Please pardon a small hi-jack
Heh ** 'punha ** it could be worse, she could have said ** blob shaoed man **
[/ hi-jack]
er, blob ** shaped ** man that is
Oddly enough…SDMB actually is important to me. I lurked for about 2 years (boo!), and then finally and slowly started to add a bit to the postings.
I’ve really enjoyed many of the personalities here, and it is nice to have a daily reminder that folks can have different opinions and lifestyles and so forth…and still enjoy each other.
Two years ago, I would’a never thought it possible that I would be part of an online community.
Means a lot to me, it does.
I’ve always enjoyed this place. And attending Fests has made it that much more fun. Meeting the faces behind the names that I’ve come to know and love has been a wonderful experience. 've even got a few friends here that have become so close, I just couldn’t live without them.
The ultimate kicker for me, though, was the thread that Euty started for me last spring, though, when my husband’s friend Lee had a stroke.
Dopers sent money and many warm wishes, because Lee needed help. Lee isn’t even a Doper, but they helped anyway, because he is a friend of my family.
You bet this place means a lot to me.
And as I said to you in the hotel bar thingy, you can deny a lot of things in life, but you can’t forcibly remove from your memory “I’m so glad I finally got to meet you!” and “Dude! You’re Persephone! DUDE!” “OH MY GOD! PERSEPHONE! DUUUUUDE!”
Friday night at NYCFest back in January was, apart from not being able to get back into that bar, just about the most fun I’ve ever had, anywhere, anytime. Being surrounded by Doper Wimminz and Doper Doodz, the level of hotness abounding, and the fact that I’d known some of y’all a year and a half and not gotten to meet you … and finally getting to … well, that’s part of the reason I’ll drag fizzy to NYC if that’s how we have to get there:)
And that Euty character is cool too. Skinny punk, though;)
I’d just like to say that I’m touched by the kind words, yojimbo, andy and Kal.
This isn’t a divorce: I just think we need a break, to spend time apart, to have our own interests. As Kahlil Gibran says:
Yeah? Well you’re taking the kids with ya, mister! And don’t even think about touching any of my CDs!
Now see, I come up with a funny that was meant to give you a laugh and you reply with something thought provoking and touching - I’m still debating over showing Washte that link, she’ll either find it helps the sadness she feels or it’ll upset her more; either way there’ll be a tear or two.
But that’s why I love this place, you have some really moving posts and some really funny ones. I don’t think I’d like it any other way.
Some have likened the SDMB to a community and that’s how I used to feel about it during my lurking and for the first few months of posting. But then my wife and I had some very sad things happen IRL and the kindness of fellow Dopers changed that. We’ve made some good friends here, people we care for greatly. I’ve said it once and will say it again, we’re family.
Kal
(BTW, jjimm and other Dublin-based Dopers: Washte and I are going to be visiting early in the new year and hope to meet up with y’all.)
That’d be wicked! Keep us informed.
I’ve been here a while, as most peopel can guess…
boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?action=getinfo&userid=36
Before here I was on the AOL board. Heck, I liked it so much that in 1997 I made the Teeming Millions Homepage.
This is one of only 4 online communities that I’ve ever really felt “at home” at and that had things like big real-life get-togethers.
Sometimes I spend more time here than others, but I do enjoy it a lot 
Like Opal, I am a long time Doper. (My userid number is a whopping 149; I was out of the country at the time this version of the SDMB appeared and didn’t find out about it for a couple days.)
In the five years I have been around this community, I have learned a lot. I have become a much more skeptical, thoughtful, and patient person. My head had become filled with loads of useless bits of trivia.
Obviously, the SDMB means a lot to me, or I wouldn’t have stuck around for so long. The people that populate this community are what make it worth it. I have met…I dunno, maybe 200 Dopers in person, and I’d happily spend time with at least 196 of them any day of the week.
I recently moved across the country, to a town I’d never even visited. I don’t have any relatives here. Thank god for Dopers. CrankyAsAnOldMan, Hello Again, ResIpsaLoquiter, Persephone, Brynda, RickQ, TalkingHead, MrBlue, and all of the great Michigan Dopers I’m inevitably forgetting because I am retarded, are so wonderful and have really helped me make this difficult transaction easier. I still miss the fabulous Bay Area Dopers, and can’t wait to see them all when I go home in a couple months!
Oh yeah. And I met my sweetie on the SD. Mustn’t forget that.
I remember Kyla from when she was little
OMG, if you pull out the baby pictures, I am gonna DIE of embarrasment!
I’m brand-spanking-new here, and despite my interest and fledgling loyalty, I haven’t posted much for a couple of reasons. First, ever since summer ended I have merged with the Internet. My three-dimensional friends say they may do an intervention soon, and I’ve started making up excuses for why they can’t get through to me on the phone for hours at a time. Like any addiction. I look up and am stunned to see that a few more hours have gone by. But I usually learned something new during that time, and feel kinda good about it (my eyes look horrible though!!!). Still, I’m thinking maybe I should fight my compulsion to be online, but once I arrive at SDMB “just for a sec,” I get swallowed up. Maybe that will get better once I am up to speed on the old stuff and can just tune in to the new stuff.
Also, I have snuffed many potential replies and new threads by procrastinating too much about each one. Too much of a perfectionist in general, and in this case, behaving like the new kid in school who wants to be too careful about understanding the dynamics of a new group before he/she will be him/herself. In other words, hint one regarding how I feel about SDMB is that I respect it and take it seriously. But I have procrastinated many brilliant musings right out of existence, and need to just shoot from the hip. Before I opt out again, I want to make myself let this reply live.
I consider myself a quick study, and it didn’t take me long to realize that you guys are a whole 'nother breed as far as boards. Or communities in general. Wanted to state for the record that I might not be doing much here so far, but I think about it A LOT!!! I believe this IS a real- life dimension here, even though I’m the type who usually applies standards to things that are too much from the head and not enough from the heart. So that says a lot.
This is a great post. I Hope the Powers That Be (i.e. Cecil et al)
read this. This is been my home for a long time!
Handy?
I like this place more and more the more I see. I just posted to a thread started by DeadlyAccurate, and just as I hit ‘Submit Reply’ I see that DeadlyAccurate is in Fort Worth TX. Here I am in my (cold) study ‘chatting’ with someone half-way around the world about eggs and elastic bands! Two minutes later it’s with someone the other side of the world who could be posting something really serious or heartfelt. Where else can I find that?!
N.