Can someone explain this site to me?

Welcome! Best way to get acquainted is to browse and observe for a bit. Fluther has a particular culture, and we try to sustain it because that’s the comfort zone for both the old-timers and the newer members who’ve found us congenial.

The number of “lurve” points by someone’s name gives some indication of how long they’ve been around. You can also look at their profile and see when they joined and how they present themselves. Lurve comes mostly from being awarded “great answers” (GAs) and “great questions” (GQs) by other users—“jellies,” we call them.

“General” questions expect serious answers, on topic. “Social” can be humorous and have humorous responses. “Meta” questions are about the site. You might want to try us out with one of your “silly” questions to see how it goes. Put it in Social.

This used to be a very active, lively site with lots of members. Now it’s small, with about a hundred active participants and quite a few others who drop in and out. There’s no further development coming; the founders and maintainers moved on years ago, and one of them, out of the goodness of his heart, just keeps us from crashing. So WYSIWYG.

This recent thread might give you a feel for the Fluther community. We do have our eccentrics, but in general we’re a pretty agreeable lot, allowing for idiosyncrasies, and we have wonderful, loyal, attentive moderators who protect the common welfare.

Not to speak for others, but I think probably Fluther IS our weird fetish.

@Jeruba gave you an excellent answer. I would add that we take grammar very seriously. It’s in the guidelines.

We like silly questions, but not outrageously silly. My very first question had to do with an 800 pound gorilla made of Froot Loops. It was modded off. No big deal.

We treat questions about sex and fetishes seriously. Make sure the title question is safe for work and add the NSFW visibly in the title.

Thank you for checking us out.

By the way, this question belongs in Meta.

Hi @TweedleDee Nice to meet cha! @Jeruba and @Hawaii_Jake have answered your question quite nicely. I just wanted to say hi and if you read down to the end of that thread you’ll see my response and good luck! :)

@TweedleDee, ^^^ @RayaHope is one of our newest members and about 300 years younger than some of us. She’s a poster girl for fitting into a new community and participating with cheery enthusiasm. I hope you do read through that thread I linked. Feel free to ask any questions you like.

Uh-oh, Poseidon got the OP! Was this new user outed as a spammer, or just quit, or what? I thought maybe after all this time there was going to be a fresh wave of immigrants. That could have been good.

Mods, can you tell us?

^^ I was hoping that too :(

@Jeruba The user closed their account of their own accord. This question was the only thing they posted.