How much time do you spend on forums?
 

Just curious to hear other people's opinion on this. In days-gone-by, even up til I was ~25, I could easily spend several hours a day on forums. (I include MySpace / Facebook in this... those are just glorfied forums where your profile serves as your dedicated "me" thread, and you have the ability to send mass-PMs). I eventually built a strong "community of online friends".

But in the past few years I find I just can't keep up the interest, or put in any real time to forums.


SoooOOOoooo... how much time do you put in on forums / social media, and what's your big motivator? What's keeps you coming back for more?

I spend most of my time on this forum with occasional jumps to facebook. I have it open most of the day and check back from time to time, but the bulk of my attention is just after I drop the kids off. I'll spend a couple of hours reading threads and responding in between having breaky and stuff.

I'm not usually online much over the weekends or in the evenings. Mostly only when it's just me at home.

I also spend a lot less time here now that I don't chat anymore. That can eat up hours like there's no tomorrow.

eta: I keep coming back because no one's banned me yet. lol This forum is well moderated and most of the posters are fairly reasonable barring a few exceptions who shit me to tears. It takes all types though. I know I annoy the crap out of some people too, but that's not really my problem...is it? lol

I spend the good part of my free time here in the Cellar. The people here are moderately intelligent, capable of carrying on interesting conversations, and even the a**holes occasionally have something interesting to say. -shrugs- Beats sitting around doing nothing all day, or sewing my finger to the shirt I'm working on. Yes, I did that last night. No I wasn't drunk just really tired and not focusing too well. Yes, the bloodstains DID come out thank whomever.

We humans have a need to be social and this is one way to do it.

This is my only regular, although for a while I was on a forum of bass players (as was dar, I think?), and that was very nice because it was a remarkable way to get insight on the instrument from other players.

hmmm. I wonder if that is the forum where my SO is a member, Harmony Central?

for me it fluctuates. I can let weeks go by without posting anywhere, or I can spend hours at a time online. It just depends. I am a member of several forums. I spend more time on some than others.

I keep coming back because I like to talk to people from different places, with different points of view. I have made some good friends online (my SO and I met on a forum), and I have made a few enemies as well.

It comes and goes. I find I have an upper limit when it comes to the number of sites I can participate in at any one time. So, sometimes I leave forums for a while, then drift back and be active again.

Right now, my blog time is cutting into my cellar time, and I'm spending alot more time on piercing forums, since that's related to the subject of my blog.

Right now, I read and/or post regular on:
Cellar
Tribalectic
Poked (but it's not very active right now)
Steel Navel
IAMBME

Time? Dunno, I'm on ze internets all day until my eyes can't see anymore and my shoulders are tied up in knots

Well we met on a forum, and I value that friendship. I have met some great people on-line, many of them I have become friendly with. Few I have formed close friendships with but few I have as well. I love to converse with other people from other cultures and really enjoy the discussions with the folks from or living in other places, including the US. I have a few jobs that afford me a significant amount of down time so this is a great way to be social and learn about things I would be generally ignorant of. Thanks to all that make it worth coming back. The Cellar is a great place to be part of.

Yes indeed sugarpop, Harmony Central. What's your SO's handle?

I'm pretty much faithful to the Cellar - I like the people here and I feel like I fit in.

I'm a member of three or four other forums, one I use mainly for information (fan site) and one I'm a long time lurker - there's too many posters for me to feel any real attachment to it. Oh and I drop in on some TV-based ones from time to time.

Until I move this weekend I'll be gorging myself on Cellar goodness. Once I have something else to do with my days I expect to cut back again. But I have real friends here so I expect it to be a regular haunt for a while to come.

I like all kinds of forums, but this one serves as my real dedication. The main hub....I go to interest specific forums but don't certainly spend as much time there.

I'm here all the time, it's no use counting the hours. I check on my other accounts but they aren't as active, because frankly, I haven't put as much into them.

I guess this is my social contact outside of the other people in real life that I hang with, that also use the computer as a social contact.

Usually, if my computer is on then the cellar is up. If I am in...my computer is usually on...

I am a member of *thinks* six or seven forums. Of those, three are gaming forums one is a political forum and two are History communities. I only pop by most of them once in a blue moon, but one of the history forums and one of the games forums are semi-regular. I am only a part of the community in one other forum, and that's the games forum for the upcoming Darkfall Online.

None of those are the same as the Cellar. This is the only online community I currently consider an essential extension of my real life social circle. I used to be that way with the Ultima Online (Siege Perilous) community, and have kept in occasional contact with a few old timers. Once the game is no longer holding the community together and everybody's off in different worlds...*smiles* they were good times and good people and I sometimes miss them. I love that the Cellar isn't tagged to a game, and subject to the gaming winds of fortune *chuckles*

When stuff happens in my life, along with the thought 'must tell Mum/J/Martin etc' comes the thought 'must tell the Dwellars'. If something's been bothering me, or playing on my mind, I either come to you guys to talk it out and feel better, or I plan to tell you about it and in planning it I inadvertently talk myself through it. On the gaming forums, I have a persona, with the Dwellars I am myself.

I suppose I've got a similar story. I've met several RL friends through my past forum jaunts. But it seems in recent years that the appeal of re-re-returning to forums will wane.

One idea I'm playing with is the general feeling for the lack of progress that seems to follow most forums. What I mean is that not only the sciences, but even Philosophy will ideas build upon itself. The history of what was discussed will add up and support future discussion. But typical forums feel like a never-ending loop destined to repeat the same content.

But who knows... maybe that's just part of getting older? Like when you're in college you love going to clubs, but when you're old and grizzled you prefer sitting in a quiet pub with your friends. You tire of seeing the ditzy blondes get too drunk to walk, and the freshman poser who snuck in with a fake ID and ends up puking in a trash can in the corner. After enough of that it's more tempting to sip on an irish beer while talking about a great new mulch you're trying.

Or maybe I'm just jaded. ;)

*shrug*

I spend a stupid amount of time waiting for stuff that interests me here.

I post frequently to three forums. This one, another one that's similar and a third at a magic website. I spend most of my time on the non-Cellar sites, since those share my interests more closely and I've ingratiated myself there more. A few hours a day, easily, between the three.

*shrug* lack of progress... I feel that way about the bass forum, but here, it's the people, not the topics.

yes, I value our friendship as well. ;)

I believe it is psychesilo. (I may have the spelling wrong.)

What is your handle over there? I think he may join this forum. he is checking it out.

Undertoad. But I haven't posted for a while.

I'm a one-forum kind of guy.
Yes, Oh darling Cellar, you are the only one in my life.
Except for my friends in the meat-world, but they don't count.

progress? what progress? we're not on a crusade here, we're just a bunch of people chit chatting. It's like a party, no progress is expected. We're not a philosophy class or a community group. Even people who've known each other for years, when they get together, what do they talk about? The weather, sports, their kids, their health . . .

to me, the Cellar, and other places like it, are a support group. A place to air one's grievances, ask for help, get support.

That's progress enough.

I agree Cloud. For me, stepping into the Cellar is no different to going to the pub with my rl friends, or phoning up a mate to offload about stuff, or tell them about a cool programme that's coming on.

IIDB is a philosophy forum.

I am a member of, and spend too much time in, too many 'net communities - either that or my old brain is collapsing from the strain of trying to recall who I am, where I am, and indeed, what I am, at the various sites. Just call me sweetwater sybil. No, don't.

The hours spent among them reward me generously with insights, topics of conversation, humor, good ideas, and all sorts of lovely things. And expressions like my friends in the meat-world
[ZenGum] that make me LOL. It's worth it to me, for sure!

The total time I spend here is difficult to measure, because it's usually in 10-15 minute bursts when I get time here and there. But it's the default action whenever I have a free moment, to the point that I have occasionally discovered the main page in front of me without remembering opening the window. But overall it's usually several hours a day at the very least. And I'm a one-forum gal. When I run out of new posts here, I wander off to CNN, or Fark, or a handful of cooking blogs, but nothing participatory.

Like UT said, it's the people, not the topics. Especially in recent months this has become a really critical form of social interaction for me, because otherwise I don't get out much.

I don't have the time to post much here, but I certainly read almost every day (and check out the images, naturally).

I am the type to think very carefully about what I write, instead of just babbling on. So it is time consuming for me to write anything of substance.

That said, I am a member and web admin for my gaming site - which is for a guild in EQ. I am a founder and web admin for an abuse support forum (one month old and very active!), and a member at another abuse recovery forum. I can barely keep up with those, never mind visit and post on much else. I also have a Facebook and MySpace page, and try to check in every couple of days.

I do like the Cellar, the members are intelligent, humorous, diverse, and fairly consistent. It's nice to get to know people as they post about themselves.

Stormie

It depends on how business is. When things are rocking I can take it fairly easy and teh cellar is up on my screen pretty much all the time. When it slows down and I have to work harder then I disappear except for a little late night lurking.

The only other forum is a london based Arsenal website. It's pretty primitive but it is a good source of news I can't find anywhere else.

This is the only forum I belong to. Honestly, I probably spend too much time here, but it's all *your* guyses faults for being so interesting and/or funny (usually).

I have my tri club site/forum I check out occasionally, but that's pretty slow. Oh, yeah. There's this really retarded site the Lumbernet, but the moderater is a total cocktard.