Despite.
Postin’ “me too,” like some brain-dead AOLer.
Heh, you read my mind Idle. We’ve got DtC on tap, runs hot and cold!
I guess not. I can now only strive to be “that guy”.
If I stay, don’t I have to bring pie or something?
I was going to say “To be a target of gratuitous insults for no apparent reason” but hey, this works for me. I’m not going to justify it to you. Like it, don’t, stay, leave, whichever.
There’s also a squid involved… I wasn’t going to mention it, but it’s probably one of the greatest advantages to being a member.
Dammit! It wasn’t Kool-Aid it was… nah, probably too soon for the inside jokes.
If you’re more familiar with social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, the message board concept may seem a little weird at first. For me, the social networking sites are pretty superficial. I don’t mean that in a judgey way, just that they handle the superficial information in my life: who’s had a baby, where we’re meeting for dinner next week, who’s looking for a job, who has a sinus infection and who woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Literally, all that information is on my Home page on Facebook right now, available as I read my Friends’ “_____ is _____” feeds. It’s the “hey, look at me!” portion of the internet, and I value it for keeping me connected to what’s going on in my friends’ lives, but it’s not real deep or prolonged contact.
Message boards in general, and the Straight Dope in particular, foster conversation. Not in the fast paced, 5 word sentence chat room style, but involved, convoluted in depth conversations which might span days or even weeks, with no need to type fast, plenty of opportunity to consider your response thoughtfully, and the ability to hold dozens of these conversations more-or-less at once.
That last part is the Dope specific part for me: most of the time, there are a dozen or more “conversations” (ie, threads) that I’m interested in. Other message boards I’ve tried are too slow or don’t mesh with my interests well enough…or they’re really “hey, look at me!” in message board format (the clue to identifying the later does seem to be the ratio of avatars, picture sigs and animated bunnies to actual words).
So that’s what I get out of the Dope. Will you? Heck if I know. But welcome either way, and I hope to see you 'round if you’re having fun!
You shouldn’t. Leave. Now.
I second the motion. Can we get a vote?
So the sense of humor and hospitality is what I should focus on?
I think you’re getting the idea now. 
If we have to explain why you should be on this message board then it kind of defeats the purpose.
So, as I said, leave. Or don’t. Make up your own mind.
You’ll be a great addition. Stick around, we need fresh meat.
mauxlicious, I like the name.
You seem to have already found the reason which you state here:
So I’m not sure why you’re asking us.
I suppose I will learn to be more direct and clear in the OP. I am not asking anyone to be an apologist for this board. I am really, genuinely, interested in what you guys get out of it. While my delivery is rampant with sarcasm it is not a reflection of any ill intentions, and speaks only of my wicked, wicked heart.
Hello, learning curve. This was another attempt at my brand of humor. This is a new format for me. So I merely wanted to ask what you guys get out of it. That’s all.
On the internet, irony is when people don’t get your jokes. Of course, everything everybody else says is in deadly earnest. 
I like it here because the people are diverse and informed, and the mods are quite relaxed and reasonable (I’M LOOKING AT YOU, XKCD!), while still keeping the riff-raff out.
The political debates here are also some of the best I’ve seen on the internet. Even the Cite?! joke pretty much explains why it’s so good, i.e. that the posters here value the truth when making arguments. The debates are slightly lacking for conservatives, but the ones we have are great (excepting shallora and Carol Stream; I hate them). I actually enjoy *reading *Great Debates more than posting in it. Reading the debates on other message boards could be assigned as punishment at Guantanamo Bay.
Valete,
Vox Imperatoris
You seem to think I’m being snide in my post when I was saying exactly what I meant. If you don’t see the value of being on a board like this (because to me its value and benefits are self evident) then I don’t think we can explain it. Also, if you’re the sort of person who needs other people to tell them what to think then I don’t see what kind of contribution you expect to make either.
Sorry if this is blunt but it’s what I think.