# Why do you hang out on forums? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 26, 2017, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hang-out-on-forums/780898 "2017-02-26T23:50:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hang-out-on-forums/780898/21 "2017-02-28T07:42:58Z")
I guess I enjoy reading about other people’s experiences. The late **Blinkie** , who had locked in syndrome stands out the most in my memory. Other dopers’ experiences, whether they be funny, adventurous or scary make interesting reading. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hang-out-on-forums/780898/22 "2017-02-28T08:02:23Z")
Your husband calls you Fruitbat2? That’s weird. I don’t “hang out.” I converse, I contribute, I involve, I entertain, I learn, I discover, I participate, and then I receive all that and more in return. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hang-out-on-forums/780898/23 "2017-02-28T08:09:12Z")
I like the different points of view. Also, there are some very knowledgeable people on various forums that can help improve your life in many ways. It’s also an insight into how other people perceive information and think. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hang-out-on-forums/780898/24 "2017-02-28T08:30:04Z")
This is the only forum where I hang out. I used to visit un-moderated forums, but never will again. I live in a small city on the east coast of Taiwan, without many close friends here who speak English. This is where I can talk to people who are similar in many ways as well as learn a lot about the world. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hang-out-on-forums/780898/25 "2017-02-28T12:51:44Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > 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. Pretty much this. I can geek out on music/guitars, and philosophical stuff here in ways I rarely can IRL. I feel like I am continuing to seem volume drift down, though. Like various issues with pop-up ads and other artifacts make it harder for newbies to lurk then post, even while messageboards overall are seen as old school. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hang-out-on-forums/780898/26 "2017-02-28T17:18:12Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > 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. All this, and one more thing: in meatspace conversations, I’ll always think of the right thing to say anywhere from a few minutes to a few days later. That doesn’t work so well in meatspace, but it’s no problem on a message board. Also, this format means that if I take the time to get my meaning exactly right, I’m not getting in the way of the conversation. Nobody has to wait on me while I think and type. Conversation in this setup is more natural for me, and fits my rhythms of thought better, than any other medium. ETA: OK, that’s _two_ more things. And ruthless efficiency, that’s _three_. 😛 And plenty of people here will get that reference, that’s _four_. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hang-out-on-forums/780898/27 "2017-02-28T17:31:56Z")
News outlets pretty much all blow anymore. On here, there’s a manageable number of voices arguing about current events, and while a conclusion/consensus is rarely reached, along the way we’ll see links to Rolling Stone, The Christian Science Monitor and probably some local “in the know” source out of Tajikistan Online or something like that. Then the guy who wanders in and is “I’ve worked in this field for 30 years, and let me tell you it definitely works this way and not that way.” Someone will ask, “You _are_ aware of HR ABXY from 1975 which influenced blah blah blah, why yes I have a link to the text right here!” Criticism of all the major networks’ coverage. Dumb guy’s opinion. And probably the historical underpinning of it all, which actually traces back to interactions with this particular tribe, you know, the ones famous for weaving underwater? It was really about the mineral salts in these springs, they could make roofs and bridges and boats out of banana leaves, which would only last 100 years or so, but it was definitely good enough… Plus to rant about all the world’s bullshit. The rants are rarely about other dopers though, and even when they are, it isn’t like I wouldn’t talk to these people at Starbucks or something. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hang-out-on-forums/780898/28 "2017-02-28T18:11:19Z")
If I walk into a room full of people I’ve just met and ask— for example— whether they massage their gums, it’s not well received. Here, it’s seen as normal, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hang-out-on-forums/780898/29 "2017-02-28T21:30:53Z")
> [@Fruitbat2](#): > > 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? I hang out on several different boards. Some are martial arts oriented, some are music (specifically guitar) oriented, the rest are general talk boards like this one. Most of them, I enjoy the back-and-forth with folks. One some others, like this one, it’s like watching a train wreck happen. You want to look away, but you just can’t because there’s that nagging thought: “It can’t get any worse…can it?” ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hang-out-on-forums/780898/30 "2017-02-28T21:55:16Z")
It supplements the old AOL chatrooms for me. I’ve never been one to have many friends, so I loved those things and talked with people from around the country about so many different things. Chatrooms went away for…I actually don’t know why, but they’re gone now and I don’t have much of an outlet for human interaction. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hang-out-on-forums/780898/31 "2017-03-01T01:16:19Z")
Sure, there’s the camaraderie, the stories (not just the blimp; anyone remember the tales of Sampiro’s family?), the drama (of mail-order fiancées and Shredder Guys and Roma women), and the therapy of Pitting our President… But bottom line? I’m smarter for being here. Apparently, I really like hanging out with people who are smarter than I am (see? In my pre-Dope days, I would’ve said “than me”) (but now I figger yo, imma all up in da diction like Objective Case, ho-mays…) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-hang-out-on-forums/780898.md?page=1)