I lurk because often I don't have anything to say that contributes. I lurked for years before registering.
I remember when Elkamil joined. I also tend to agree with people that say the forums used to be better. They had a different feel to them in the past and to me it seemed like they were just more interesting. Not to say things aren't good now, but it just doesn't feel like the golden age anymore.
but if they post here, are they really lurkers anymore?
Schroedinger's Posters.
EDIT: but anyway, it's been a while since I've really felt like getting involved in a debate. All I'll do these days is read and post in the odd thread. Most of my time is in the [chat] if it's going.
I mostly live in the chat thread as the other threads are either out of my expertise or not that interesting to me.
It's hard to break the lurking habit at first, because your first xx posts will go unnoticed. Until you can start making cohesive paosts that people pay attention to, lurking is quite attractive.
My first DD post was savaged by Salvation122, I was lucky :P
ITS ALL YOUR FAULT I STAYED, SAL
MUAHAHAHHAAHAHA
That reminds me of one of my first posts. I was complaining about the wii in the chat thread and Violent Chemistry shut me up but good.
About three days later I came up with a great reply. Fat lot of good it did me.
I post occasionally when I think I have something valuable to contribute. It's the same is it would be in a conversation. If I really don't have anything to add, I don't bother talking just to hear the sound of my own voice. It just seems like in most thread there's someone of a similar opinion and there's no reason to restate what was said.
I lurked for about 6 months prior to even opening an account. Partially to make sure everyone here was normal and not psycho mendacious freaks, partially to make sure mods castrated, banned or otherwise removed said psycho mendacious freaks as quickly as possible and partially to get a feel for the boards before I started posting.
I started lurking around the end of 2005, and registered in Sep 2006 (I think). I post occasionally enough now to not consider myself creepy but I still read the forums more often than I post.
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Podlyyou unzipped me! it's all coming back! i don't like it!Registered Userregular
edited August 2007
I stopped lurking when I discovered the glory hole in the regular poster's bathroom.
I'd probably post more if I lived in the same time zone as most other forumers, and could be assured of getting a quick reply to keep the discussion going. Then again, I'm in the same zone as the Cat and she seems to manage.
Also I agree with everyone else's reasons. For instance, I have strong opinions on the current Israel thread, but they're the same as most other people's so there's no point in posting them.
And I'd just like to take this opportunity to say 'fuck you' to the other CrimsonKing, the one without the space.
Oh my god, I didn't realise there were two of you! I apologise profusely for accidentally sending waves of hate your way, because the other guy is a total dick.
This is hilarious.
Also, I probably got noticed pretty quick because I made a ton of threads after I joined; 90% of them were about the middle east, and it was me vs Harry B and Drite in most of them.
I, like many others in this thread, have lurked here for years. I've made maybe five posts in that whole time, usually about things I know enough about to contribute.
I think that's the crux of it really, people who post in ignorance piss me off when I'm lurking and I don't want to be that guy.
It was actually the creepiest things thread (the non-archived one that started in 2004) that got me to start reading the forum. I'd been reading the comic for a year or more but around November 04 I clicked the forum link for the first time, eventually found my way to "Creepiest things you ever saw," and thought this forum was awesome. That plus the Strange and Embarrassing Moments Mk. II thread made for entertaining reading.
I meak poast every now and then, but I really don't because if I end up starting a conversation, I can't finish it past two or three posts because of my time schedule.
So, I should just start making threads about abortion, the middle east, president bush, and global warming to get noticed then?
I mostly live in the chat thread as the other threads are either out of my expertise or not that interesting to me.
It's hard to break the lurking habit at first, because your first xx posts will go unnoticed. Until you can start making cohesive paosts that people pay attention to, lurking is quite attractive.
My first DD post was savaged by Salvation122, I was lucky :P
ITS ALL YOUR FAULT I STAYED, SAL
MUAHAHAHHAAHAHA
Yeah, I think my first confrontation was with Sal as well.
I lurked for years until a little under a year ago, then bought an account. Nobody ever really starting paying much attention to me until I recently got a shiny new av and sig. Assholes, all of you.
I'm not a huge forums poster unless something really interests me though. People inevitably end up repeating themselves and saying what you want to say before you can actually say it, which is why I stick mostly to chat stuff and other casual threads, unless someone starts acting truly retarded.
I'm not really that much of a lurker on here, but compared to how much I used to post on another forum I could be considered one.
On this old forum I had around 14,500 posts accumulated within the time span of two years. I left because despite my very solid debating skills (considering my how old I was at the time) older members didn't take me seriously, just because of my age. Not to mention every third person selected at random was a complete idiot.
Most of that stemmed from my OCD which usually manifests itself as computer and internet rituals and compulsions. Since I've started on anti-OCD medicine I don't feel the need to post on and/or read forums so much anymore. But I am glad that I found this forum by chance (Bless you, Google) D&D is easily one of the best and most intelligent discussion forums I have ever encountered.
D&D is easily one of the best and most intelligent discussion forums I have ever encountered.
I definitely agree. I love the atmosphere here, except when you guys get pissed at each other; then it definitely devolves into a lot of insults and derogation of the other poster. Still, you guys are probably the smartest and agreeable debaters I've ever encountered on an internet forum. Maybe one day I will get the time / balls to post here regularly.
I'm not really that much of a lurker on here, but compared to how much I used to post on another forum I could be considered one.
On this old forum I had around 14,500 posts accumulated within the time span of two years. I left because despite my very solid debating skills (considering my how old I was at the time) older members didn't take me seriously, just because of my age. Not to mention every third person selected at random was a complete idiot.
Most of that stemmed from my OCD which usually manifests itself as computer and internet rituals and compulsions. Since I've started on anti-OCD medicine I don't feel the need to post on and/or read forums so much anymore. But I am glad that I found this forum by chance (Bless you, Google) D&D is easily one of the best and most intelligent discussion forums I have ever encountered.
D&D is easily one of the best and most intelligent discussion forums I have ever encountered.
I definitely agree. I love the atmosphere here, except when you guys get pissed at each other; then it definitely devolves into a lot of insults and derogation of the other poster. Still, you guys are probably the smartest and agreeable debaters I've ever encountered on an internet forum. Maybe one day I will get the time / balls to post here regularly.
I mostly live in the chat thread as the other threads are either out of my expertise or not that interesting to me.
It's hard to break the lurking habit at first, because your first xx posts will go unnoticed. Until you can start making cohesive paosts that people pay attention to, lurking is quite attractive.
My first DD post was savaged by Salvation122, I was lucky :P
ITS ALL YOUR FAULT I STAYED, SAL
MUAHAHAHHAAHAHA
Yeah, I think my first confrontation was with Sal as well.
Upon reflection, my choice of name is somewhat unfortunate.
I mostly live in the chat thread as the other threads are either out of my expertise or not that interesting to me.
It's hard to break the lurking habit at first, because your first xx posts will go unnoticed. Until you can start making cohesive paosts that people pay attention to, lurking is quite attractive.
My first DD post was savaged by Salvation122, I was lucky :P
ITS ALL YOUR FAULT I STAYED, SAL
MUAHAHAHHAAHAHA
Yeah, I think my first confrontation was with Sal as well.
Upon reflection, my choice of name is somewhat unfortunate.
I'm not really that much of a lurker on here, but compared to how much I used to post on another forum I could be considered one.
On this old forum I had around 14,500 posts accumulated within the time span of two years. I left because despite my very solid debating skills (considering my how old I was at the time) older members didn't take me seriously, just because of my age. Not to mention every third person selected at random was a complete idiot.
Most of that stemmed from my OCD which usually manifests itself as computer and internet rituals and compulsions. Since I've started on anti-OCD medicine I don't feel the need to post on and/or read forums so much anymore. But I am glad that I found this forum by chance (Bless you, Google) D&D is easily one of the best and most intelligent discussion forums I have ever encountered.
What were you googling, out of interest?
I can't even remember...
That's almost always how I discover a new blog or message board is through Lord Google. (Google is my savior)
I'll go ahead and come out of the lurker closet too. I normally post in the sports threads here, and thats about it. Its just easier to lurk than to post. Ive only just recently started to come into D&D anyway. Most of my time here thus far has been submitting myself to the mercy of H/A or posting in the occasional G&T "Recommend me a game for system X" thread.
I don't see any math related threads out here either. Politics aren't exactly my forte and it seems that comes up more than anything else here.
As a rule, I like to limit what I say to topics I know about. I guess I don't post because that's a little limited.
I've been lurking for at least a few hours daily since 2002. I registered my account in 2003, and have posted on and off since then-I've probably racked up a couple thousand posts, but considering the amount of time I've spent reading this damn forum I'm really still primarily a lurker.
My main reason why I remain a lurker is because I always scrutinize my posts to death. I'll complete a thread and have an idea of what I want to post in it, so I'll type out whatever stream of consciousness happens to be babbling through my head at the time and hunker down to edit. I'll go through it once or twice making sure all my grammar and spelling is correct, then pull out a toothcomb and start rewriting sentences. Once I've got all of the sentences that irked me during the initial grammar edits reworked, I'll take another look at the post and realize that I really ought to change some of the secondary sentences affected by the first sentence rewrites, as to make it all fit. Once this is done I'll go through it again for grammar and possibly paragraphing (if it's long enough), and at this point an hour has elapsed and I'm so damn fed up that I'll trash the post which, half the time, is no longer pertinent thanks to the new posts that appeared during my writing process. I'm slowly getting better at simply writing a better post the first time around so my edit times are more reasonable while still keeping this OCD tendency at bay, so hopefully as my writing improves the more prolific my posting will be.
The second reason why I really don't post much is because of a terrible need to have read the entire thread, preferably twice, before even considering posting in it. Not necessarily a bad habit to get into when replying to infantile threads that are still toddling along at two or three pages long, but a large roadblock keeping me from posting in any senior threads here. Reading and being able to recall the entirety of a 45 page thread so I can keep my reply free of redundancy and wonderfully up to date and pertinent is something that any lifestyle choices like having a job or going to school will naturally prohibit. Again, I'm slowly getting over the fear of possibly restating a point already made or, god forbid, asking a question already answered twenty pages ago, but it's a slow process.
Looking back, this post makes me out to be an epically anal bastard, but I assure you that aside from a strange fondness for chewing on my inner lip my OCD tendencies are relegated to only my internet habits.
I have been lurking more often than I have been posting in D&D recently for two reasons:
1. When I come online, most threads have sprung up during my night-time, when I've been asleep, and are already at 20 pages and have recycled most of the arguments. I have to make the choice to either let it go, or make a post that is just echoing someone else's.
2. My last few posts in threads have been largely ignored, either because I posted in the middle of two people arguing and so it was lost within five minutes, or because the person I was addressing wasn't online until a few hours later and probably didn't see my response to them.
I have lurked here for a few years, but I think i only managed to create a account last year. The older forum always seemed to *lose* my signing up stuff, so I would try to register, only to get no confirming email. Then the email address I tried to sign up with would be forever stuck as a failed registering attempt, and not able to be used to try again. I vaguly felt like the 'tubes was doing it on purpose.
I have to agree with the intimdating side of things though. I have seen so many people ripped to shreds over such miniscule things like spelling and punctuation. I also have a debilitating fear that if I start making my presence known, that when I try and express my opinion/knowledge, I will NOT know some small thing, and everyone will descend upon me like baying hounds and rip my textual identity to shreds. *shudder* Just the very mental image of my online persona lying bleeding on the cold cold forum floor, leaking verbs and fullstops under the hate filled gazes of several of "big name" posters is enough for me to stay lurking 90% of the time.
Also, where the hell do you guys find the time to post so much? Do you do anything BUT post?
Also, where the hell do you guys find the time to post so much? Do you do anything BUT post?
At times like this I'd usually agree and laugh at people, but these days I can't help but notice how many posts I myself have racked up despite being here for, what, less than a year?
I've been a lurker since 2002 (or whenever I decided to check out G&T to see what people were making of Half-Life 2 previews) but it occurs to me that I still don't post in D&D very much. I think years of watching the place from afar made me realise that it scares the hell out of me. I don't do well with confrontation and I rarely change my opinion on anything, so it'd be pretty stupid on my part to barge into a debate and crap on proceedings.
I've lurked here for years, since before Social Entropy was called... whatever it was previously called, I don't really remember what it was. Started up this account a year or two ago, and now I post occasionally when there's something I think I can add or that's particularly interesting, but I still lurk more than post.
If I ever do start posting regularly, I'll probably make the effort to make an avatar.
Posts
I remember when Elkamil joined. I also tend to agree with people that say the forums used to be better. They had a different feel to them in the past and to me it seemed like they were just more interesting. Not to say things aren't good now, but it just doesn't feel like the golden age anymore.
Oh God no.
EDIT: but anyway, it's been a while since I've really felt like getting involved in a debate. All I'll do these days is read and post in the odd thread. Most of my time is in the [chat] if it's going.
That reminds me of one of my first posts. I was complaining about the wii in the chat thread and Violent Chemistry shut me up but good.
About three days later I came up with a great reply. Fat lot of good it did me.
I dont think i could really contribute much though, most people here seem to be far more intelligent than me, and i'm scared of being called stupid
However, i do enjoy reading the forum though, keep it up!
You have a kickass avatar though, so it's all good.
That's not a glory hole.
This is hilarious.
Also, I probably got noticed pretty quick because I made a ton of threads after I joined; 90% of them were about the middle east, and it was me vs Harry B and Drite in most of them.
You just would not let that Middle East thread fall off the first page, even if you had to post six consecutive times in a row without a response.
I think that's the crux of it really, people who post in ignorance piss me off when I'm lurking and I don't want to be that guy.
I meak poast every now and then, but I really don't because if I end up starting a conversation, I can't finish it past two or three posts because of my time schedule.
So, I should just start making threads about abortion, the middle east, president bush, and global warming to get noticed then?
Sounds like a plan.
Yeah, I think my first confrontation was with Sal as well.
I'm not a huge forums poster unless something really interests me though. People inevitably end up repeating themselves and saying what you want to say before you can actually say it, which is why I stick mostly to chat stuff and other casual threads, unless someone starts acting truly retarded.
On this old forum I had around 14,500 posts accumulated within the time span of two years. I left because despite my very solid debating skills (considering my how old I was at the time) older members didn't take me seriously, just because of my age. Not to mention every third person selected at random was a complete idiot.
Most of that stemmed from my OCD which usually manifests itself as computer and internet rituals and compulsions. Since I've started on anti-OCD medicine I don't feel the need to post on and/or read forums so much anymore. But I am glad that I found this forum by chance (Bless you, Google) D&D is easily one of the best and most intelligent discussion forums I have ever encountered.
I definitely agree. I love the atmosphere here, except when you guys get pissed at each other; then it definitely devolves into a lot of insults and derogation of the other poster. Still, you guys are probably the smartest and agreeable debaters I've ever encountered on an internet forum. Maybe one day I will get the time / balls to post here regularly.
What were you googling, out of interest?
Shut the fuck up you asslicking cumsniffer.
Upon reflection, my choice of name is somewhat unfortunate.
I don't even know who you are.
I can't even remember...
That's almost always how I discover a new blog or message board is through Lord Google. (Google is my savior)
I'm not anyone's alt, if that's what you're thinking.
I don't see any math related threads out here either. Politics aren't exactly my forte and it seems that comes up more than anything else here.
As a rule, I like to limit what I say to topics I know about. I guess I don't post because that's a little limited.
My main reason why I remain a lurker is because I always scrutinize my posts to death. I'll complete a thread and have an idea of what I want to post in it, so I'll type out whatever stream of consciousness happens to be babbling through my head at the time and hunker down to edit. I'll go through it once or twice making sure all my grammar and spelling is correct, then pull out a toothcomb and start rewriting sentences. Once I've got all of the sentences that irked me during the initial grammar edits reworked, I'll take another look at the post and realize that I really ought to change some of the secondary sentences affected by the first sentence rewrites, as to make it all fit. Once this is done I'll go through it again for grammar and possibly paragraphing (if it's long enough), and at this point an hour has elapsed and I'm so damn fed up that I'll trash the post which, half the time, is no longer pertinent thanks to the new posts that appeared during my writing process. I'm slowly getting better at simply writing a better post the first time around so my edit times are more reasonable while still keeping this OCD tendency at bay, so hopefully as my writing improves the more prolific my posting will be.
The second reason why I really don't post much is because of a terrible need to have read the entire thread, preferably twice, before even considering posting in it. Not necessarily a bad habit to get into when replying to infantile threads that are still toddling along at two or three pages long, but a large roadblock keeping me from posting in any senior threads here. Reading and being able to recall the entirety of a 45 page thread so I can keep my reply free of redundancy and wonderfully up to date and pertinent is something that any lifestyle choices like having a job or going to school will naturally prohibit. Again, I'm slowly getting over the fear of possibly restating a point already made or, god forbid, asking a question already answered twenty pages ago, but it's a slow process.
Looking back, this post makes me out to be an epically anal bastard, but I assure you that aside from a strange fondness for chewing on my inner lip my OCD tendencies are relegated to only my internet habits.
Also, good guess on the postcount there. Just over 2K.
1. When I come online, most threads have sprung up during my night-time, when I've been asleep, and are already at 20 pages and have recycled most of the arguments. I have to make the choice to either let it go, or make a post that is just echoing someone else's.
2. My last few posts in threads have been largely ignored, either because I posted in the middle of two people arguing and so it was lost within five minutes, or because the person I was addressing wasn't online until a few hours later and probably didn't see my response to them.
I have to agree with the intimdating side of things though. I have seen so many people ripped to shreds over such miniscule things like spelling and punctuation. I also have a debilitating fear that if I start making my presence known, that when I try and express my opinion/knowledge, I will NOT know some small thing, and everyone will descend upon me like baying hounds and rip my textual identity to shreds. *shudder* Just the very mental image of my online persona lying bleeding on the cold cold forum floor, leaking verbs and fullstops under the hate filled gazes of several of "big name" posters is enough for me to stay lurking 90% of the time.
Also, where the hell do you guys find the time to post so much? Do you do anything BUT post?
At times like this I'd usually agree and laugh at people, but these days I can't help but notice how many posts I myself have racked up despite being here for, what, less than a year?
I've been a lurker since 2002 (or whenever I decided to check out G&T to see what people were making of Half-Life 2 previews) but it occurs to me that I still don't post in D&D very much. I think years of watching the place from afar made me realise that it scares the hell out of me. I don't do well with confrontation and I rarely change my opinion on anything, so it'd be pretty stupid on my part to barge into a debate and crap on proceedings.
If I ever do start posting regularly, I'll probably make the effort to make an avatar.
Wasn't it EE? Or am I thinking of something else. Or was that... here?
My memory hazy is.
I think it was pit - something. Or maybe hate - something.
Pit of Hate?