We need more new people on here

[Guest Jordan]

I visited the site regularly for a couple of months before I finally got round to joining and posting.  I was scared . . . but I nothing to be worried about, you're all lovely people!!  

[Guest LauraKrycek]

I visited the site regularly for a couple of months before I finally got round to joining and posting.  I was scared . . . but I nothing to be worried about, you're all lovely people!!  

Well, thanks!   We try.    I totally understand lurking, because most message boards I've ever joined in on, I've lurked for ages before piping up, just to get a feel for things, if nothing else.  Of course, we're talking about Miss Shy USA 1982-not too long ago, so that plays a factor.    I feel like singing that song from Wizard of Oz, "Come ooouuuut, come ouuuuut, whereEEEEEver you aaaaare...."

[voidprime]

I may lurk sometimes at mbs I join, but usually I join in at soem and post lots while others I post whenever I get around to that mb.  The two message boards I frequent most are TIWWA and ExIsle.   I don't need to get the nerve to post.  Whatever works for someone may not work for someone else.

Be Seeing You,

David Blackwell

[Raven Wolf]

Well, I'm gonna sound pretty dumb...so please don't laugh at me...but, when I first found this board...I'd only been using the internet, and, in fact, computers in general, for about 3 days!  I knew absolutly NOTHING!  NADA!  ZIP!  So, after I joined, I was looking at my member profile, and I thought to myself...."What the hell's an avatar?  And, how can I select one if I don't know what they are?"

As well as..."What does it mean "member has yet to post?"  What does "post" mean?"  So, I lurked around, and wandered the member list, and found "Prufrok" (Tim), who has become a wonderful friend..the first great friendship that I found here, in fact! He became my internet tutor, and so much more....

So, don't feel bad, you new guys and gals...At least you know what "post" means...other than what holds a horse fence up!

[voidprime]

I first started using the internet in 1998 (and I used the internet via computers at the local library).  Then at the end of 2001, I got a computer for home and internet access to use anytime I wished.   I learn as a I go and I pick up some things even though I still wish I knew how to creat simple banners for my site (and be able to do some simple html). No html required web site design is a godsend.  i also know how to convert divx to MPEG and make Video CDs (and yet I can't figure out how to copy a DVD to my computer).

be Seeing You,

David Blackwell

[Guest LauraKrycek]

My family got our first PC the Christmas that I turned 11.  This Christmas, I turn 21.  So I've been around computers for a very long time; even before we had one, my brother's friends had them, and we worked with them at school (yay for old-school Oregon Trail!).  It's been probably a good 5 or 6 years now since my brother bought his first computer, and he bought his second at the beginning of the summer.  We got a new computer two Christmases ago.  I had my first computer my first semester at college; our college has a system where every student gets a laptop.  Every year, there's a $150 technology fee to cover maintenance and software.  At the end of your Junior year, you get a brand new computer, and when you graduate, it's yours to keep.  Pretty awesome, no?  Plus it's free maintenace while you're in school; last spring, when my hard drive died, they did all the work and installed a new one, totally free.  But anyway, I had that computer my first semester here, was computerless my second semester, and had ol' Gimpy all last year.  And now I have Elaine, who I try to keep up so that I won't have to deal with another amnesia event like last spring -- that was NO fun at all.

But so, right after we got our first computer, I started reading on the Teen Writers' Boards on AOL (now defunct, RIP ::sniffle::), back when AOL was pay-by-minute so I couldn't spend more than a couple of minutes online a day, if that.  So I was never online.  Then they switched to the monthly plan, which meant lots of time online, but only when we weren't likely to get phone calls.  Then we got another phone line for the business, but could only be online outside of business hours, in case we got a fax.  And here at school we have a LAN connection, so it's online 24/7 as well as the phone, so I'm on aaaalll the time, baby!  Except when the stupid thing decides not to work  

So, in short, I've kind of been around the internet for a while, and learned the ropes years ago.  But that doesn't mean I think that newbies need to be picked on!  Exactly the opposite.  Welcome them, give them a chance... then, if they're horrible after that, *that's* when you flame them.

KIDDING, I'm kidding!  

[Guest se7en]

......my internet cherry was lost via WEBTV-(remember those?)-back in 1997 and stayed with it for a number of years-(i still miss that hypnotic background music...ahhhhhh.)-then got my first REAL computer in 2000. what was once a state of the art computer is now almost obsolete. i HATE that about compters but that's the way this industry is;bigger/better/faster.    

      ...i did not start posting anything till 99 over at MOV,but that place slowly turned into a real bad deal due to lack of any real moderation......and a lot of assholes!    even if i wasn't a co-partner in TIWWA/MDUK i still know that this place would have been my cyber-home.  sure,some negative things have happened,and will again,but the core here are a really special group of people that i'd hate to do without at this point and time.-(especially now)

                                ~se7en