Fenris. Give me a break. You are rude to soo many people, and especially newbies. And your endless sthick of “Mod! Mod! Lookit me, I brought chocolate! Please, teacher! Lookit me!” What’s that for?
The attitude that has always allowed me to enjpy the SDMB is that even if you as a person aren’t always remembered or noted, if you say wise things or funny things and you say them well, your ideas will be remembered and spread. I do think we are experencing growing pains (thank god–the opposite is stagnation) and one of the problems people have is that it is now quite possible to have 1500 posts and still feel invisible. (Anyone have any idea how many posters we have with 1000+ posts? There was a time you could list everyone with over 1000 posts from memory.) People come here, and they think that the only way they can “matter” is if they manage to worm there way into the heirarchy of Very Well Known Posters–if they become a recognized charecter–and they see that is near impossible (after all, there is a finite possible number, and it takes an incredible amount of talent, hard work, and spare time to do it) so they start bitching about the whole thing. The fact is, I don’t have to be as immediately recognizable as Fenris or Scylla or Polycarp to know that I have an impact here, becasue I have faith in the fact that I do have good things to say (if not as often) and that some people do listen and learn from me–as I listen and learn from a great number of posters, not just the Giants Amoung Us. ANd I often repeat thier ideas to my friends, even if I forget thier name (and in five years, I won’t remember I wasn’t the originator of some gem of an analogy or witticism).
I’ve tried and lurked on other message boards and frankly, this place is funnier, smarter, hipper, cooler and more sarcastic [sub]Sarcasm is good [/sub] and in-tell-i-jent than anything else I’ve discovered out there on the web.
I’ve shared the " Let’s name the baby game" to “My brother is dying” “Another brother is very bad off.” to " How to crash a ford Econoline" and other joys and thrills of my life here.(2001 has been a banner year in Shirleyville.) The WTC Onion thread kept me from the darkest throws of gloom after the attacks.
The sense of community that this strange place located atop my desk, inside my aqua blue painted walk in closet gives me comfort, has made me laugh, brought me to tears and more importantly, educated me on so many varied subjects ( Ask the Muslim Guy alone has made me a genius in all things Islamic in my neighborhood.) and has introduced me to so many different walks of life. ( The only walk of life around here is knuckle dragging one neuron upstairs and it ain’t firin’ mouthbreathing dipwad and it ain’t walkin’, it’s limping.)
There will always be trolls and hot heads. Most of the time I ignore them, unless it is Hiryuu and his Unified Field Theory Manicrapio. And I think over all, the mods to a great job and I have no beef with them. I was asked by Tuba to be a mod and frankly, after I picked my jaw up from the floor at such high honors, I knew I did not have what it took to do whatever they do. hell, I can barely shave my legs without needing directions.
It is wonderful to know that there are other people out there {looking through binocs & waving} Hi!.. who hate urband legends and seek the truth and cheap jokes.
I am not alone. I am schizo 
Two things:
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I am a much better and smarter person since discovering this place.
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I have stolen are your bases…err jokes and one liners to make myself funnier.
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I suck at math.
Thank you all.
Oh, and I forgive all of you for never mentioning my name in the " Secret Doper Crushes" threads.
;D
Great OP, Fenris. Made me think about the entire omelette.
Steeping in the experience a bit probably does allow one to both better understand the nuances of the environment as well as gain some traction with the group consciousness. You put it better than I might, but this board is generally very welcoming to newbies as are many growing-like-weeds strip mall (relating to how somebody above put it) big cities. But you’ve got to make purchase on your new neighborhood before you start monkeyin’ with the zoning laws, or your neighbors are going to reject you.
And to roll on with the big city model, or, well, segue it into the big-ass cocktail party model, there’s a lot of you that I recognize - I’ve seen ya’ around - that I just haven’t gotten around to talkin’ to yet, or we’ve just had a brief exchange. OTOH, I’ve come to realize that I know several of you, and some I know well. The newbie I suspect got this all rolling actually made a few good posts and I think I welcomed him to the board. Well, I’ll welcome the next one and hope they catch the drift.
Move easy in harness.
Ummm. Yeah. Yeah. I wasn’t reaaallly trying to kill you in that other thread. I was just playing.
Come here, l’il buddy and give me a hug.
What? This knife in my hand? I have no idea how it got there.
Pay no attention. Trust me in all things, friend.
Fenris, that should be required reading for anybody new to SDMB and especially to The Pit. Thanks to you and the other posters, I now have a much better appreciation for the history and group dynamics found here. Carry on, friend!
You are much more forgiving than I.
Shirely(my secret crush)
Thats becasue its supposed to be SECRET!
Now everyone knows…
Woooooooo, some one has a crush on me!
Excuse me while I make a phone call [whispering into phone} Officer…I have a stalker…
Fenris, thanks for the history. I lurked for a while and it was the community that attracted me. I learn a lot from GQ and GD, and they’re often entertaining, but if SDMB only consisted of those two forums, I never would’ve joined.
And thanks for adding your point of view, Redboss. I hate to admit it, but I was just starting to get slightly discouraged and feel like I was being ignored. But I’ve got less than 50 posts and most of those are just little one-liners or "me too"s. So why should I expect to stand out from the other 17,000+ people registered here?
It’s another case where post count does matter. People need a chance to get to know you.
Wonderful, Fenris.
[sub]::starts working on plan to have Fenris’s love child::[/sub]
Well said, Fenris.
I lurked for quite a while before registering and found this to be one of the best on-line communities I have ever found. Your reminder that we are all in this together is well stated and well timed.
Thanks,
N.
I guess I’m what might be called a registered lurker. As you can see, I don’t have that many posts, especially considering that I’ve been here for a couple of years. But I come here almost every day. Sometimes I only read one or two threads, sometimes dozens. I try not to post if it’s only going to be a “me too”, and I’m often frustrated to see that my great line was already used. I’d like to be one of the stars of this show, because there are so many people on this board that I admire–but I figure the best way for me to get respect and recognition is to keep being myself–it may take years, but sooner or later people will remember me for my fine and thoughtful contributions, my shining wit, my stellar intelligence, and my inability to spell. And my modesty.
Really, I’m only trying to live up the the standards that I see so many of you, perhaps unconsciously, uphold. I’ll never be the best writer on the board, I’ll never be the wittiest, but thanks to your example, my reach shall exceed my grasp, or else what is SDMB for. . .
My grasp exceed my reach? Oh well, someone will know. Someone always knows.
THAT’S you’re secret origin? After displaying so much knowledge about superheroes (I agree with you completely on Byrne’s desecration of Superman), I expected a tale that involved a secret chemical formula, or a government experiment, or increduble sorceries, or aliens, or at the very least a stray lightning bolt. Your origin didn’t even have a dramatic monolgue- “If this be my destiny, I welcome it. Let the world behold the birth of…Fenris!”
On a serious note- I’ve complained to the mods a total of once, when someone managed to sneak an offensive screen name past them. It was also the one occasion I’ve seen anyone do that. Every thread I’ve seen locked has been locked for good reason. The amount of time and effort involved are amazing. Despite the weeding out trolls, or posters peddling a product, sock puppets, or banned folks with new names, putting threads in the right forum, and everything else-they still find time to make some excellent posts.
I joined the Board shortly after Wally died. The tributes to him were amazing. That is my image of the Group. Since then, my main goal is not to gain notoriety, but acceptance. While seeing "Wait! DocCathode will know the answer! He's a genius!" would be pleasing, knowing that one of the old posters who are the soul of the Straight Dope thinks of me as a true Doper would mean much more.
PS-I am not fishing for compliments here. Such status can only be earned. After another 1000 posts or so I might be close.