Why do you hang out on forums?

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

Or is it “fora?”

What do you get out of it, like the most and like the least? Do you hang out online a lot and if so, why?

Sometimes my husband says “WTF is wrong with you, Fruitbat2? So someone on the internet was WRONG. Damn, shut up. Go clean something.”

So, while I see his point in a way lol… I have a thing for forums. Especially on days when I just do not feel good and want some low key company (I have a fair number of headache days where I’m just not up for much). Then, especially, I like to hang out and chat.

What I like the best are of course the funny stuff and the shocking stuff and finding people who I feel like “get me.” Don’t we all?

What I like the least is that, well, you know how it is… You coast along happily for a while then -bam!- someone smacks you upside the head and you have no idea what hit you lolol. So then, of course, you are the bigger person and just move along. For about three minutes, then you go back and give them a nice little jab back. And then. It’s on. (Whether they know it or not!) Then you wonder why you did not just shut up and go clean something. Sigh. Will we ever learn? I mean, really? :stuck_out_tongue:

However, I have to say through the years I have learned SO much from those viewpoints that are wildly different from mine. Although sometimes it would be nice if they communicated in a bit softer way than vomiting their pent up, toxic rage in your face. Just sayin’.

So it reminds me of jobs. One year someone is your sworn enemy, the next year they are your best buddy. shrug

And you?

#2

Which Doper is your husband?
(Belated congratulations?)

#3

Uh, well thanks but I’ve had my Dope, er Doper, for about thirty years, so… :stuck_out_tongue:

Oh, do you have me mixed up with the original fruitbat? (I am merely a cheap and half drunk imitation, you know).

#4

I come here to better myself, you guys are clever and I learn from you. I’m not very social irl so I spend time here and I feel less lonely. Who wouldn’t want to spend time on The Straight Dope :slight_smile:

#5

I hang out here in order to post gems of wisdom from my decades of experience.

And, to get News (breaking news ends up here, filtered by importance, long before I’d see it elsewhere).

#6

I don’t use any other forums like I do the SDMB. I come here because in general the quality of the conversation is excellent, even when views differ. I also learn a lot here about subjects that are outside the normal scope of my profession and interests, and I love learning stuff.

Also, and not least, aye, the Dope feels like a place where I hang out with my kind of people.

#7

I used to belong to some Mac forums (such as MacFixIt) until they were taken over. I belong to a scambaiter site (and love ordering pizzas from scammers at 4:00 a.m. their time). And I’m mainly a lurker here.

#8

This. (Heck, I am married to a Doper–Andy L.) Also, when I was in high school we had some great class discussions and I couldn’t always put in my two cents worth because there just wasn’t enough time. Now I can. :slight_smile:

#9

This is a good place to learn about topics I may not be exposed-to at work or at home. I don’t really go anywhere else for that.

#10

I’ve hung out on forums since the middle 1990s and before that on moderated email-based Digests (this was back before the debut of the “world wide web”).

Communication, a sense of participation in a community, the exchange of ideas.

In short, for all the same reasons that someone would hang out with other humans and discuss things.

Plus, internet forums bring together people I have more in common with than I would have at a lot of IRL interactive discussion opportunities.

#11

This is quickly becoming the only place I will comment on line. Even if my views differ, I never feel like I’m attacked for it. Folks here still have manners and not so narrow minds like some of the other boards.

#12

All of the above. Including the fact that I don’t have much of a life.

#13

I first came to this forum because I asked a question of Cecil and the staff replied and said “fun stuff, ask at the forums instead.” I was in college at the time.

But right out of college I went in to working from home and that was many years ago, and I still work from home, all by myself, in silence.

So the SDMB is a “water cooler” for me. A way to socialize during the day with some sort-of-likeminded people and get info and different perspectives on different topics.

I have dabbled in other forums but smaller forums require too much effort from participants. Bigger forums are just too…big. This one is all right.

#14

I like to read what people write when they are not getting paid to do it or out of necessity.

#15

I don’t get nearly enough opinions about Donald Trump, so I come here to quench my thirst.

Not really.

#16

It’s informative, often amusing and also challenging. I have to rethink my beliefs and assumptions quite often. And sometimes it goes the other way. I learn how to better express things, etc.

It’s “Fora” if you speak Latin. “Forums” if you speak English.

#17

I come here to get a headache trying to understand black holes/time travel and other astrophysics topics. If I won the lottery I’d go back to college and take enough math/physics to finally get a handle on it!

Also, I like the snark in the Pit.

#18

Got no friends and nothin’ better to do. You can only take the dogs off-roading so long, ya know?

#19

This is pretty much the only forum I visit regularly (with occasional forays into the madness that is the Giraffe Boards and TDPRI- guitar forum). Mostly because I want to learn something or have a question about something that I can’t google. I like many of the posters here and just …stayed. What got me here was “The Horror of Blimps.”

#20

Aw, c’mon… that deserves a link: The horror of blimps! Enjoy!