Okay, I just re-upped. I think everyone else should renew, too, because it makes it more interesting for me when interesting people stick around. And, let’s face it, this really is a community. I’ve been guilty in the past of being one of the “it’s just a messageboard” crowd, but I’ve been reconsidering that lately. This message board is an invaluable tool for someone like myself (ie old) to interface with the overwhelming world of technology, and sort the gold from the dross.
My two cents worth.
Two cents is how much it costs for an hour, if you average one hour a day, on the board.
I am sure I do.
I will, although I haven’t yet.
I won’t pay enough to become a Grand Wizard, though.
Tris
Ooh, I want to be a Grand Wizard. Or maybe a Grand Poobah.
I renewed becuase I love being uncivil and suggesting OPs be banned in paranormal threads.
Is it ok if I imply that the only reason the OP started this thread is because he’s an attention whore? Everyone else who has started a thread on nOT re-upping has been branded by the insult…
See, I’ve been realizing that just hasn’t happened for me. Most OPs I’ve posted in GQ have resulted in very disappointing answers - or non-answers. Maybe you’re better at asking questions, or think of more interesting questions than I do; I don’t know.
Great Debates never seem to get substantive. Give me the name of the poster in a given GD thread and I can tell you their position without reading it. I can’t think of a GD thread in which anybody’s mind was opened, much less changed.
Cafe Society, IMHO, MPSIMS and the BBQ pit are bad habits I need to break to be a more productive member of society.
I don’t give a damn about all the soap-opera lives being lived in these pages; I don’t follow them. They’re not influencing my decision in the least.
If I ever have a question I need answered where I hit a dead end with google or my library, maybe I’ll consider buying a new membership then. And then I’ll probably be frustrated with the answers that are clearly no more factually based than what I could make up at a cocktail party.
I’m renewing because this Board increases my vocabulary with new words lsuch as “anacephalic” but I don’t think the OP used it correctly. The word refers to a medical a child born without a brain. “Anacephalic” describes a person’s specific medical condition and is not a $10 replacement for the slang phrase “the decision was a no-brainer.”
Thanks, Norinew. I’m renewing because I get so much enjoyment and entertainment from this place. News I would have missed, TMI threads that give me the giggles, wonderful stories of people’s lives. And almost everyone can spell!
There is no other place on Earth like the SDMB. 
I renewed a week or so ago.
I think when some form is asking me what my race is, instead of putting down the usual, I will jot down for race: Doper. Religion: Anti-ignorance.
It will be slightly more interesting than my usual " Hasidic Jew Fiji Islander" that I put on the 2000 census.
I’m an attention whore! Renew!
Gotta disagree. My local Mason’s lodge is EXACTLY the same as the SDMB. Right down to the font styles and new “candystore” buttons everywhere.
Well, I renewed, not to Make A Statement but because it’s cheap and it’s worth it to be able to do searches for certain posters.
Then you’re a better man-and/or-woman than I am. A big part of what was turning me off the place was the feeling that I just couldn’t trust the people on the board anymore, after seeing all the gossip, and back-biting, and popularity contests, and personal grudges, and axe-grinding, and attacking posters’ personalities instead of what they’re saying.
But I figure, ah well, the place isn’t as mature and perfect as I’d originally perceived it, but there’s still a higher hit-to-miss ratio on here as any other message board I’ve ever seen. Only way to avoid that is not to do it yourself. I’m not going to be as “open” on here as I have in the past, and that’s probably best for me and everyone else.
Strictly IMO, but I think that’s kind of the whole point of this board. It’s probably blasphemous to say this, but you know Cecil Adams doesn’t really know everything – he’s very good at research, and presents the findings in a very entertaining way. The column and the boards have an obligation to be entertaining (or enlightening) first, factually correct second. That’s why there are disclaimers all over the place not to take the word of someone on here over a trained medical/legal/whatever professional. That’s why the tone of the boards is one of skepticism, to question everything you read and get cites instead of taking any individual’s word as the gospel. Everyone has the same access to google and libraries; what you get here is people who can take that same information and present it in a better way – funnier, more profound, more insightful, or just more accessible.
Let me disagree with your order.
The column and the reports offered by staff members are supposed to be first factually correct, and second entertaining. While this doesn’t always happen, it’s the intent of the writers to be factually correct. When they’ve failed, it’s usually because they did their best but didn’t have access to data that would cement their position.
So, they left the new smilies?
The SD didn’t.
Would one example count? I have been changed, I have learned, I have seen other people’s point of views, I have gained new respect for other people’s positions and am definitely a better person because of this message board.
There have been more than one issue, in which I had never had contact with the people involved, and suddenly there are people here willing to tell me their side of the story and that’s been invaluable for me. My opinion on Christianity, atheism, raising children, sexual identity and gender, political views, etc. have been cemented or changed because I was exposed to things that people either don’t address in real life or because I don’t personally know anybody that is “affected” by these issues.
I have gotten a lot of laughter and entertainment here, but that’s not why I joined, paid and renewed; it is because when I have questions that I am too shy to ask in real life (like “how many years did you try before you finally got pregnant”) I got good answers. Not all my questions have been answered to my satisfaction, but I get few things in life to my satisfaction.
I am not telling you to stay, just that just because you don’t hear a lot of “Hallelujah! I have seen the light!” here doesn’t mean that people are not privately changed by what they learn here.
I have no idea what anybody is referring to here. That makes me glad.