# Oh, My Freaking Gone -- Did you Lurk or read? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 14, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273 "2003-11-14T18:04:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wyatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b19c9b/32.png) [@Wyatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wyatt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/1 "2003-11-14T18:04:03Z")
Please note this is NOT a thread to complain about any actions that may or may not have been taken by anyone who has the power to take their football and go home… this is about learning about a community and what drew people to it… HI! I was a participant in the very famous _Oh, my Freaking God_ thread … and, through the whole thing, it never occured to me to ask _Who All_ is Reading this thing? So, I know I was drawn into the OMFG thread initially, just because it had an interesting opening topic. But as the thread grew, it became a regular part of my day, and of my reading. I enjoyed the humor, even my own (_sigh_ it’s true), and having background and back-story on the people I was exchanging with. I also enjoyed the depth and frankness of the exchanges, the honesty of the admissions, about things that are ‘scary’ in the interactions between the genders … and the input about how ‘the other half’ actually thinks and reacts … So, looking at the ‘stats’ … there Have to have been a Buncha y’all that were reading along, ‘lurking’ as it were … So, come on, “de-cloak” for a minute (signing up is free) and let us know what it was YOU liked about reading the Oh, My Freaking God(long) thread! Please? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Wyatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b19c9b/32.png) [@Wyatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wyatt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/2 "2003-11-14T18:07:47Z")
Oh, and all y’all that Did post into the thread, I’d love to hear what You liked about participating in that kind of a thread, too!!! ---
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/3 "2003-11-14T18:16:15Z")
I read it before it had multiple pages. I did not post to it. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/4 "2003-11-14T18:21:11Z")
Ditto. Then it ate Manhatten. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/5 "2003-11-14T18:21:13Z")
I got bored after page 3 or so. I don’t recall if I posted or not. ---
**Author:** ![jools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@jools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jools)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/6 "2003-11-14T18:29:54Z")
I made to page 10!!! ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/7 "2003-11-14T18:30:37Z")
I read the first page or two. Got bored once it turned away from the main topic into just chatting. Hated seeing it continue to pop up because I’d see the title and think, “What?! What just happened that there are all these responses and I didn’t see it? Was there another terrorist attack?” Then I’d load it, waiting for the hamsters to get off their lazy butts, and then go “Oh. Never mind.” Then the next week I’d see the title and react again, and then remember what the thread is about. Repeat ad nauseum. ---
**Author:** ![jools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@jools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jools)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/8 "2003-11-14T18:31:04Z")
oooops that would be I made it to page 10! ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/9 "2003-11-14T18:40:39Z")
As I said round about page 70ish, it was the most comfortable I’ve ever felt in a group of people. I looked forward to seeing you all every day. And the best part was that, unlike a chat room, I could get caught up and not miss anything. No one was excluded, or forced to participate. But we did seem to suck in lurkers and spit out the more rabid posters (ok, myself excepted). I always felt a sense of being home. And while I would have occasionally liked to strangle some of my “children,” I’d hate to think of having to give y’all up. ---
**Author:** ![NYR407](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@NYR407](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NYR407)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/10 "2003-11-14T18:50:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ferret Herder \* > **Then I’d load it, waiting for the hamsters to get off their lazy butts** > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Maureen \* > **As I said round about page 70ish** ] I have no idea what was going on in that thread having never opened it myself but it seems the poor hamsters were not so much lazy as they were overworked. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/11 "2003-11-14T19:20:29Z")
I never bothered to open it. Too long and a title like that doesn’t say to me “You really want to read me!” ---
**Author:** ![Wyatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b19c9b/32.png) [@Wyatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wyatt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/12 "2003-11-14T19:24:21Z")
Well, so far we’ve heard from several who dropped by, but didn’t find it to their taste. I’m still thinking with a ‘views’ to ‘posts’ ratio of something like 10 to 1 … we must have had a number of folks following along … Posting or not, So, what Was it y’all liked in the thread … and the fairly unique form of it … as an ongoing saga, with brief periods of ‘just getting to know each other’ then morphing into another serious topic and exchange of ideas. Was it the insights, the humor, the typos, or just the coding education? ---
**Author:** ![tanookie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/48db29/32.png) [@tanookie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanookie)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/13 "2003-11-14T20:00:28Z")
You mean the bad coding hall of fame and examples of what not to do right **Wyatt?** I started in the beginning just hoping Dave got the girl… and when he didn’t get that girl annd another popped up I wanted to see how that turned out. Then as we waited to see what happened with Dave others popped in with interesting things and eventually we became friends and were interested in the things happening in eachother’s lives. Yeah it was a bit of a soap opera but there were births, deaths, near deaths, breakups, layoffs and each story merged into the next. I will admit the fluff ratio was a bit high… but I’ve seen fluff go on longer… the A thread comes to mind at 100 pages before the mods closed it without any ill feelings. ---
**Author:** ![Wyatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b19c9b/32.png) [@Wyatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wyatt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/14 "2003-11-14T20:07:05Z")
I’m sure many tuned in just for the spell binding transmogrifications! much less the blinding spelling … _hands cute new mom his card_ “Very Famous Person You should be amazed to meet genUine Bran Sturgen” ---
**Author:** ![mipiace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@mipiace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mipiace)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/15 "2003-11-14T20:09:24Z")
I posted regularly from about page 15. Like Maureen, I liked the slow chat format. Found comaradery, and acceptance and liked the changing topic, familiar names and the fact that the posters would change from time to time as well. Lurkers turned into posters quite frequently. I’ll miss it and I did learn a lot of coding and mistaken coding from the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/16 "2003-11-14T20:13:45Z")
When it got up to page 20 or so, I opened it to see what the hullaboo was about, and it looked like a giant flirt thread, and closed it, never to open it again. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/17 "2003-11-14T20:21:57Z")
I lurked back in it’s early days. Wanted to see what happened with Dave. Then I left it for a while, and there was no way I was going to ever get caught up. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/18 "2003-11-14T21:25:37Z")
I opened it when it was about 4 pages long, skimmed the OP and a couple of follow ups, got bored, never went back. What’d I miss? ---
**Author:** ![Monkeytoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Monkeytoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkeytoes)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/19 "2003-11-14T21:31:29Z")
I followed it for the first few pages, as I found Dave’s story very compelling. Once it got off topic, it didn’t seem to be worth the bother to load… ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273/20 "2003-11-14T21:31:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\*Ditto. Then it ate Manhatten. \*\* So _that’s_ why he hasn’t posted in a while… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-freaking-gone-did-you-lurk-or-read/213273.md?page=2)