So, how did you folks discover Fluther?

I came here after getting fed up with Y!A and all of the non sense that went on over there. Another site I used to use had withered away, so I went to Yahoo and got disillusioned fairly quickly. A friend who was already a jelly suggested this place to me, as a milder, mellower site. I was wondering how other people came to discover Fluther.

I honestly can’t remember! I first became a Jelly sometime during 2009 or 2010, and my recollection has faded. My best guess: I likely did an online search for something, landed on a Fluther post, liked the website, and decided to join.

@Love_my_doggie LOL well don’t feel like the Lone Ranger. I can’t even remember the user name of the bud who put me on to Fluther. Even though we had gotten pretty tight over at our old site that withered away. I guess I’d know it if I saw it, but he doesn’t seem to be here any more. Well, call it “Senior Moment” I guess, huh?

A previous friend and user recommended it to me. We had many deep discussions so he thought I’d enjoy it.

It was founded by college friends of my son so I knew about it when it was being conceived. I lurked but didn’t join for a while.

It was suggested when Answerbag ruined their site.

I had just lost my dog and was never, ever going to get another one. But just for the heck of it, I was looking up dog names. And found Fluther.
And found another dog shortly after that.

@chyna Great story : )

While AnswerBag was rejiggling I found an obscure reference to a site that was moderated severely. I checked it out and I stayed.

“Moderated severely”? I don’t know, I just don’t see it. Not knocking the mods, they do a good job. I’ve just never understood why some users seem to think that they are so harsh.

@Nomore_lockout It was in 2009. When Fluther had six moderators and a community manager.
I was TallJasperMan back then.

@Nomore_lockout I’ve just never understood why some users seem to think that they are so harsh. Because you don’t see al that happens behind closed doors. There are mods and there are mods. Some can be very harsh at times and use their power according to their own interpretation of things. Some have been unfair and cliquey. I have gotten my share of unfairness back in the day and it doesn’t feel good because they should be objective, impartial and unbiased.

Like other things in life, you don’t understand it until you experience it firsthand.

Also, things are so slow here these days, that you don’t see them around as much, I don’t think.

I can’t remember how I got here initially. I know I was in Y!A for a while and was probably looking for other Q&A places for a change of pace.

@Nomore_lockout I’m with you, I have never had issues with them, but I’ve heard plenty of jellies conspiracy theories over the years. If it’s true, I haven’t seen it.

I just feel they are pretty laid back, compared to a lot of other sites I have been on. Either that, or jellies are more thick skinned than posters on other some sites.

@Yeahright I believe ya, and I’m in your corner. No worries. I’m not as much of a jerk as some folks think I am. I just have strong political beliefs, and I won’t pull punches on that score.

My daughter found fluther on StumbleUpon, then told me.

I have always found the mods to be pretty fair, and I have been modded and reprimanded a number of times, not unreasonably. Considering how few there are now, and that it’s volunteer, and the abuse they take, I am amazed we have any. Life’s not fair, if you feel set upon by malice, recognize that the internet is vast, there are sooooo many places you can go where no one will even look at your deathless prose, let alone mod it off.

@KNOWITALL People cannot see it because it happens behind close doors through email exchange, but they can threaten you and ban you and give you a hard time. Great people here have been banned and others that are really rude and obnoxious got to stay.

But again, I don’t see or hear them around like before.

@Nomore_lockout There is no such a thing as a thick-skinned Jelly, we are all transparent, wobbly and gelatinous… ;)

I guess you’re right @Yeahright (No pun intended). I have never experienced that here. But at Y!A boy howdy. Which is why can’t mourn it’s demise.

@Yeahright I’m not much for hearsay myself. And a lot of people are A$$holes. Shrug.

This question started off nicely as a how did you find Fluther to mod bashing.
Can we get back to how we found Fluther?

@KNOWITALL I don’t wat to hijack this thread more than we already have, but I will briefly tell you how I’ve seen it happen.

It is just like in real life.

A question is posted. Jellies start to answer it and give their opinion. Then Jelly X would say something unpopular that is misread or misinterpreted by a clique. They all gang up on Jelly X who is trying to explain his ideas, the others start attacking, mocking, insulting, and accusing him of whatever. Very passive-aggressive. Then, they switch to harsh language and swear words. Clique members start giving likes to one another in support. Other jellies remain neutral, watching from afar. No supporting likes for Jelly X who is at this point standing up for himself, to no avail, because then a mod shows up during the night and cleans up the place leaving no evidence of what took place. Next morning, you will see that several answers are deleted with the sign Response moderated. Then, you stop seeing Jelly X and you sadly understand that he lost the battle and was banned, and the bad guys got to stay. When you saw it with your own eyes that it was not Jelly X’s fault. The witnesses keep silent so that they are not banned themselves.
End of the story. As seen by me many times.

Just like in real life.

I was recommened to it by a friend, who left 5 months later.

The Question is in Good hands with No_More State. How is it I’m bashing the mods? On the contrary I say I find them mild in comparison to most sites I have been on.

@Nomore_lockout Talking about the mods or mentioning the word mod = bashing the mods…hahaha

@Yeahright Still not seeing how that’s a mod issue, it’s in the rules that personal attacks and all referrals to them will be deleted.

I lean conservative, so I’ve been through that like a million times. Tell Jelly X to toughen up.

@KNOWITALL Well, let me put it this way maybe you will see it more clearly.
A fight breaks up in a soccer match. The referee unfairly gives a red card to the guy that was defending himself as opposed to the attacker. In other words, the referee took the wrong side and punished the good guy. So, the mods are the referees here and at times they take the side of the $$$holes you were referring to earlier.

@Yeahright I think you care way more than I do. Enjoy.

I was trying find a special hotdog bun would get for large dogs. It was Can you help me find the perfect hot dog bun cradles? I was looking to buy them and came across the question.

@Tropical_Willie Did it help you improve your hotdog game at the time?

Here’s what I was looking for and alas they are no longer made.

Toufayan Snuggles Hot Dog Buns

I love buttery brioche hotdog buns, that combination of sweet bun with the saltiness of the hotdog is delicious.

It was 14 years ago and I had a baby that was only weeks old. Unfortunately, I also had fleas in the house. I was googling to learn about the flea life cycle, how to eradicate fleas, etc. I learned a lot about fleas in my google search and I also came across a flea question (second page of the google search). I created my profile (my first profile) to add to the discussion.

I ended up hiring an exterminator which helped a lot with the fleas and with the stress associated with them. No home remedies worked.

At that time, 2007, the site was still small but by the next year or two, there were way more Jellies, lots of joking, lots of cameraderie. Augie was the mod and she would crack her whip sometimes which was fun and funny. Some of those early Jellies I am still friends with on FB, even though they may very rarely check in here any more.

I was in the habit of hanging out at Askville when the site abruptly and inexplicably vanished. Some months later, I stumbled across an eloquent paragraph excerpted from fluther. I no longer recall the subject, but do remember that it was penned by Seek, a legendary and stalwart champion of this place. I took a look at the site, and it was crammed with familiar avatars from Askville Who woulda thunk it?

I tried Askville at an unfortunate time. It was in its hostile and unpleasant phase of decline, with in groups and out groups and what seemed to me like an indefatigable troll. A month of that was too much for me, so I followed the trail of refugees and came here.

Despite everything, including a nonstop influx of obnoxious boors in ones and twos, this site remains relatively comfortable, thanks to wise founders and caring mods and a one-time great community manager who is gone now. And a loyal core worth staying for.

I’m a wis.dm refugee

I was on some cooking website, of which I can’t even recall, and one day a notice popped up at the top asking if we would like to answer some cooking questions. I was directed to Fluther with the (incorrect) idea that it was a different cooking site, or foodie site. That was in 2010.

Was searching for Q&A sites alternative to one platform in particular that’s takiŋ the scene,
forces one to be signed up & in to visualize content, is infested by a terrible Topic Bot(which keeps removing fitting tags), & demands users to provide their REAL names
with the excuse of “quality”, despite allowing anonymous questions & answers…

—... I might still try appeal the ban one day or an other
(and yes, it was about the name policy ” ~_ ~)—
...wait, how does whisper wor- what?

@FnuLnu Whisper is two dashes right before and after the text.

I Googled where to find nice looking big & tall clothing and somehow landed here. Then a version of Hotel California (combined with Under the Sea) started playing and, well…13 years later, here I am.

I followed someone here from another site years ago. I was mostly inactive in this account until recently. There’s been a lot of turnover, but some newcomers do seem to fit right in. I’m glad it’s still going.

I was on wis.dm which shut down in 2009 and Fluther was recommended for wis.dm refugees. I joined Fluther (under a different name) in early 2009 when I was 17 and a senior in high school. I found wis.dm from a site called AIWOR (Am I Wrong or Right?) which I discovered when I was 14. I found that from an ad on urbandictionary, which I had been posting on since I was 12.

So that’s my history. :)

@Demosthenes, I remember you from then, the drama of trying to decide which college to attend. Seems you picked the right one. I’m really glad you’ve stayed on, under various names, and let us follow your career.

(Wasn’t it AIROW?)

I was on Quora, but then I stopped using Quora because of reasons I’m not going to say. I did a quick Google search for “Quora-like sites” and found Fluther.

I vaguely recall seeing a commercial for it somewhere?

Don’t remember if it was an Apple commercial where they highlight an app?

@FnuLnu and @janbb

I don’t know if it’s a mobile version thing or my phone thing. But when I do two short dashes for whisper, it comes out like a long dash same as @FnuLnu.

Same as with the quotation marks for links. They look different from the quotation marks that you need for a markup.

I usually copy and paste from the formatting page. It’s a pain in the butt. :/

For whisper it has to be right next to the text, no spaces in between.

This: text (which is hyphen hyphen word hyphen hyphen)
not this: —text— (which is hyphen hyphen space word space hyphen hyphen)

Typed hyphen hyphen no space:
—text—

Typed hyphen hyphen space text:
— text —

Copy and pasted hyphen hyphen no space:
text

Copy and pasted hyphen hyphen space text:
—text—

@raum

“I don’t know if it’s a mobile version thing or my phone thing. But when I do two short dashes for whisper, it comes out like a long dash….”

Hopefully this prodigious wisdom posted by a young woman living across our ocean, will be of assistance to youse! ;-p

Haha…yes, I know that I’m on the mobile version and how to toggle between the two.

I meant that I don’t know why it happens. If it’s because I’m using the mobile version or if it’s because of my phone.

(Haven’t bothered switch to desktop to see if that’s the reason. So I guess it’s only mildly annoying. :P)

Here’s the result using my desktop at the mobile mode to whisper:

Testing

—test—
— test —
test
—test—

On desktop version (using an iPhone).

So it works sometimes, but usually it doesn’t?

No, it only works when I copy and paste for some reason. :/