex setting is correct. That is a fairly common error. If you still aren’t getting satisfactory results, contact an administrator for further instructions.

Welcome to the Club!

That means that two members of the sex you are attracted to would get the hots for you. There is no guarantee that you will ever meet them. In my case, there’s a woman in Nanjing and a woman in Khartoum who would totally fall for me, in the unlikely event that they knew I existed.