What was your experience like when you were a "newbie" here?

This placed scared the crap out of me, and I liked it like that :7. I was a bit paranoid though. When NewYawker99 welcomed me, I wasn't sure if she was serious or not. :rofl:

I tried to talk to several people with no luck until I asked MrScorpio what IBTL, nt and kicked and rec'ed meant. So he at least talked to me. :)

I can't remember who the very first person to talk to me was, I think it was a man and it was a short name. :shrug:

Sorry.



I had to.

this is my only my second "nice post hitler".

Where is LostinVa, she was my first! :)

I remember thinking, "Holy crap, these people are a thousand times more informed than I am!" I was scared to death of trying to interact with them--I thought I'd get labeled an ignorant n00b and ignored.

Of course, that was before I realized that at least 50% of the people over there are full of poop at any given moment. ;) :rofl:

(about the poops):rofl: I've been full of poop a time or two myself though. ;) Thank goodness for the gracious ones who pretend to have short memories and let me off the hook.

EarlG's Top 10 Conservative Idiots was the catalyst to my joining DU. Those lists are so funny.

the Top 10 Conservative Idiots, and that's what got me hooked on DU. :hug:

I had a friend (lizerdbits) who was a long time poster, so I knew that I would have ONE person to talk to me..And I did the newbie thing and asked someone for definitions of things like nt,moran, and stuff like that. Someone very kindly showed me the DU dictionary...But true to my future behavior, I think it was less than a week or two after joining that I got involved in a running flame war in GD.....After realizing I was smarter than a majority of people in that forum, well...I lost my fear

I have enjoyed some of those flaming :nuke: wars myself. It's funny how I can get all worked up and then it's over.

No fear, that's a good thing! :hi:

Believe it or not...

I felt very shy...

Like a new kid at school...

I realized that I didn't know anybody, and it did hold me back...

But obviously, not for long!

I do recall being very upset when Skittles offered to kick my ass, yes INDEED!

The very first person to talk to me was on my first post...

Nostamj...:cry:

He was such a sweetheart...

I stayed in GD on the latest page and just read and responded. It was nice to find happy people in the lounge. Matcom and DS1 and MrScorpio and Friday night drinks were always good fun.

:eyes:













:hi:

It was kinda scary at first - matcom and ZombyWoof and GOPisEvil kind of ruled the lounge (as I saw it, anyway). But I was welcomed very nicely by everyone, and the fear soon dissipated.

Well since Zomby doesn't come here anymore, I think DS1 took his place and they still rule the lounge. :hi:

I just took some time to see what was considered the norm. I have no problems with GD/GDP

You had the right attitude, I was too afraid of making people mad initially.

I have misplaced my shoes.

;)

I hung out in GD then (I thought the Lounge was silly and cliquish), and one day there was a story about a high school kid whose teacher told him to put away his cell phone while he was in the middle of a call. (It wasn't during class, but the school had a policy about cell phone use on campus.) The kid refused, so the teacher hauled him to the principal's office, whereupon, I believe, he was suspended.

It was only then that the kid revealed that the caller was his mom, who was stationed in Iraq.

In the thread about this, several people posted about the kid's rights, etc., and called for the teacher and principal to be fired. (You know the drill.) When a few dug up the principal's phone number and e-mail address and even a photo of him, and called for a phone/e-bombing campaign, I thought, "My dog, these people are terrorists of a different kind" and decided I didn't want to be associated with them.

I said so, including the "terrorist" part, and didn't return to DU for about eight months.

I've since learned that such things are SOP, of course. :eyes:

I had forgotten it. Well for what it's worth I'm glad you came back. Having you here (and many others) is quite comforting, it's like coming home and your favorite familiar people are there, so things must be OK.

:-). I didn't post much at first. I still rarely start a thread and I've been here for four years now.

I feel better responding somewhere in the middle of them rather than starting them. :)

you would have remembered it. :rofl: Nice to see you again! :hug:

;)

:hi:

I'm not sure why the hell it took me so long to jump on the bandwagon, but when I did, I was welcomed and everyone seemed really friendly. The first person who welcomed me was SeattleGirl and she will always hold a special place in my heart for that. CAPeggy was pretty sweet too, I think she was the one who sent me my very first PM. I was thrilled. :D

It was fun discovering the other forums, too. Esp. the astro/spirituality, exercise/fitness forums, although I don't post in there as often as I do in the lounge.

GD I mostly tend to lurk in. People get too positional sometimes in there and I tend to stay away from the drama.

:hi:

We had plenty of "people getting too positional" over there :(. I used to lurk too and when I first tried to join they weren't allowing new members due to bandwidth issues. I was devastated! Once I joined though, it took me a while to get to the lounge and some of the other forums.

I'm glad that you had good experiences. I think the first time I remember you, you posted some AWESOME pics of yourself. You are an inspiration!

:hug:

Until I attended a DU meetup and met LionessPriyanka. Then I changed my userID (she picked out my new name, Thomcat) and suddenly I became a social butterfly or something. :P

I'm glad that you had a chance to meet Lioness, she picked a good name!

:hug:

you've always been one. Just took the rest of us some time to notice. ;)

:loveya: sweetie!

:loveya:

How are you feeling? Did you manage to get over the bug you had okay?

:hug:

Chris is still coughing though. How about you? Are you doing OK?

We'll have to re-schedule dinner sometime soon. :hug:

We would LOVE to see you.

:hug:

but I'll let you know in plenty of time. :hug:

I hatched out of an egg in the Environment/Energy forum. :7




Hehee. No really, I posted a bit in GD initially... wrote some OPs that sank like rocks... then found the Lounge! :D


Hope you're doing well OhioBlues! :hi:

and you hatched here, Yay! DU's first hatchling! :7

:hi:

The old one is having a rest in my photobucket account. After all she's been walking a long time. :D

I'll just have to switch off every so often... not that it'll matter in a few hours when we're on Level 2! :scared:


:hug:

and this place STILL scares the crap out of me! A lot of people were nice... until I put on my Obama bumper sticker - and then no matter what I said, I was thrown under the bus and no one would take me seriously.

So, I took off the bumper sticker, and people tend to be a bit nicer. Sheesh.. don't promote someone on a dem site.. it's like you're evil or something! :)

at least over the candidate. Never take anything too seriously here.

Welcome to DU and we aren't always this rude here, really! :hi:

I figured the Lounge would be cliquish and nobody would know me.

I got called a Freeper troll in the first thread I started because somebody hadn't bothered to read my post - Back in October of 2003, I had asked for information to help me rebut some BS on Bill Clinton, and I had posted some snippets of what had been emailed to me. Of course, the person accused me of being a Freeper troll for posting what I asking for help rebutting.

when I was new. Good thing you didn't let that keep you away.

people now.

has been away for a while now and she always went out and welcomed us!

And it's been a blast ever since. I already had been on other boards, so I wasn't really a newbie. I had been banned from ABCNews.com (I'm very proud of that) right before I joined DU.

What did you do to get banned from ABCnews.com? :hi:

I picked on Reagan a lot (oh, that was fun!). There are some right wingers on that board who didn't like that very much, and they all complained. I also posted something about the moderators being drunken republicans. Next thing I know, I'm banned.

anything serious. Just me, i guess. z

Why not?

about me and in a way that's sad.

Even if people disagree with you, you do have a right to say your peace. Try not to think about it and just post, if it sinks, join the club, if it flames join the club, I think you get my drift.

Welcome to DU. :hi:

I just jumped in.


I think the first person to reply to me was Kleeb, but I'm not 100% sure. :shrug:

You just fit right in. :hi:

:hug:



Plus I'm nuts, everything is better if you're crazy. :rofl:

got ripped into big time, usual GD stuff, you know, ignoramus nincompoop moron stuff.

Friendly place, GD.

:hi:

DU baptism by DU fire. I'm glad you're here. :hi:

about neocons and I was ready for battle (previous like experience). The DU was the only place I could find where people talked straight through the GOP myths. I loved it.

I did not understand the star designation or the significance of 1000 posts and was paranoid to post for fear I would piss someone off.

But now I know better. I have a star. I have more than 1000 posts. And I realize I'm going to piss off someone somewhere no matter how careful I am.

Redstone was the first person I recall responding to me after I posted a complaint about people who use their cell phones in rest rooms and ask the rest of us to keep our business quiet. Apparently people are more courteous in rest rooms where he's from.

x(

When nobody heard of him, but then the bloom came off the rose for me. Folks here were not too kind if you didn't like Dean back in 2003.

but I got better

5 years and 4000 posts later.. but then, I do tend to blend into the scenery as it were.. even in real life..

The forum was much smaller and more intimate in those days and it was easier to get to know people and blend in than it is now. I made some good friends during that period of time and I had a lot of fun. I think the first year on this forum was probably one of my best experiences on the Internet that I've ever had

Airmen's Mom was the first one to ever talk to me. :hug:

I also remember billyskank, Random Australian, and (especially)Clintmax from the Crew.... it was a couple of years ago, but they were all very friendly and nice to a newbie.

:hi:

... but it's a big place with brazillions of members. They'll get used to (or sick of) me sooner or later.

Like your handle.

:hi:

And thank you.... but I think it will take me awhile to learn to spell yours! What does it mean?

I thought it was someone from Massachusetts!

:rofl:

Self-deprecating humor, I guess, with a touch of irony.

:hi:

:P :rofl: That's definitely changed. :evilgrin:

and got my ass kicked from NY to Texas. I think I had posted about the repukes who had come to my house during the primaries in 2004 and tried to talk to me. Problem is that I am a registered dem but the people who I had bought my house from a few weeks earlier were registered repukes. I kept telling them they were talking to the wrong person...anyhow, I got totally flamed for "being rude" to them :shrug:

Distressed American stepped in and saved me - what are friends for - and then I ran to the lounge where California Peggy welcomed me with open arms....

I didn't really understand what the lounge (or an internet forum for that matter) was all about.

I figured it out soon enough. BerthaVenation was the first to respond to one of my posts and she was very kind. :)

DU is the only place that I've ever posted online.

Thank goodness, I figured things out and BOSSHOG became my best DU friend when I started a pink flamingo/garden thread! ;)

My Georgia DU friends, (among them RubyDuby, CatWoman, Ulysses and Burythehatchet and the others!)
made me feel welcome and I've enjoyed getting to know them in person a our meet ups!

:hi:

CB :)

edit: punctuation

:mad: