Ever since I joined the site, or as far back as I could remember--there was always this high I was on--whenever I would make a post. Not that it's gone--completely--but I just don't mind chilling now, at my place, and poking a question here whenever I feel like it... :)

Is something wrong with me.

Have any of you guys felt like this, or wondered what was up with you back then, or now, or what's up with the other fellas?

Not meaning to say that anything is wrong with them, but is Mefi all there is--what about Mecha--and taking it easy for a while... well, maybe apples and oranges.

My apologies if any one takes offence at this question... it was just on my mind--you know.

no no no no. This is normal.

The rule of progression goes:

* Post a whole bunch, become overly excited

* Step back and start trying to post better stuff, like those you admire

* Begin to forget to check back for comments/favorites

* Deplore the new members who "just don't get it"

* Throw up your hands and say this is not the good old Metafilter!!!!

* Chill

* Begin making posts and comments again, occasionally

* Feel grandmotherly/fatherly about it all

* Start making bulleted lists of stages of Metafilter addiction in a knowing way

taz, I love you, you know that right:)

But you're a step behind dear old nicky--has anyone heard from her. I've got her number and maybe it's about time I called--just have to get the money together first...

I meant old as in Worldly, Good and Great!

Is something wrong with me.

No. Not in the least.

It's the people who never make any posts, and whose comments are variations on "this sucks", "I saw this on another blog five days ago", "this is eighteen months old. this can't be good" who have something wrong with them.

When I felt I was posting too much, I tried to put a limit of 3 comments to every new post. Pragmatic to a fault.

What occurs to me is that there is a point at which I start feeling the transparency of the internet life and the pull to be in the world more.

Not wanting to lurk/comment/post on Metachatfilter is a sign of good healthy boundaries and engagement in the wider world, Hadjiboy.

It's all too easy to enjoy the hell out of both sites and lose yourself. But hey man, it's just the tubes, right? There's much more happening everywhere around you. Plus, when you disengage for awhile, your posts and comments will naturally get better - more to bring back to the party.

Now, shoo! Go play in traffic or something ;p

I post too much on MeCha. I post so much that I broke MeCha the other day. And I know I really did, because Seanyboy told me.

*hangs head in shame*

Used to be when Mecha was down, I'd go on over to Mefi. Lately though it's been just the reverse with mefi being rocky and all, and Mecha doing quite well.

When I get over excited about posting I know it's time to step back for a while. My expectations are always too high and I always get disappointed. I've been through that cycle too many times. It's only the internet.

I've only ever posted two FPPs to Mefi in the four years that I've been a member. I'm just too lazy, everything that I see and think, "that would make a great post" someone else eventually posts.

I'm with octothorpe - I've only posted twice? I think? to Metafilter, because my personal standards for a Good Post are way too high.

*sits, smug in the knowledge that this may never happen to her, cuz she doesn't own a blue account*

I stopped when I realized I wasn't really mature enough to post there. I'd think I was getting drawn into arguments when I was really drawing myself into arguments, and recreational paranoia kept leading me to treat the mods in a way that ignored the hard work they do and the goodwill they extend to even the bad-faith commenters. I couldn't understand how unhappy it made me to sit there clicking refresh in order to throw the next haymaker into the latest donnybrook. I couldn't really love myself until I learned to fully hate myself. Now I lurk on AskMe and wish I hadn't closed my account, and someday I'll have the guts to ask for my account back, but I still question my maturity so I might still hang back for awhile. I still don't know if I can resist the urge to look for a fight, which is something I really don't like about myself.

Now that I've written all that: Oh, posting! I thought you meant participation. Whoops!

Yeah, I don't think I've ever needed to post there. I have so few posts and comments there anyway.

I've been commenting there (and here) more than usual due to my current employment situation but I've found out that my new job blocks gmail so I'm guessing that Mefi and MeCha are blocked too. Probably good for my productivity.

I'd think I was getting drawn into arguments when I was really drawing myself into arguments, and recreational paranoia kept leading me to treat the mods in a way that ignored the hard work they do and the goodwill they extend to even the bad-faith commenters.

Oh yeah. There's a lot of me in this comment.

However, I love my account solely for access to AskMe. It's the greatest thing in the world, even with the commenters who have Always Answer Syndrome.

I stopped posting FPPs when I realized MetaFilter had become a MegaPortal. I stopped commenting because I was about to start some medications that would hinder my judgment, and I asked Jessamyn to ban me. Those were pre BAN Button days. Now I rarely even go there.

I have never posted on Mefi. Well, actually, I did once, but it was a double, so it got murdered by cortex.

That's why I love Mecha, where I can double, hell even triple post with complete impunity! MWAA HA HA HAA!!

The thrill of MeFi wore off several years ago. I don't think I've posted there more than once or twice a year since '05 or so, and I lurk it perhaps quarterly.

Well back in the day, posts were more complex - something like posit a theory, and do multiple links to back it up, throw in a link to the opposite viewpoint. I did some of these, but it was stressful, and the ripping down could hurt. I did comment more back then. And some of the posts and discussions were really informative. This is I think what Ardiril means by megaportal.

Now with the SLYT posts, etc, I don't bother, because I'd do that here.

I do check blue and green a few days a week, and sometimes comment in green, and also sometimes favorite things in both areas.

When you're Dunroamin, Duncarin, Dunlivin.

Same goes for MeCha

I felt a real thrill for my first MeFi FPP, after years of lurking. But I don't think I've felt excited, exactly, since then - not about just posting something or commenting.

Love both these sites, however, and read them, selectively, most days. But there's a lot of other stuff going on, too, so these and the small handful of other websites I visit don't seem too huge or dominate my thoughts. Every now and then something has happened that did - some moments during Katrina and the recent campaign - and for those times I would be glued to specific threads, but apart from that I comment and post because I'm enjoying the discussion, almost always learning something, have a point to make that I think hasn't been said already, nthing something, etc.

I don't see posting/commenting as something of value in and of itself any more than talking is of value in itself; the value lies in the content. For me, these sites are big giant conversations like the ones I have with friends and coworkers and other members of communities I'm in. I can't say I feel hugely different about commenting or posting on a site than I do about writing an email to a friend or talking to someone in the next room.

Could be I'm just jaded. I was a copious letter-writer growing up and then became a copious BBS reader and emailer and community blog post-er even before there was MetaFilter. Maybe it's just that the early times when I was super excited to participate on the internet in the thrill/rush sort of way are now, like, more than 15 years in the past. GOD. Yeesh.

Since I stopped commenting & posting regularly, in the fall, I've found I actually read/hear about things well before they appear on Mefi.

I still skim the various sites every day-ish. I only actually read beyond the [more inside] about 5-10% of the time. I find the signal-to-noise ratio just too low, even in threads on subjects that interest me strongly. In fact, that ratio seems to sink as I become less engaged with the site, but I'm not sure which direction the correlation goes in.

So I don't want to read 100 bons mots/witticisms/snark circle-jerks just to get to the 5 or so thoughtful comments. (In the case of AskMe, I don't feel like reading the dozens of non-previewed "on previews", the redundant answers, the monotonous "nthing", the didn't-read-the-questions, the knee-jerk assumptions about others' relationships based on one's own emotional baggage... etc.)

I'm subscribed to the feed for AskMe questions in the Human Relations category. This way I get a nice mix of all the trainwrecks and the actual profound questions. :)

I tend to comment on relationship questions and religion questions, just because that's where I feel comfortable butting my head in. I haven't even looked at the blue for a long time. I tried in December because they had the best FPP contest, but ... meh. It's crowded.