Did you ever take a break from Fluther and came back after a significant gap?
What was the reason for taking the break and what made you come back?
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No. I stayed on Fluthering even through being committed in a hospital for 5 months.
Yes, for around two weeks. It was supposed to be permanent, but I came back.
I needed a break, and I still need it.
I used to tell gailcalled I was taking a break and she would laugh at me when I was back on in two hours.
I left for months.
This should be in Meta.
Not on purpose, only because of being too busy.
When I was a newbie I took a break for 3 months. It wasn’t really a break. I thought I would never returned. But I did, and now here I am.
I took a break for a year and a half. Only Gail’s death brought me back. It was meant to be permanent.
There was a virulently homophobic question asked in the Social Section one day. I chose to battle it with derisive humor since it was in Social, but the mods forced us to answer as if it was in General. The moderation at the time was quite unfocused, and this incident infuriated me, so I left.
It was good to be gone for so long.
I was very sad that Gail died.
Since I’ve been back, I am very detached from what goes on here. I’m only passionate about 2 topics. Otherwise, I care very little about what goes on here anymore.
Twice.
I had no idea the length of time for either, so I did some quick self-research. The first one was for six months, and the second was for three years, which is funny, because if I had guessed, I would’ve said the first was probably for a year and the second was probably for a year and a half. (My chronological memory is generally pretty solid, but my temporal memory exists almost entirely as creative reconstruction.)
Neither break was because of a single reason. Really, neither was all that much of an active choice on my part. My “real” life just started getting busier and busier, and for whatever reason I felt more distant from the goings-on here, and on some miscellaneous day I just stopped logging in. Each time I came back was because I was in a lonely place in my life, although in neither case was that why I stayed. (Happily, things picked back up in one way or another in my life.) I’ve stayed because I like learning about all the different perspectives people share here—I live in somewhat of a cultural bubble, but because it’s a bubble of diversity, it’s easy for me to forget that the diversity I know through experience is only a subset of the diversity that exists in this world. Plus, I like seeing how arguments/points/opinions are presented/constructed, and there is never a shortage of those on this site!
In 9 years as a Jelly, I’ve only been absent once, for about a month or two. I think I was just really busy.
Only when I got too busy during college, never purposefully.
Nope, except for a couple of suspension stints many years apart.
I have been less active at times, busy or just not really interested but never have I gone off in a huff or announced my departure or re-incarnated under a new name. If I were to leave I would just leave, quietly and without fanfare.
The way I see it, if you’re that unhappy just go sans the door slamming and dramatic, indignant, hysterical and outraged exits.
Many times. Most recently was before the election when people started being really mean on the site.
Yes. I’ve quit twice, deleted my existing accounts, and taken very long breaks. I’m not the only Jelly who’s done this. People usually return after they’ve wandered back and then lurked for a while. If they like the current tone and mood of Fluther, they might decide to come back.
I left for about a year after I left the states. I got settled and got internet again.
From time to time, something used to piss me off so much that I’d have to give myself a timeout to avoid posting angry replies. Those were typically two weeks. One was six weeks, and one was two months. I’d log out and swear not to log back in until my time was up. I never broke those limits.
Then came one barbed remark too many from one of the perennial wise-asses. There wasn’t anything special about it (other than that it was a false accusation); it was just one too many. I signed off and had no plans to log back in, although I never deleted my account.
That interval lasted nearly two years.
But when I heard that there was a vigil for Gail in her last days, it mattered much more to be here than to hold out waiting for some softening or mellowing to occur. And I found enough of the old camaraderie, including a few other returnees like me, to make it worthwhile to stick around. I’m glad I did, even though a lot of the old warmth and brightness is gone.
I was injured a couple of years ago, and I took about a year break from Fluther because I didn’t have room in my life for all the drama and negativity along with my own problems. But I’ve adjusted and I’m back now.
I took several months off when a very insulting user kept ruining my experience here. I still have trouble with the excessive use of swear words, but I try hard to bear with it.
Sorry If I swear too much, I took a couple years in the beginning
Not lately but certainly at times in the past. Sometimes, I find myself turned off by one of the too-familiar questions about politics or religion or dreams, sometimes a thread filled with contentious comments annoys, sometimes I simply don’t have the time or energy to check the site.
@rebbel: No you’re not!! We can see you. ;^)
Yes, a couple of times. Can’t remember the reasons.
@rebbel! You’re one of the ones I was thinking about when I wrote that I was missing some of the warmth and brightness of yore. How nice to see you here.
Why, thank you, Jeruba, how very sweet of you to say such kind words!
I just went in head first (after years of incidentally checking the site out, lurking a little), and asked a question.
Might stay a while again.
Thnx!
@janbb You make me teary eyed…
My face is a mess…...<3
Yes, multiple times. Reason? The internet is a big, vast ocean that’s easy to drift around in.
Some long-ago Jellies are still here, just not active. It’s not unusual to see that a someone “visited” very recently yet hasn’t posted in years. People make friends at Fluther and continue to PM with them.
Yes. Just different habits and stuff going on.
From time to time I disappear or a week or two, sometimes longer.
No one single reason.
I left twice for a short time. One time I deleted my account. When I came back Gail, since she’s mentioned so much on this Q, PM’d me and told me it was “too bad you came back, you should do more with your life.” Something to that effect. Nice welcoming committee that chick. She was relentless in harassing me.
Both times I left it was because people were being mean. I don’t remember exactly what caused me to leave the two times. Probably people piling on during a Q conversation. That’s when I sometimes start to get tired of feeling misunderstood, and maybe I need a break.
All the time I feel like I should fluther less and be doing something I’m procrastinating doing. Lol.
I have taken several breaks, but usually not any longer than a couple weeks, maybe even a month.
Months, years even. I’ve had an account since the AB debacle 8 years ago, but keeping the energy sustained is difficult for me. I was better on AB, but that history has been lost, and the memories are dimming.
I don’t get a lot of positive feedback here, perhaps due to my own anti-social tendencies, which seem to persist even in this anonymous format. I’ve never had an online “friend” in my life, though I have come to some mutual points of respect with some people. I dunno, I know I’m depressed, but maybe I’m also just an unintelligible writer. Anyway, when you always feel like an outsider, it can be hard to muster the effort.
I haven’t noticed you being anti-social @Smashley. I also don’t notice you being here all the time, but perhaps that’s just me being unobservant. Anyway, I hope you do keep making the effort and I hope we can help you feel like one of the community. I don’t know who you were before, and I doubt any or many other people know either.
@Earthbound_Misfit My antisocialness is just that. Withdrawing quietly when I feel unwanted. Thanks though. I meant that my memories of my past handle and years on AB were dimming, not that I had some dark past or something. I just feel like I was a better answerer back then.. at least, my fading memories tell me so.
@rebbel It’s almost too long ago to remember every specific, but Answerbag was the Q/A site I began writing on years ago. After the site was sold, the new owners did a major format change that pissed off a lot of us. Fluther was suggested as a good alternative by some users of consequence, and many of us migrated here at that time.
Thank you, @Smashley.
I never used Answerbag myself, but now that you wrote about it I recall that it was talked about much in those days.
I’m an AnswerBag refugee, too.
I’ve been gone for about 2 months-ish, had some issues logging in. But now I’m back! I still ghosted a bit and I learned that there are a lot of annoying ads that pop up when I’m not logged in. I kept trying to get into my account and emailed the mods like 3 times. (I thought I was banned again) I only kept trying because I really like this site and the people on it.
^^^ It’s nice to see you again.
Looking in after a break. Thinking. Place seems a bit lighter (in a good way) than it was a few months back. The site I help mod/admin is a bit crusty right now – so I’m taking a cleansing look around here.
^^Welcome back to Fluther..)
I drifted away for a couple of years as I got deeper into my grad program. I’m still not really back though don’t tell anyone ~
I recently took a break of several weeks. It was good.
Perhaps I’ll take another break for a while. There’s quite a bit of drama right now.
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