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[Pitluvs]

I hate smilies and emoticons! I feel that if I use too many, I come off as a bubbly over friendly annoying twit. When I try to cut down on them, I look like a cold heartless person. Is there a common ground, like how many is the right amount to use on a post?? And half the time I use the smile one, people are taking me as sarcastic. Urgh.

I have been on forums since 1998, started out on IRC and moved to MSN Groups in 2003. Long before most of these kind of forums. My first forum was an Import Cars Forum, that was so much fun. So simple. From there it went to animal forums, then to Mommy forums and back to animals. Now I have three forums I visit daily, each different from the other. I can say I've been on at least 20 forums, and settled on a few I like.

No matter what forum you're on, people are always going to get annoyed with you, especially if you act like you actually *gasp* enjoy your time on them. People just get jealous, mostly because they are not the center of attention anymore. I see it everywhere, I have been on both sides. I have been the newbie, I have been the veteran. I have left forums because it got out of control, or information we strived to keep up to date that has been picked apart and torn down. I've seen forums get so out of control, they are not forums anymore. There are other reasons situations like this come up, but from my experience, this is usually the most common.

Myself? I see a forum as a place to gather with people that have the same interests as you, to offer and receive advice, to share stories and to make friends. As long as you are following the guidelines for THAT forum, who cares what certain members think. They don't have to sign in :)

[Sakura8]

Thanks, Pitluvs. :) This is only the second forum I've been on and by far more enjoyable than the first one. This is also quite different from the other forum in terms of layout and accessibility. I'm glad I can glean knowledge from your experiences.

I've been worried that, because I'm so unfamiliar with forums and social media sites in general, I've been using this forum as a chat room without meaning to. It sounds like as long as I chat in the Lounge, I'm within my forum rights to babble away, even if others may voice disapproval. I'm good at babbling. If I wanted to and also lost temporary control of my sanity, I could babble even more than Miah.

I've met so many wonderful, wonderful people here and I'm truly grateful to be a part of this forum family. *hugs Sherman* All thanks to my little halfmoon boy who started it all. :)

By the way, what IS the difference between a forum and a chat room?

[dramaqueen]

To me, a forum is usually about one subject like dogs, horses children, knitting or whatever. People come to forums to share a common interest. Here, it's bettas. On TFK it's aquarium fish in general, either freshwater or saltwater. A chat room is someplace to talk about anything and everything.

[Sakura8]

Is the format of a chat room the same? People start threads about something?

[dramaqueen]

No, it goes pretty fast. I can't keep up in a chatroom. My typing isn't too good. lol We have a chatroom at TFK. If you want to see how it works, visit it sometime, when there are people there.

[Pitluvs]

Ya, chat is like a live feed, it's always moving. I hate chats, especially with many people on it. It's hard to keep up with questions and convos. At least on here I can answer everyone and quote them, on chat you can quote. Its kinda like a MSN Messenger, just with a lot of people lol

[dramaqueen]

I've only been in chat maybe about 2-4 times since I've been a member here.

[Sakura8]

Okay, that's what I thought a chat room was. I was in one long ago. I remember I logged in, looked at the conversations blurring across the screen and thought, "Dude, I can't handle this" and logged out. I couldn't even begin to keep track of what was going on.

[dramaqueen]

It's a lot easier with threads.

[Sakura8]

Yeah. A WHOOOOOLE lot easier.