Well, now that I’m more awake, I can tell you that I calculated how many posts I’d need to make per year in order to reach eight million posts in twenty years. (all right, so I did it during either the sermon or Sunday School :p)
Let me assure you that I would never ever make 400,000 oosts in a year. :eek: That said, I know these are just joking predictions. I would never predict anything, simply because I’m not well-versed in that art at all. But I cajn predict with some confidence that this board will still be a caring community.
I first started browsing the 'Dope when I started working at my current job… in 1999, age 18. I grew up in a tiny town (76 people!) in rural South Dakota, in a life of extreme poverty, so my only exposure to the internet was through school, and then at work. During all down time (processing contour surfaces in AutoCAD r14, which could take large chunks of my day) I would browse Cecil’s articles and, when I found it, read the message board. I don’t remember where I first learned of the SD, but since then, I’ve been a regular lurker!
It’s crazy when I read or recognize the really old zombie resurrections… takes me back!
There was more of a… sense of humor/lightness/frivolity back then; we rarely have too many funny threads about sex injuries or pooping tales anymore. It seems to be all business (in the sense of answering questions not literal commerce), political griping, or arguments about social issues these days.
Besides yourself, Kamino Neko, Jophiel, Bricker, kunilou, lel, and don’t ask have all posted in just the last day or two, and Missy2U, astro, and imthjckaz posted as recently as last month.
At least three Dopers who posted to this thread are no longer active on the board on account of being deceased: Persephone, poohpah chalupa, and ChiefScott.
I’d say the board’s much more civil now, overall, than it was then. There were epic battles and feuds back then that just wouldn’t be allowed to get to that level anymore. (And that’s a good thing, just in case there’s any doubt of my opinion.) Remember Melingate? That was just one for-instance. Or huge arguments over whether a banned poster should have been banned (e.g. Satan, danielinthewolvesden). Crazy stuff.
When I opened this, I had no idea it was a zombie, so I was already thinking of what the board might be like in another 20 years, if the board is still alive, if Dopers can survive, we may find…
It’ll be seriously geriatric, that’s for sure. We’ll have demographics similar to what Fox News has now.
I think we all feel the same; we all had our moments. Chalk it up to our collective intemperate youths.
This Holiday Break from work, I’ll have to peruse memory lane and these Boards to see which friends and acquaintances I’d lost. Chacoguy comes to mind, but I’ve had good exchanges with a lot of folks. . .
On the plus side, I recently came across a thread (about circumcision, natch) from ~2000, that had a hilarious Gilbert and Sullivan-style parody written by Kimstu, who’s still active. She wrote intelligent, articulate posts back then, too.