Bob, I hope you're not serious....not about seeing yourself posting less; you should do what you feel like even if the rest of us miss your posts...rather, I hope you're not serious in your perception of your value to the rest of us. After OSC, who, after all, only has a couple of dozen posts, you are the biggest star here. I know I click on any thread you start, and I'm positive I'm not the only one.
Your posts, when they are serious, often say what many of us wish we could say even half as eloquently. Yours is always a friendly voice in all of the personal threads that come up. When you set out to make a funny thread, it's great, but when you throw a one-liner in from out in left field, it's hysterical.
If you do taper off from Hatrack, I'm glad I met you while you were still active here, because my life is better for knowing you.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
Like I don't have enough to distract me right now. I need the stress that Bob might be moving to lurker status?!?
Bob, I think you are a hoot, who also happens to post some of the best advice on serious topics. I'd hate for you to wander away.
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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To paraphrase a book that no respectable person will admit to having read, "Okay, first, last, and in between, you're wrong, Bob. It's hard for me to believe such a right guy can be so wrong."
As has been brought up many times since the inadvertent "tradition" of landmark posts began, post count doesn't mean all that much. It never has. It isn't the fact that you've posted 10,000 times that makes you a valuable member of Hatrack (which you are and will continue to be, dangit), any more than that's what makes Tom valuable. I'm not even gonna get into the discussion that you probably did reach 10,000 first, since Tom continues to use one name only, and I don't believe you have so limited yourself.
As one Hatracker I know said of another, "It doesn't even seem like you need to try; you just casually build community as you go." You're a maker, Bob, and you have had a positive effect on this community from the moment you arrived (or at least shortly thereafter).
Geez, I have so much to say, but it boils down pretty simply. You rock. Please stay.
posted
You know, I think it's almost necessary for people who are members of Hatrack for the long haul to go through lurking periods now and then. I know that I do. I'll be going along, posting prolifically (for me, anyway) and generally enjoying the place, and gradually notice that my interest in Hatrack has seeped away. The threads all seem tired and worn, and I just stop caring very much about keeping up to date with what is happening here. Eventually I stop looking altogether. Then, somewhere between one and six months later, I think "hmm...I wonder what's new at Hatrack? I wonder if there's even anyone there anymore who would remember me?" I go and check, and see that Bob, or Tom, or CT, or Ophelia, or jeniwren, or Icarus, or any of the myriad other Hatrackers I feel like I know to some degree, and care about are posting about this and that. I find myself interested in what they have to say, and in the process of finding out get to know some of the newcomers, and before I know it I'm fully engaged in Hatrack again.
It's kind of like the vampires in Anne Rice's books "going to ground" for a time.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
I'm sure you all realize that I am far too addicted to Hatrack to ever really stop posting. I've just noticed that as I approached 10,000 it was like I was sneaking up on it. Just a few posts a day.
It wasn't like I had nothing to say, it was just that I was getting pulled in other (non-Internet) directions. And I like my Hatrack as a constant, ever-present force, you know.
So anyway, please don't make too much of that statement of mine. I think for awhile I was purposefully posting a lot to make it to some arbitrary milestone.
As that has now been accomplished, I feel less pressure to post. That doesn't mean I won't post just as much.
And if I ever pass Tom's post count, I'll break open another case of Strawberry Hill.
I do have to correct some misperceptions, though.
Tom has many more quality posts than I do. I used to compete in the "last post" threads, and I have always posted a lot in the fluffier threads where thought isn't really required and brevity is usually appreciated.
Also, I only have two alias, both of them with very low post counts. One is "Ghost of Bob_Scopatz" which I got when I died in a mafia game, and the other is "LavaLamp" who is really more of a separate entity rather than an alias. I usually can fight off his influence, but sometimes I become overwhelmed and he posts instead of me.
<be one with the ooze>
So...thanks again for all the kind words.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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At the rate Im going, I'll have about 5000 by the middle of June which means 10,000 before I go on my mission... or maybe I'll start calming down on my posts.
Im sure someone else will get there before myself. There are a lot of people with higher post counts. Geez, what am I a post machine??
Bob, you're awesome, btw. Having a bowl of ice cream with you is on my top ten list of things to do involving Hatrack. Posts: 9754 | Registered: Jul 2002
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My gawd! What a loser! Gherman Titov. You dare compare yourself to the Uncle of modern space flight? To the Second Cousin of extraterrestrialism? What do you think you are, the Word Perfect of Hatrack? The Pepsi-Cola of our Board? The Los Angeles Times of Posters?
Ha, I scoff at your second fiddle status. I sneer and jeer, and show no fear. You are pathetic. You ARE the Missing Link.
<disclaimer -- this celebrity roast brought to you by Fixodent Denture Adhesive and some drug you've never heard of that we can't tell you what it does but you should definitely ask your doctor about it.>
Posts: 82 | Registered: Apr 2003
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