# Think I will become a member + One Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 8, 2004, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223 "2004-05-08T21:08:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/21 "2004-05-09T03:05:35Z")
I’m 25. I’m curious: Why do you ask? ZJ ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/22 "2004-05-09T04:36:06Z")
I’m 16. I use “chat lingo” or “AOL speak” occasionally, but usually as a joke, or to make a point. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/23 "2004-05-09T04:40:42Z")
I am 21, and I’ve been here since I was 17. Hopefully it hasn’t been too easy to tell my age (although for the first month or so I was prone to writing without use of SHIFT). The extent of my “l33t” use is for humorous effect or in the phrase “teh r0xx0rs” (well, teh anything-0rs, really; I overuse “0rs”). ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/24 "2004-05-09T04:49:44Z")
23 here. I hope someday to mature into someone who can spell. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2acd7d/32.png) [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/25 "2004-05-09T04:50:38Z")
I’m 21 with 8 years experience. 😉 All those acronyms drive me crazy. I had to ask my older sister what the heck YMMV meant the other day. Is there a thread that breaks these all down? A sticky would be helpful, FWIW. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/26 "2004-05-09T05:17:06Z")
There are _multiple_ threads that explain abbreviations. Several of them can be found listed in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=136936). ---
**Author:** ![harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2acd7d/32.png) [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/27 "2004-05-09T05:21:01Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > There are _multiple_ threads that explain abbreviations. Several of them can be found listed in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=136936). Much obliged, Mr/Ms 12,000 + post. You would know! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/28 "2004-05-09T06:10:21Z")
I’m 14. I suspect that I might be the youngest member here. Is anyone younger than 14? > [@](#): > > That said, there are quite a few young’uns here, it’s just that without all the 3L337 5P34K and LOLOMFG L8er d00d!!!1111oneoneoneeleven, you can hardly tell if someone is under 25. [p\_ho@zr=z] [r\iL= nr=dz juz E\_rks sa~mp@] ---
**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/29 "2004-05-09T09:47:44Z")
> [@flamingbananas](#): > > I am under 25, but I NEVER use that chat lingo. It has gone way too far. I am growing up too fast. I complain about how teens act, and I AM a teen. Haha, I’m the same boat! I’m actually highly critical of people younger than me, shaking my head at where our generation is headed. Mean, huh? I think even my sister has grown to have a similar attitude. She’s 16 and thinks a lot of kids her age are shallow and stupid. 😛 Oh yeah, I’m 20, but I am an old soul in some ways. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/30 "2004-05-09T10:28:59Z")
I’m 25. If only for a few more weeks. Now you’ve reminded me to post in the [Time to celebrate May Straight Dope birthdays!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=253918) thread 🙂 Stick around. I think you’ll like it here. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/31 "2004-05-09T10:40:07Z")
I’m 20. Like many of the younger Dopers here, I can’t stand most of the members of my age group. Then again, I grew up fairly quickly (which is yet another common trait among SDMB folk…wonder why so many of us end up here? 😉 ), even if it took me a few extra years to realize I had done so. ---
**Author:** ![ReuvenB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@ReuvenB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReuvenB)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/32 "2004-05-09T10:59:55Z")
1. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/33 "2004-05-09T14:29:57Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I’m 50 and my 18 y/o daughter is also a member. uhhh let me guess… ‘ **FairyChat** ’? > [@xash](#): > > I’m 25. If only for a few more weeks. Are you the youngest mod? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/34 "2004-05-09T14:45:29Z")
My eternally 23 year old brain keeps making promises that my 55 year old body is having extreme difficulty keeping. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/35 "2004-05-09T15:49:30Z")
Hey, **Clothahump** – it could be worse. You could be like me and have a 55-year-old body that kvetches like it’s 70. 😃 **START** , I can sign you up whenever you like – I did it for over a dozen Dopers during the initial switch to paid subscriptions. Just email me at [laura.graf@comcast.net](mailto:laura.graf@comcast.net), and we can arrange the details. Hey, **START** – will you please join the Dope Before you’ve run out of free rope? We’re happy for newbies Like you, who’re good doobies To slide down our slippery slope Of posting and reading each day All the fruits of this mind-widening fray. It may make us mad, Or be funny or sad, But there’s always so much more to say! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/36 "2004-05-09T16:34:38Z")
There was once a thread in which some of our fine SDMB statisticians(and there are none finer) calculated the age of the average doper to be 31.5 years. I’m not certain what significance that has, but you asked. Yes you did. Kinda’. There was also a thread about how many teenagers were posters, and the youngest poster. At the time, several said they were 13, which is the minimum age required to register. One member posted a complicated formula to reveal her age. The answer worked out to 12, but I guess the mods didn’t bother to do the math as she wasn’t banned. Welcome, and do join up. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/37 "2004-05-09T16:35:11Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m actually highly critical of people younger than me, shaking my head at where our generation is headed. One of the advantages of advanced age is seeing this sort of comment often enough to avoid repeating it. There are all sorts of people of all ages who are immature. I can remember listening to my (30-something) boss telling me (mid 20s) how sad it was that “today’s kids” didn’t have the same work ethic that we had (despite the fact that he had several very responsible teens on his staff). I have watched one woman who was known to her managers as a complete slacker go off to be a manager at a different site and begin bitching that “today’s kids” did not have any sense of responsibility. (And the “kids” about whom she complained are now complaining about the “kids” that they supervise.) It is true that the demands of advancing age (as one accumulates spouses, mortgages, children, and infirmities) tends to compel certain people to become more responsible as they age, but any broad claim that any age group can be universally characterized as frivolous, giddy, serious, overbearing, stuffy, or mature will shatter on the many exceptions that can be found among its members. I was at a party where my daughter’s high school religion class invited the parish’s senior group. We were playing some historical trivia game (not Trivial Pursuit, but with similar questions) and I was shocked that only one of the teen players knew most of the answers–but then I noticed that I was the only adult who knew the answers–and many of the questions were from the period before I entered school and about the time the seniors would have been leaving college and being able to vote. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/38 "2004-05-09T17:31:52Z")
“Children today are tyrants. The contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers.” -Socrates, 469-399BC ---
**Author:** ![harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2acd7d/32.png) [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/39 "2004-05-09T18:03:30Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Hey, **START** – will you please join the Dope > Before you’ve run out of free rope? > We’re happy for newbies > Like you, who’re good **doobies** > To slide down our slippery slope **EddyTeddyFreddy** said doobies. 😃 That is all. oh, and HI, **ETF**! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223/40 "2004-05-09T18:25:52Z")
So, **harmless** , what’s up about “[doobies](http://www.geocities.com/wilka26/doobies.html)”? After all, it’s not like I’d said “[boobies](http://digital2.library.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/imagelocator.cgi?ic=garst&id=G17220)”. Is there something I’ve [missed](http://www.hatrack.com/osc/stories/missed.shtml)? Does the word have a [twist](http://www.centralhome.com/ballroomcountry/twist.htm)? Tell me! Lore is more precious than [rubies!](http://www.gemsuite.com/gallery/?397420721) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-i-will-become-a-member-one-question/244223.md?page=3)