In which I reflect upon my 500 posts, and my time here at the SDMB...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Well, where do I start? One calendar month on these boards, and already I have hit the big 500… makes me wonder when I’ll reach 1000! (which is when the big post parties are held, so I hear) Not that I’m averse to throwing myself another one, but after the reaction I got when I celebrated 50 posts (so long ago now), I admit I’m leery of the reaction this one will get me.

So why am I doing it? I kind of promised White Lightning I would… well, not really, but I did mention that I’d do something of the sort, so here I am! Besides, nobody’s told me NOT to post, as I saw in a recent thread directed at LaurAnge, because she had one more post to go before hitting 1000! :stuck_out_tongue: [sub]Hey, I post so often that those directives wouldn’t work on me, anyways! Unless it was during a time when I wasn’t on these boards…and I had a chance to see it before posting![/sub]

Through a link at the Twinstuff message board, I got introduced to this message board. Luckily, I knew what the Straight Dope was; I have two or three of the books, and I also sometimes read the online column. (the post in the thread I was reading at the time had to do with whether identical twins had identical fingerprints or something like that)

I don’t think I could say I lurked as such, which does not mean that I went to the board and instantly registered, either! I did read some threads first, such as the ones about calculating posting ratios, Kyomara’s banning, etc. (Since I am not a coding genius like UncleBill and thinksnow seem to be, you all will have to search for the threads I reference if you’re so inclined… heck, I can’t even get my URL links to appear in blue most of the time! Besides that, I screw up my coding on a regular basis… :rolleyes: )

Nobody posted a welcome thread for me :frowning: but that was all right, because nobody knew me! And I did not post one for myself, either! I just took it slowly (“500 posts in a calendar month? You gotta be kiddng!” I can hear some of you saying), and figured things out as I went along. (or tried to)

Eventually, I felt confident enough to start threads without worrying that people wouldn’t like me for what I had to say. (however, I will not post in GD for precisely this reason… I don’t know if I have anything worthy to say, so I haven’t posted anything there yet)

There was the thread I started because I wanted to explain my screen name to lel, and possibly to everyone else, too. I also remember the thread I started on the word “Aiya!”, and the one I started when I wanted to know how things worked on this message board. (thanks to everyone who helped me with that one) Then there was the one I started on whether it was typical for men to offer solutions and advice as comfort! That was a typical example of very screwed up coding, but luckily I fixed it later on. Anyone remember the rant I started about my family? That was definitely when I started to feel that the board was somewhere I could go to rant! (or just to talk, same difference) :slight_smile:

I’m not sure that I’ve gotten to know a bunch of you yet (or could call everyone my friends), but I’m glad that I can just pick up pieces of information along the way. (no, I wouldn’t use it for any nefarious purposes, believe me) However, I have grown used to seeing the regular group of names around the boards, or at least in the forums that I frequent. (mainly MPSIMS and the BBQ Pit, though I have been known to go to ATMB and IMHO; and very rarely Cafe Society) Having said that, I feel like I’ve found a home here, and that I have gotten to know various bits of info about some of you; I’m unsure if that could be construed as getting to know you! Hopefully, I’ll continue to get to know you all, and maybe even meet some of you at a DopeFest; who knows?

In my short time here on the boards, I don’t think I’ve managed to offend anyone (another reason why I don’t post in GD); though I think I’ve been flamed at least twice. But it’s all good… as someone (I don’t remember who) said to me, people do have short memories. [sub]I remember a lot, and pretty well… but that’s another story.[/sub]

They got rid of the pale yellow smilies and brought back the colored ones; I thought that was quite the improvement. Another improvement was the Quik-Post boxes; very convenient! I take this opportunity to thank all the moderators and administrators for all their hard work!

Admittedly, some of my posts have been inconsequential (corrections of my spelling, coding, and the like; or off-the-cuff “humorous” comments), or threadkillers, or even doubleposts! (there was the time my computer was acting funny, and I posted the same new thread three times in ATMB… whoever removed that monstrosity, I thank you) But to those of you who read and responded to my posts, I thank you, and wish you all well.

I can’t exactly do a “thanks, guys!” list like dropzone did, but I’d still like to thank you all for being there! Maybe I’ll figure out who to single out for the “star treatment” later… for now, I’ll say adios!

Now it’s time to see how my “crazy baby names” thread is doing… see ya!

[sub]Besides, if I do a “thank-you” list, I’ll be sure to leave some people out, and then they will get offended! I wouldn’t be sure who to include, anyways![/sub]

2

Uhhh…are you a sort of talkative kinda person?

Happy 500, Flam!

3

“…misty water-coloured mammaries…”

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Happy 500 posts, Hamster_X :smiley:

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500 posts … ah yes, I remember being there:D[sub]Late December back in '63…[/sub]

I never listened to this advice, of course, but I hear it’s quite sound: quality over quantity;)

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Congratulations on your milestone! You have already proven a more than worthy addition to our group and I hope you stay a long, long time.

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Flamsterette,

Nice to think that a harmless little link on our board has created a whole new circle of friends for you.

The timing of your note is good because just last night I pulled out my ‘Best of the Straight Dope’ book from my book-case at home and was trying to determine which of Cecil’s old columns would make for good bedtime reading to my 10-month-old twin boys.

Any of the vets here have suggestions on which of his columns might be best-suited for babies? (I’m thinking nothing too deep, no history or philosophy, probably nothing about body functions, but maybe something about animals or muppets?)

And since I don’t know my way around these boards (which dwarf ours in size), can you provide a direct link to your crazy baby names thread so I can read it?

Thanks,

Craig

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Oh! Your first kids, eh? There is NOTHING kids like better than body functions! And at their age you can read them anything and they’ll eat it up.

(BTW, twinstuff, welcome. Us Dads-O-Twins need to stick together.)

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dropzone,

I’ll check the book out again and see what might be appropriate for them. If memory serves me correctly there might even be an essay or two in the book on twins… But I still wish he had a column or two on why Barney has such short arms and is purple or something on Bert and Ernie.

Flamsterette–sorry to take away from your thread. You are certainly to be congratulated for such a profilic total of messages in such a short timeframe.

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Haha! I remember that. Seems like small potatoes now, doesn’t it.

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Yes, kuroashi… I happen to be. Do you have a problem with that? :stuck_out_tongue:

[Elvis impersonation] Thank you, thank you very much. [/Elvis]

Don’t worry about it, punha: seems I rarely listen to that advice, either! (as you can probably tell) :smiley:

Thanks, dropzone… I appreciate it! From the way things are going, it looks like I’ll stay for some time, so no worries there! :slight_smile:

Craig, if it weren’t for my interest in twins and things like that, I’d have never gotten to know you guys over at the Twinstuff board, or indeed to have this board either! I admit I don’t post there as often as I might have used to, but then again, I don’t want to take away from the parents and multiples that should by all rights be there. Even though my posting frequency there has dropped, I still think of you all and drop in on the odd occasion! (like last weekend)

Now you want to read the Straight Dope to Brady and Colby? :eek:Well, they might not understand it yet, but if you read to them now when they’re small enough, they might then gain a love of reading from you! That’s always a good thing, speaking as a confirmed bookworm myself! :cool: They’ll certainly love the time when Daddy (or Mommy) reads to them, that’s for sure!

Here is the link to my thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=109977

(if it turns out grey instead of blue, that’s the way most of my links seem to turn out. Oh well…

I hope you aren’t going to name any of your future kids those names! Maybe I’ll post a thread on the Twinstuff board with this as the subject matter.

Kids will definitely love anything about bodily functions, if the little kids I know are any indicator! :rolleyes:

Now I know why you thought I was perhaps a mother of twins, dropzone… twins would perhaps drive me nuts, that’s for sure!

Yes, it does… but you know what they say: from the seemingly insignificant steps of life come the big things! (or something like that)

12

I’m not a fan of post parties – can’t see the point of them but I’m a great fan of quality over quantity :wink:

I would respectfully suggest though that if you plan to stick around and you plan to post at this tremendous rate, that you do some research on coding and how to make valid links. It’s not all that amusing to other people that your links are gray when they want to read the link.

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That’s what I’ve been thinking myself, Primaflora… any ideas on how to start?

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All your answers are here, and in the links therein. I’d also suggest clicking on the 3rd button from the right at the top of every page. It’s the FAQ.

15

I’m not sure if this is what you guys are talking about, but in most versions of IE a link changes color when you have previously visited it. In the case of whatever versions I’m using (and which I believe to be common), an unvisited link on the SDMB is blue (umm… purplish) and a visited one is gray.

This sounds like what you are describing. Incidentally, I can’t recall ever having a problem with Flamsterette_X’s links being broken.

Here are some examples:

This is a link that you have probably already visited. (gray)

This is a link that you probably have not already visited. (ok, it’s purple, not blue)

:frowning: And that was a link in a smiley.

It is not, however, possible to change the text color of a link by using the new color vB tags. Prior to previewing this post, I was under the impression that that would have been possible. I seem to have been wrong.

Nonetheless, I maintain my skepticism that what Flamsterette_X needs to do is read up on vB coding – I don’t think she’s coding links improperly (although a little reading of those classic coding threads wouldn’t do anyone any harm. But you didn’t hear it from me.). I think that’s just the way it is.

16

I’ve read those threads, and I’m not sure it’s going to help. I think I’ll test it out. (though I usually use the hyperlink button in the regular reply window, and it still turns out grey instead of blue!) Maybe it’ll work if I do it manually…

Visit MuchMusic today!

On preview, it appears to work (the links appear blue). What I still don’t get is why it won’t work when I use the hyperlink button!

Since preview gives me a hyperlink button, I’ll try it again:

Surreal Compliments

P.S. White Lightning, in my version of IE, unvisited links appear blue, and visited links appear blue. [sub]except the ones that I make in my posts![/sub]

By the way, I try not to post broken links; then again, I’m not sure that there’s anything I can do about it if that inadvertently happens!

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Flamsterette_X - congrats on the big 5-0-0 and I just wanted to say that I lOVE your name!

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White Lightning, I don’t think anyone was criticising Flamsterette for the odd busted link, which can happen to anyone. She brought up her coding problems/color confusion in the OP and other posts, and seemed to indicate that she hadn’t read the relevant sticky thread or FAQ treating these, is all.

Regarding the color of links: I don’t want to hijack this into a GQ/ATMB direction, so I’ll be brief. The color of visited/non-visited links is controlled in IE though the General tab of Internet Options. On later versions, there’s a Colors button that will allow you to select whatever color you want to represent visited/non-visited links. If you have an earlier version, it may be slightly different, but you should still be able to find it. Good luck.

19

Cool, well, I have no input then.