Has Fluther changed the way you view other websites?

I don’t think I’ve been on any other site in the past 12 months. Fluther has ruined me. :)

Oh, when I Google something and get Yahoo Answers, all I can think of is how terrible the grammar is and the bridge the answerers seem to be dwelling under.

Well, it has certainly given me unrealistic standards for other sites! I have yet to find anywhere else with such a high concentration of competent and intelligent people with common sense.

@Fly Suckup. :)

Fluther cured me of my masochistic impulses to attempt to educate or troll the blithering idiots of the internet. I’ll still read new comments to my more controversial reviews on Amazon, but now it just seems like a waste of time engaging people who missed out on the coursework required to converse intelligently on the subject at hand.

Dammit Jim, I’m a jelly, not a college professor.

It’s so much nicer to chill with people willing, able and enthusiastic about learning and teaching.

I view fluther as a place where I can piss high & mark my territory, then lay on the grass & let the hours pass….bit of depeche mode thrown in there for no good reason.

Yes, I won’t go to any other forums now, not until I find another that matches the intellect of this one. Yes, we get and lose people, but overall, this is a terrific place to be.

What really opened my eyes was this… I’m Deaf and often I wonder just how much I’m missing out on. I would get into a crowd of people talking and wonder what’s going on and it’s been a source of frustration for me—WHAT AM I MISSING!!?? Most Deaf people don’t have the same frustrations—they don’t care, but many of my intelligent Deaf friends share the same frustration.

What I learned through different forums is this: wow… too many people who can hear are absolute morons!! It’s scary! These people vote and breed, AND think I’m dumber than them because I can’t hear??!? I didn’t realize just how… umm… bad it was until I read postings on forums.

But there are places like Fluther where the playing field’s evened out for me. I learned that, just like me, intelligent hearing people have a hard time finding other intelligent people. That’s not cool that there aren’t more of us, but I’m glad to be here and it makes me feel better- I am not missing out on much out there. I might just be lucking out that I don’t have to hear the drivel around me 24/7.

I never visited any other Q&A site before fluther. There has been a couple times I have wound up on one in the last couple years when googling, and they are horrendous. I don’t think fluther changed my view, but it certainly spoiled me.

@linguaphile That was interesting and amusing. I never thought about how a deaf person might be curious about all the discussions around them as though we people who can hear might be talking about different things than people who can’t hear. The few people in my life who were hard of hearing I knew as a child. My grandfather was hearing impaired, but he still could interact with us of course, and he read the paper and was not a stupid man, although he was mentally ill, so it was a mixture of things going on there. And, the two girls I used to play with who were deaf, well, we were kids amd played and it never really felt like we were separate in any way, they just could not hear, and when they signed to each other I didn’t know what they were talking about.

“Hi, my name is Bluefreedom and I’m a Fluther addict.” (Flutherholic?)

Yes, I can safely say that when I joined the collective here, it hooked me fast and I quickly reduced my visits to other social networking sites. No regrets either because Fluther really is the best social network site I’ve ever had the extreme pleasure to be a part of.

Fluther was the first question and answer site I made use of and I have never felt inclined to look elsewhere. Internet comments are often of a frighteningly low standard. Are these people allowed out to walk the streets? Most people on Fluther I would happily let into my home and trust them with the keys.

@flutherother I know the feeling. I’d really like to meet tons of the jellies here in person. I kinda hope someday we throw a irl pancake party, but I feel like a creeper when I bring it up. I’m kinda jealous knowing that forums I’ve been infinitely less involved in have organized annual get togethers and camping trips but I only get to brush virtual elbows with people around here I have genuine respect and admiration for.

I like that idea, we are very widely dispersed but it could work I’m sure.

I hope so. It’d be awesome.

Party at my house?

I thought you’d never ask.

Well that’s three of us.

It hasn’t really changed my way of thinking about other sites. I act differently on here than I do on Facebook, I act differently on Facebook than I do on other sites, and so on and so forth. While I enjoy this site quite a bit, it hasn’t really affected my point of view about others.

I have never participated on another question and answer site, so not really.

I pretty much grew up on internet forums from the age of 12 or so, and I’ve found a level of cordiality and civility (generally!) on this site that I haven’t seen on any forum in a LONG time.

For me it is the opposite. Other social sites make me look a Fluther in a new light. No other site is quite so quirky and that really stands out when you do make a comparison.

Recently, I’ve caught myself looking for the “GA” button on other websites, and even in my dreams O_O I am very impressionable.

@bookish1 Just a short time here and quickly assimilated. Resistance is futile.

Yeah. I only go on other sites to argue with conservatives, lol. Reddit is another site that is mostly liberal, but there’s a lot of teens on it.

I like how diverse the people are here in terms of our age, interests and so on. It’s seems like the tendency on the internet is to form super-specialized communiies that have a way of narrowing the sort of people included. Dog-lovers or Trekkies or conspiracy nuts oh my! Nothing wrong with that, but if you visit that sort of hangout you often find out real quick that people end up running out of things to talk about or worse, censoring what they are to talk about. Sometimes you end up with a bunch of people of the same ilk who, because of their self imposed focus, retread the same conversations and, like a river carving a canyon, mold themselves into one voice making the introduction of new ideas of positions harder and harder.

OK. Fluther has really spoiled me.
I’m a mod on a forum on another site… The rules are very simple; it is for people to share a happy event that has occurred in their daily life. It’s supposed to be a positive space. If I find myself getting bitter or jealous about something that someone has said, I just hold my tongue. Simple as that. Because it is a positive space.

And I am so mad I am almost shaking because of one woman’s response to a story on there. She just cracked on all men, as well as mentally disabled people. This woman is probably 3 times my age and has the maturity of a toddler. But she has an internet connection!

And because I kindly and gently suggested that the forum is not a place for such hateful postings, I probably just started a flame war with her, and she’s going to hate on me for being a man, and then flounce. Time for some popcorn.

@bookish1 Ooh, did she call you a Nazi, yet? That’s the one I just love to be called. ~

@augustlan : Not yet, but that’s how we’ll know that she’s won… >_>

Wait… wait… wait…. did I miss the follow up to party at Auggie’s?
I belong to another forum and offered to host a get-together. I picked a date and last year 15 people showed up. It was great! I’m doing it again this year.

Hey, what happened to the map that JP set up?

How has fluther spoiled me?
On other forums I often find myself looking for the GA button.

Yes, it has. I’ve visited other Q&A sites, but none of them measure up to Fluther. This site seems to have far more intelligent and generous members than similar sites.

And I’m down for a party, @augustlan! If you’ll bring the whip, I’ll bring the dip!

@LuckyGuy – you visit another Q&A site! I feel cheated on. I thought you were just ours.

@Bellatrix It’s all about prostates – a subject near and dear to my… umm.. my… ummm.. other head? You’re not missing anything.

Well, I will forgive you for sharing your attention with others then :-) You are one of my favour… I mean I don’t have any favourites but I like your contributions.

@LuckyGuy How do you deal with that so easily? I had a false result on my guys, Scared the hell out of me.

@Bellatrix Aww, You’re just saying that because you know I’m safe.

@Adirondackwannabe You would be amazed at the grace some of these guys exhibit. They get their results and prognoses just like everyone else. They know they are facing horrible circumstances but they manage to kid about it just the same.
Seriously, it was almost worth getting PCa just to meet these guys. They made me a better man.

:-) @LuckyGuy. You also seem to be a very @LovelyGuy! Sorry @bookish1. Derailing your thread.

@LuckyGuy Dude, you have handled this so cool and easy. You are a fucking warrior. There aren’t many people on here that get that designation.

I would totally have you guys over. We should really work this out…