Why do you come to and stay at Fluther in the first place?

I’m pretty sure this question has been asked before because I have answered it many ways, in the same way:

Because Fluther taught me so much.
I grew up in what I consider a mind-controlled environment, so I was only exposed to one point of view and that’s what I followed. When Fluther came around, what everyone said was pretty much the opposite of what I was told, and I thought you all were crazy at first. But then, I gave an open mind and realized that what Jellies were saying made so much more sense to me. So, I gained trust in what other Jellies said and now I feel like I have a much better grasp on life. It was a bit weird transitioning, though, since I pretty much ditched all of my past beliefs.
I’m scared to know what I would have turned out to be like had it’ve not been for Fluther. I may have still been in my naïve, ignorant state where I was constantly making a fool of myself based on the absurd things that I would say. I would probably not be questioning everything, although I started getting partly skeptical once I figured out Santa wasn’t real.
So yeah. Fluther shaped my life; Fluther slapped me in the face. That’s why I’m still here and I’ve stayed for all these years. Pushing six years and still counting. I can’t believe it! Thanks Fluther!

I came with a herd of others peeved at the changes made over at Answerbag. I keep coming back because of the thoughtful funny Jellies.

This has been asked & answered so many times, it’s starting to make my ears bleed.

What I meant to say was: “I have answered it many times, in the same way:”

I don’t know why I’ve stayed. I suspect there are complex sociological reasons for why people do what we do and I don’t know what those are. I know a man on Facebook and I have not noticed one single moment out of every day in the last three months that he was not posting something. I leave Facebook between 6 and 7pm each night and he’s still there. Then the next morning at 8am he’s there again all day and afternoon. Don’t most people have dental or medical appointments, meals to cook, friends to go places with, trips to take, clothes to wash? Another poor soul on Facebook had a heart attack, told us he was on his way to the ER, posted pictures of himself in his hospital room for two weeks (some with his cardiologist) then continued to post after coming home. Why is this sad to me? He raved over the care his wife gave him.

I was in the Beta group for Yahoo! Answers, and I enjoyed the Q&A format. That site degraded rapidly once it was in wide release, so I stopped going back there. My account there is still active, I think.

I was not on any other Q&A site, but in the summer of 2007 the iPhone first came out and I was looking for mobile webapps, so I was delighted to find a Q&A site on the list! I think iPhone early-adopters was the first huge migration into Fluther, and we were well-received since it was all pretty new to all of us. Migrations that have happened since have mostly been from other Q&A sites being poorly run or closing down, so the groups that join are upset about having to leave their favorite spot and are uneasy trying to fit into an established community – it’s been ugly at times.

I’ve drifted away and returned over the years, based on events in my life, but I generally enjoy most of the interactions and personalities in the collective, and becoming a moderator hasn’t really changed that – other than being obligated to read the posts I used to just scroll on by.

I discovered Fluther 4 years ago lounging around with a bad case of jet lag after a 13 hour flight back from Taiwan and a 3 hour drive home after landing at midnight. Being a knowledge seeking type of personality and a lover of stimulating discussion, coupled with being at an all time low for quality pals the last number of years, well….Fluther meets my needs for intellectual stimulation, humor, and social banter. Prior to finding Fluther I had never participated in a Q&A type site, I did participate in a spiritual/philosophical forum for a few years til many of the original members went fanatic and hypocritical. haha
Fluthers a keeper, a really fun place.

AnswerBag refuge. The rest is history.

I don’t recall how I stumbled onto Fluther. It happened some years ago. I was doing a general internet search for some topic, hit on a Fluther discussion, and liked the overall website.

I stay here because I truly enjoy the interesting chats and civil tone. Every time I sign-on to Fluther, I learn something new or benefit from another person’s advice or perspective.

I really cannot recall how I found fluther. I’ve been around fluther maybe 5 (ish) years. It changes for me constantly. At one time it was my only connection with the outside world. I was SO grateful to the people here. Sadly though, many of them have since left.

Now use fluther as I think it should be used. For questions and answers. Meaning, I love questions that make me think about me and how I relate to the world. :) Plus you are like a bunch of familiar friends that I enjoy.

http://blog.fluther.com/the-fluther-interview-johnpowell/

@dxs Your situation before you came here is pretty similar to mine. Look here for a little of my life. [a big sympathetic hug]

@ucme so what did I say on the first lines of this thread?

@hearkat So that’s how you became a mod… Yahoo! Answer mod and Fluther mod… Incredible!

@Coloma And member like you add to the humor ;) that’s the reason why I stay here :)

@Symbeline Yahoo! Answer refugee. The rest is history.

@johnpowell I’M JEALOUS OF YOU!!!!! :D

@Mimishu1995 – No, I was not a Mod at Y!A – I was a Beta user. Then I was a Jelly for over 6 years before I became a Mod here.

For me Fluther is a community where there are numerous intelligent people desiring to share and exchange ideas worthy of consideration. Long-term participation has given me the support of some people who have come to be my friends.

Another Answerbag refugee. I came in a butthead and you guys gave me a break. Thanks.

@Adirondackwannabe And people like you give me a break from Y!A. Thanks.

I came here as an alternative to Answerbag when the great redesign of 2009 ruined the user experience there, and after a massive outcry from the members the management just said, “STFU”. I am all but gone from here now due to the new rules of moderation that make the sort of religious discussion and debate that is my main purpose in being on a Social Q&A site nearly worthless here. I moved to Quora.com where lively discussion of controversial topics is welcome, and points aren’t pointless, they can be spent to promote questions and answers.

Here’s today’s controversial question there.

I can’t sleep lately. I wake up at 3 am and browse thru Fluther. There are some very intelligent people, some very funny, very thoughtful, very argumentative, very naive… You name it.
I learn a lot. I am entertained a lot. My thinking is challenged. I don’t have thought provoking conversations of this variety to this degree in face-to-face friendships. I’d rather Fluther than watch mindless TV.

I’m well aware of what you said, but what did I say??
Been tons of questions asking the same thing, not just the one you mention.
Nothing to do with you, just these questions are so common.

Ah, forgive me for saying so, @ucme, but you have 38,269 Lurve. Maybe you’ve just been here forever!!! Cut us little jellies a little slack, eh? What’s your new exciting question?

I have only one issue with that minor rant, I don’t understand the question at the end, care to expand.

Sure. Give us a new and fun question to discuss instead. That’s all
I went through and answered some of your other questions. You come up with some good ones.

Yeah I just noticed, as you can see I love titties & movies :)

It’s something to do. I honestly have to emotional connection to Fluther and I don’t think anyone here would consider me a “friend.” I’m just here to occupy my time and occasionally have some fun.

I came with the rest of the wis.dm users after it shut down and stayed because I enjoyed it I enjoyed it more than wis.dm infact.

I came as a disaffected Askviller many years ago, tipped off about Fluther by a few AV friends. Fluther seemed to hit all the right notes for me: not too large and impersonal, not too competitive, not too rancorous, not too sophomoric…

I’ve stayed because I care about you folks, and I’ve gotten enough positive feedback to make me think that some of you care about me too.

I came to Fluther because I was invited to, I stay because I have a giggle with some like-minded yankee bandidos.

Probably for no reason in particular

I think it’s interesting and I enjoy many people’s big brains here. It seems to be that some people here have curious and agile minds, which is what attracts me in RL, too. I love learning from smart people, and making friends with others.

Also, I have to admit that even when I disagree with someone, I enjoy trying to see thing’s from their point of view, learning another side of the argument.

I come for the hor doerves and the open bar.

Familiar avatars and fact and funny answers. Fluther is My family, when Answerbag imploded I switched between the two sites. Now I do both while waiting for answers from Fluther.

Mmmmm…spinach dip, artisan bread and crab for me right now, eat your herats out. lol

I came because I had a question and I stayed because I am a glutton for punishment.

I got invited over here from a food site. I had never heard of any Q&A sites before, and I thought Fluther (with its weird name) was just a food information site. At first, I only answered food related questions, but then I took a dip into the pool and found out that there was a lot of other topics that I had some knowledge and/or interest in and I’ve been here ever since. I think that was in 2010.

I think the one question that really drew me in, was one in which a mother was bringing her daughter home from the hospital after she’d been in a horrible car accident. She was going to be bedridden for quite some time and she wanted some advice on how to care for a person who was in a lot of pain. My Dad had just had heart surgery and so I learned a lot about what it is like to care for a patient at home. I think the lady appreciated all of the tips and hints, and facts about what to expect. Everything from helping someone to the bathroom, to tying a string onto a container of Chapstick so it won’t roll off the bed, to planning out a week’s worth of menus to make it quick and easy and tasty.

This site convince me (a non-believer) that I actually had some writing talent and that most people appreciate thoughtful, accurate information, given with TLC.

@Kardamom You came for food? No I can’t believe that. And look what you’ve done from there.

^^ Hee hee. Yes, I came for the food, but stayed for everything else.

Oops I meant to say convinced

@Kardamom No wonder why you use a fruit as an avatar :)

And I came for the music :)

Answers.yahoo.com is a joke, Answers.com is full of misinformation, poor spelling, and run by religious assholes who flag all remotely atheist answers as “cyber bullying” while they get away with “trying to scare people away from Hell,” and Quora.com is over-run by hyper-liberal, militant, borderline-man-hating feminists (a few of which include men). They do have a large Indian community, the majority of which are cool people, but the power-users are the ones I described and there’s a ton of politics and BS involved with Quora. So much so, the founders of the site left and distanced their names from it. On top of it all, Quora has extremely corrupt and biased admins and the site feels like an internet dictatorship. Extremely oppressive against free speech, free ideas, thoughts the “Quora government” disagrees with, or un-liberal, un-“feminist” viewpoints. I was on Quora for six months before quitting. The only one left is Fluther.com.

Honestly, some of the users on here are okay, but many of them are old, stubborn, and stuck in their ways. Many users on here are extremely close-minded, judgmental, and immature, like Yahoo Answers if you inverted the users ages. Some can be very annoying, especially if they happen to be Christians (which would make said judgmental obnoxious behavior quite ironic). Intelligence and knowledge can’t flourish in conditions like that, but the site itself, aside from its ugly layout, is okay.

I like GloPro, Allie, Seek, and (though we may not agree all the time) Mimishu1995 on here, so far. They often have good questions and answers. I’m hoping to come across more people like that and avoid some of the more pretentious, self-righteous ones on here. I’d stay for a long time if I can meet some more. But if I keep coming across hostile, immature, close-minded or obnoxious users, I may not stay.

Well, we’re not perfect, and it works for some and not for others. All sites aren’t for everyone. But there is always a difference in quality…Yahoo Answers, I tried that once. I mean I’m sure there are cool people there and great discussions to be had, but if I have to wad through so much nonsense to get at them, it’s not worth it.
Fluther is small, and some of us are close knit, and I get disappointed that some users tend to think newbies need to pass some unspoken initiation test or adopt some kind of mindframe before being accepted. I do hope you stick around.

@MarvinPowell Fancy that. I left Fluther for the oppressive moderation, and find Quora just great.