Where is Calamity Jane?

I totally get why people leave.

I don't like it just like I don't like it when beloved neighbors move away or when people I care about die but I get over it, eventually.

Some days I look in and it's all incest questions and I log out and head off to other forums that I enjoy.

But then I kind of think that if the old folks don't keep asking and answering that before long it will be all incest questions (and Setanta making fun of them).

I'm not at all into Facebook and don't think I ever will be. I use a couple of other forums on a daily basis. I still like this one the best.

Strange how tastes differ. I have a FB account but I literally never go there unless I get something via e-mail telling me there's something been posted that concerns me directly. Then I click on over, check it out, and come right back here. I don't like FaceBook. At all. I don't like the format, the whole "friending" and "unfriending" thing, the fact that it's become so woefully commercialized that every single commercial enterprise feels it must have a presence there. (You're not a business success if you can't say "Check us out on Facebook" in your advertising.) The whole thing just isn't my style, my cup of tea. I like an open forum just exactly like A2k. Unless I leave cyberspace entirely, I intend to stay right here.

Some of us are unwilling participants of facebook, because it is the only way we can stay in contact with certain important people. I would love to cancel my account.

Important people? Really?

I like FB because I can stay in touch with folks on a personal level from all walks of life. People tend not to share their personal doings on forums such as this or a couple others I visit - the topics are subject based. Because the FB friend group is much less insular I find that people present themselves more as a person than as a debater. Except Set, of course.

What's with including Set as a subject of just about every thread lately?

My children and people I met elsewhere, as well as any number of a2k members, are on facebook daily. I prefer to be part of it than to miss so much that they are a part of. I try to avoid upsetting most facebook "friends." I will say much more on a2k.

That makes sense, thanks for explaining... I've thought about it some more.

I tend to get attached to people, even those I off and on ignore/scroll.

What's wrong with regular e-mail? That's how I stay in touch.

I can only answer this one for myself ... I get so much work email on a daily basis that I simply can't stand looking at email in my personal accounts. I do check occasionally but email just feels too demanding for me.

FB is easier for me to cope with - and it helps me keep track of concerts/shows/performances (and birthdays).

Yes, that's a big part of it.

Plus, for some reason it seems easier to blend contact groups there than in personal email. I don't think I'd ever send a personal email to all of my FB contacts. Oy! Can you imagine the "reply all" responses that would fill up your inbox?

There's also an element of imposition. If I post a status update about sozlet breaking her arm, people can choose to comment or not, I'm not specifically requiring anything of them.

If I send a mass email saying "playing tackle football with a pack of middle-school boys -- not the best idea ever" and a picture of her in her cast, that's putting more of an onus on the recipient to respond.

Gosh, I've been using email because it was less intrusive than a phone call. Special case, though. It gives my corrospondents an easy way to print a permenant record, and I assume most of them do. I don't get stuck being nailed down to the phone after leaving voice mail, and they are not being interrupted. Everybody in business has email; not everyone has facebook - me, for instance. It's usually obvious, and sometimes stated whether a reply is expected.

Oh, email is definitely less intrusive than a phone call.

Just, posting a status update on FB is one notch less intrusive yet.

And generally more for personal than business, I think.

Able2know was the first forums that I found when I purchased my first computer. I do not know very well the people here, yet, I kind of sort of in a kind of sort of way feel like many are my friends. Some folks have gone, some visit able2know less often, yet, there is slight warmness I receive when visiting able2knows familiarity.

Aw. Glad to have you here, alex.

Indeed!

In a place far far away with MsOlga.

I didn't fly off. I just don't have a lot to say most days.

((Alex))

Swimp, I don't presume to know what you think on stuff, but when I have seen what you do think over some years, you make sense to me.. I like every time I see you post, including what we may all be wearing.

Not that we ever have to agree, but that I will always listen.

Swimpy is one of my favorite all time people, internet or real life, but I don't want to connect her to me, making her a no no. She can talk.

Back atcha, kid.

Regarding why I don't post as much as I used to:

1. real life has taken up much more of my time in the past 10 years. (My god! Has it been 10 years?)
b. I stop in here at least once a week. Maybe I'm missing the good stuff but I don't find a lot of topics that I think I can add anything meaningful to.

Hi, swimpy. Good to see you here.