As far as online communities go, has fluther spoiled you?

I’ve never really been anywhere else…you mean they’re not all this quick and helpful? I was a virgin before fluther and you all were so gentle with me… ;-)

Yes, yes and yea again! It has ruined all other social networking for me.

@JilltheTooth Jellies are the best cherry-pickers ;-)

Yes. It feels like the people here truly want to help, instead of just trying to accumulate points or stave off boredom. For me, it’s not so much about how quickly I get answers (although that part is nice) so much as the quality of answers – people are more civil, thorough, and you can have a discussion, which a lot of other sites don’t have. At the same time, it isn’t insane with the “you must have friends and be popular and share everything with everyone” that certain other social networks have. Somehow, Fluther has found a way to foster healthy boundaries instead of promoting toxicity.

I used to use yahoo answers if I had a question to ask.

Finding fluther was like striking gold. I’ll never go back.

This is the one and only site where I have spent over ten minutes a day except occasionally I’ll chat w/an old friend on FB. Now I’m talking on here Way too much. It has become an addiction; I hope the people on here like me as much as I do them.

To hell with other online communities, Fluther has spoiled me for real life! I mean, don’t get me wrong… life is great and all, but I can’t ask thousands of smart people a question there. Especially in the middle of the night! I can’t GA people there, either though believe me, I’ve tried.

One problem for me though…I get involved with the threads of people who are troubled and feel like the Mom… I want to fix the lives of these faceless strangers! @augustlan , how do you resist worrying about these people??

@JilltheTooth Resistance is futile. :)
I can’t resist… so I worry! I send a lot of PMs and even end up emailing with some of them. I think there are a lot of us ‘Fluther Mothers’. Welcome to the club!

@augustlan : I get so invested even as we speak, with another thread I may be PMing you for advice! Don’t worry, not quite there, yet Glad to know there’s a subgroup in the Fluther species…“Fluther Mothers” I like that!

Definitely. I have a few other forums I visit and they don’t have anywhere near the activity that Fluther has. When I post a question meant to start a discussion on my other forums, it may take several days before I get a response. On Fluther, I know there will be a response pretty quickly and definitely within a few hours at the most.

“Fluther mother”, I love that.

Wis.dmer here. It was live there, and you could see who was on. It wasn’t moderated. It was a madhouse, and folded. But you get instant results; like in chat.

Other than that – I only fluther. I mean, I only fluther. Andrew; when’s the email coming out?

Absolutely.

I’ve visited other Q&A sites and run screaming within minutes. Most topic-specific message boards are inconsistent at best or infuriating at worst.

Fluther’s general level of intelligent conversation, quality writing and genuinely caring people make it the only site I care to spend time on.

Also, I agree with @augustlan about it spoiling “real life”. If only my real life friends and acquaintances were half as smart and interesting as you jellies. sigh

and, for the record, I would love a “Fluther Mother” if anyone cares to adopt me.

@cprevite Consider it done. Now be a dear, and bring Mommy the cookies. :D

@cprevite : How about two? I’m obviously in neck deep now…

You both make a really good point about fluther spoiling real life. I find myself having conversations with my friends or family that I think would be so much more satisfying here. Kind of scary, but true.

I wouldn’t say fluther has spoiled real life for me, but there are times I want to have a conversation about a certain subject and no one seems interested and it’s so frustrating!

People are also more forgiving here than in real life but I think that has something to do with anonymity.

Well,I don’t think so. I just don’t really like the habit of answering question here,I know you will get instant answer for what you’re asking for but most answerer(according to my experience) will not really answer your question,at least not specifically (i.e. not many people would bother to read your detail or answer your question based on what the OP is really asking for,therefore making most of the answer ineffective,some even may lead to off-topic issue).

I think the system and issue in both QandA site and forum are quite different. You’ll not get instant answer in forum but most of the answer are specifically answer your question,though I must admit that some people use it as a trolling/chatting arena,but even so,they’re still talking about the issue of the question. In QandA sites,or at least here,on fluther,people could easily ‘play’ with a question,having no intention to specifically answer the question when they’re answering. I think I don’t like the ineffectiveness of most answers here,I used to get great answer according to what I’m asking for,but it’s different now.

@augustlan and @JilltheTooth: Yaay. I feel wuved.

@KatawaGrey: ”there are times I want to have a conversation about a certain subject and no one seems interested”

Just today I came into work listening to the RadioLab Podcast (on headphones) and said to some guys at work, “It’s this great discussion on the importance of language in developing complex thought” and went on to tell the story a little.

I clearly forgot my audience as one of them said, “Uh, yeah…what do you want in your coffee?” DAMN YOU FLUTHER

Fluther is one of the best online communities I’ve ever been involved with, in my whole 13–14 years of being on the internet.

@Doctor_D: Just out of curiosity, why do you keep coming back if you don’t like it?