My "actually..." sense is tingling!

October 11, 2013 7:55 AM

Everyone who participates on this site has one thing in common, which is that they had to make that very first comment or answer or FPP or question or MeTa (well, probably not MeTa). What got you to put down five bucks to say something? Or, if you're from before the sign-up fee, or were gifted an account or whatever, what was the moment that made you break out of lurk?
posted by griphus to MetaFilter-Related at 7:55 AM (264 comments total)

I had been reading for a long time when they unlocked the doors! I was ready!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:57 AM on October 11, 2013 [11 favorites]

My own reason was that I had to be wrong about a comic strip.
posted by griphus at 7:58 AM on October 11, 2013

I had something really important to show everyone here, and hoped that they could help me figure out WTF. Because WTF-figuring is something MeFi is pretty good at. The thing I had to show is still mostly WTF but gosh it was fun showing y'all.
posted by carsonb at 8:00 AM on October 11, 2013

Mine was that I wanted join the loquax pile on, apparently.

Sorry, man.
posted by notyou at 8:01 AM on October 11, 2013

I was missing Cambridge and wanted to tell an asker about some of my favorite places (and wanted to warn them to not get their hands covered with Harvard student pee).
posted by ocherdraco at 8:03 AM on October 11, 2013

I signed up to disagree with someone. I suspect that a lot of people do.
It was 8 years ago and I was signed up under a different user name
posted by pipeski at 8:04 AM on October 11, 2013 [7 favorites]

I'd been reading for several months prior but finally signed up last year so that I could post "." on the Christopher Hitchens thread. I don't comment or contribute much but I'm on here alll the time.
posted by skycrashesdown at 8:11 AM on October 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

I started reading during the closed sign-ups phase, and signed up during the limited accounts per day phase. It wasn't until a few days later that I made my first comment. I don't think it was a hugely momentous occasion, there was just a thread where I had something to add and didn't feel like an idiot doing it.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:15 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I needed to tell someone to go to Bookhaven. Metafilter was definitely the place to tell people about such a nice bookstore with such nice cats.
posted by mlle valentine at 8:15 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I lurked for a long time, but it was people talking shit about Game of Thrones without having read the books that finally prompted me to jump in to respond.
posted by mstokes650 at 8:16 AM on October 11, 2013 [4 favorites]

I had been lurking for quite a while, starting around April or May of 2001. I had been hemming and hawing about signing up, mostly because I wasn't really going to do anything but lurk anyway, so why bother? Then 9/11 happened, signups for the site went through the roof and had to be shut down because the site couldn't handle it. Then there was a really brief period towards the end of 2001 where signups were turned back on and I took my chance while I had it, since I guess I correctly figured it would be a short-lived thing. I still didn't make my first comment until 2-3 months later. So, that's how I signed up after signups had been shutdown, but still avoided being a lottery/$5 n00b.
posted by LionIndex at 8:16 AM on October 11, 2013

I signed up in 2005 because somebody was asking a question about living in my neighborhood, but I didn't actually end up answering the question.

It took me 2 more years to actually comment, and it was a question about cat care. I'd had cats for 9 months, so of course, I was an expert.

Looking over that first page of comments I made, argh, who was that guy?
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:16 AM on October 11, 2013 [4 favorites]

I talked my brother into ponying up $5 on his paypal account so I could say something incredibly deep like this (that's the Australian Democrats I'm talking about - RIP Don Chipp).
posted by h00py at 8:17 AM on October 11, 2013

What got you to put down five bucks to say something?

Lots of people on the internet were wrong and I had to save them.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:17 AM on October 11, 2013 [28 favorites]

rmd1023 bought me a membership as a gift. This was my first comment. . . or anyway the first one that wasn't deleted. I, uh, had a hard time fitting in at first.
posted by KathrynT at 8:18 AM on October 11, 2013

I wanted to track down a mystery poster man.

Ended up busting out some CSI shit to "well actually" someone who insisted it was Christopher Lloyd.
posted by phunniemee at 8:19 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Isn't this what metachat is for?
posted by Grither at 8:20 AM on October 11, 2013

A little "hey let's talk about a thing we have in common" chatter on Metatalk is fine now and then.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:21 AM on October 11, 2013 [4 favorites]

It's to do with the site as a whole, ain't it? Just for that, I'm going to go and look at your first comment now.
posted by h00py at 8:21 AM on October 11, 2013

I had been lurking a while, and then signed up when there was an Ask question I had some expertise in. I proceeded to give well-intentioned but really bad advice. I have continued in that vein for seven years now.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:22 AM on October 11, 2013 [7 favorites]

Like jacquilynne I'm a 17ker. my first qualifying comment was about people being groped by Eeyore.


hmmm
posted by edgeways at 8:23 AM on October 11, 2013

I wanted to claim my username before anyone else did. The rest was gravy.
posted by mazola at 8:25 AM on October 11, 2013

David Foster Wallace died and I had like four bottles of cheap awful red wine and wanted to vent in between wet gross sobs.


Actually it's been like that ever since.
posted by The Whelk at 8:25 AM on October 11, 2013 [11 favorites]

Oh, man! Two days ago was my Mefiversary and I forgot all about it. Better celebrate tonight. Everyone at my house at 8:00 for bad advice and political/theological nit picking. It'll be swell!
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:26 AM on October 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

Speaking of which, next April will be the 10 year Mefversary for the 17Kers and the beginning of the end of all quality assurances for the Mefpire
posted by edgeways at 8:29 AM on October 11, 2013

Everyone at my house at 8:00 for bad advice and political/theological nit picking.

Dear AskMe,

I'm the presiding judge on a custody case and while I've heard the case and rendered judgement, I'm not quite sure whether the baby is to be split lengthwise or widthwise. As I am not a parent, I was hoping to get some feedback to make sure everyone walks away as content as possible.
posted by griphus at 8:31 AM on October 11, 2013 [5 favorites]

After lurking on and off since 2001, for some reason I felt compelled, on the morning of my daughter's 4th birthday, to finally plunk down the $5 and give... portrait posing advice? Huh.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:32 AM on October 11, 2013

I believe I joined early on, but then lost that ID/password. (I thought, why bother posting to the blue? That's what my own blog's for.) But during the closed era, I stumbled into the green, and when Matt opened things up again I joined immediately as I had this burning question (which I thought was my first; actually, my fourth). And you guys delivered! The world's now a much better-known place, to me. Thanks!
posted by Rash at 8:33 AM on October 11, 2013

Honestly, I think it was finally setting up a paypal account.

responsible for several of the unfinished username registrations in summer 2005 and didn't complete the sign-up process because I was too lazy to register for paypal
posted by likeatoaster at 8:34 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I had been lurking almost since the beginning. When I started contributing to quonsar's blort, he was always chatting about Mefi or pointing me to the drama in MetaTalk threads. He urged me to join. Blame quonsar.
posted by madamjujujive at 8:34 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Everyone at my house at 8:00 for bad advice and political/theological nit picking. It'll be swell!

Jesus, it's a global site, could you at least bother to say am or pm and what time zone, you thoughtless, self centered Usian?!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:34 AM on October 11, 2013 [5 favorites]

i had been reading for a while, but then pre-$5 signups opened for a short time and i happened to check, and voila, i got my account.
posted by nadawi at 8:35 AM on October 11, 2013

I'd known of Metafilter since its early days, but had never really bothered to see what it was about. I learned about AskMe because ignignokt would check it from time to time and I'd be like "hey I have opinions on that thing tell them about my opinions." I eventually decided it'd be easier to get my own account.

My first comment was in an AskMe about pube trimming for guys. I wrote it the day after I signed up, so I am pretty sure that is not the question that prompted me to sign up.

Next Wednesday is my six-year Mefiversary. Last year I forgot and had to get Mefi a last-minute supermarket bouquet.
posted by Metroid Baby at 8:35 AM on October 11, 2013

I had wanted to join for years, and failed for one reason or another. What I was really looking forward to was being able to make a post about Canadian avant-garde poetry where I had the traditional ceremonial MetaFilter welcome of a debate with languagehat. But I've always been happy that my first comment was about a beloved Christmas lights display and not, say, "butts lol."

Also, holy fuck, looking at my old posts I noticed that Blair Magazine is almost 20 years old now. When did the web get so old?
posted by Kattullus at 8:35 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Joining was part of this joke, but I'd been trying off and on since 2002.
posted by lordaych at 8:38 AM on October 11, 2013

I joined because of some Dick Head.
posted by mollymayhem at 8:38 AM on October 11, 2013

I first tried signing up in 2002 when I was 17 and didn't have a PayPal account, but I'd been reading the site for at least a year or two before that. I guess I never completed the signup process but my account was still technically created, so when I tried again 3 years later I ended up with the account I'd tried to make originally. Anyway, I have no idea what comment or post I had in mind at first, but being that I was 17 we're probably all better off without knowing. When I finally did pay my $5 it was basically just to say hey Kraftwerk I like Kraftwerk too
posted by Venadium at 8:39 AM on October 11, 2013

I started reading when sign-ups were closed. Signed up as a $5 newb on Nov. 18, 2004, but apparently didn't make my first comment until a week later.

I forgot how conversational posts were back in the day.

Wait, actually my first comment was on AskMe and predictably it was me weighing in on something I know nothing about except for a few minutes of google research.

And again, I forgot how chatty AskMe was back in the day.
posted by muddgirl at 8:51 AM on October 11, 2013

This is a duplicate question, and chatfilter to boot. The prior question was at least posted for the sake of some nebulous research.

Which is to say, I knew I answered this question before.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:55 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Lurked for a while after a friend recommended it as a good way to track more obscure international news, particularly if I wanted to hear from non official media types who were actually in the places where things were happening. Eventually bought myself a membership as a bit of a late birthday present. I doubt I still use anything else I got that year.
posted by philip-random at 8:56 AM on October 11, 2013

It wasn't a specific thread for me at all. I'd been reading and lurking for years and even had an account from years and years before that I rarely used and was now linked to a dead email. Then one day, I was reading some baseball site where I was urged to pay a nominal fee for membership and I thought to myself, "Geez, if I was going to pay money to join a site and comment, I'd join MetaFilter again." So I did. Only this time, I started commenting.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:59 AM on October 11, 2013

I dunno man, it's like when the pitch drops, there wasn't any one thing that pushed me over the edge. I'd been lurking here on and off since 2003.
posted by prize bull octorok at 8:59 AM on October 11, 2013

This is a duplicate question, and chatfilter to boot. The prior question was at least posted for the sake of some nebulous research.

Wow, not only did I comment in there, I was the first one to do so. Color me sheepish.
posted by griphus at 9:02 AM on October 11, 2013 [3 favorites]

I lurked for years. About a year ago, in this thread about PSY and MC Hammer performing together, MCMikeNamara posted this light-hearted comment that he couldn't easily find a jpg of Homer Simpson bashing the gates of MC Hammer's mansion to change it from HammerTime to HomerTime.

The challenge was harder than I expected, but it turns out the internet did not disappoint.

Armed with the info, I decided on a whim to join Metafilter. All I needed was a name...
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 9:02 AM on October 11, 2013 [6 favorites]

I started reading MetaFilter during the closed sign up era and got in the habit of just lurkng. When sign ups opened I dithered away a few year in funk 'n' sloth and finally signed up when I had a burning answer to an AskMe. I still don't have much to say, but enjoy snarking on special occasions.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 9:02 AM on October 11, 2013

A few years ago, a friend saw an AskMe about Florida's Baker Act, so he sent the link to me and asked to chime in to see if I could help.

Plot twist: that friend is not a MeFite, so I don't know how you can punish him.
posted by Tanizaki at 9:03 AM on October 11, 2013 [6 favorites]

When I was young, my teachers used to say, "Good idea, thanks for sharing that!"

It's been all downhill since. This just happens to be the best place on the internet to share ideas.
posted by SpacemanStix at 9:13 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

obscure simpsons reference, that just makes my week!
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:17 AM on October 11, 2013 [3 favorites]

Jesus, it's a global site, could you at least bother to say am or pm and what time zone, you thoughtless, self centered Usian?!

Show up at any 8:00 you want. I'm an insomniac with three kids. Someone will be awake. Beer is in the fridge. Diapers are in the hall closet if the baby is fussy. You'll hear her say "I have a stinky booty!" (No joke--that's how my kid tells us she needs a new diaper.)
posted by Pater Aletheias at 9:18 AM on October 11, 2013 [4 favorites]

Let's just say I had something very large and perishable that I needed to dispose of in a hurry, and who ya gonna call?
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:20 AM on October 11, 2013 [3 favorites]

I gave an answer to this a while back at cat-scan.com. :) Long time lurker. Dove in head first when sign ups opened.

The less said about my first post the better.
posted by zarq at 9:25 AM on October 11, 2013

Looking back, I just realized my mefiversary is the same as my wedding anniversary, but of course, mefi came first :)

I joined because I read an AskMe relationship question which sounded like it was about me, so I posted to see if I could figure it out.

It wasn't, but it was eerily similar.
posted by scrute at 9:27 AM on October 11, 2013

Kattullus gave me a membership as an Xmas present. It would be churlish not to spend at least 20%of my waking hours commenting. I mean, really!
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:32 AM on October 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

A friend posted this for me, and I immediately had to join myself. As it turns out, you guys are frighteningly good at helping me ID shit I record off shortwave.
posted by mykescipark at 9:40 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I apparently sat pretty for a good six months after ponying up the five before I worked up the nerve to say anything, but it was a picture of Lou Reed's boots that got me to comment. I'm pretty proud of that.

It's hard to believe that was nine years ago and I was still in high school. As incomplete as it is, my commenting history here is probably the most extensive account of my personality that exists. I like to think about the future where they can reconstitute a mind from a corpus of input texts and the MetaFilter version of me talks maybe a little more than you'd expect about hallucinogens and bass solos.
posted by invitapriore at 9:41 AM on October 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

finally having 5 bucks to spare
posted by Annika Cicada at 9:43 AM on October 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

I signed up initially because I had answers for questions on askme. Apparently I thought I was some kind of know-it-all. Or know-it-some at least. I think I found my way to mefi from memepool.
posted by routergirl at 9:44 AM on October 11, 2013

oooh yeah, memepool. me too
posted by edgeways at 9:46 AM on October 11, 2013

Apparently I just really needed to tell people about a haiku.
posted by nickmark at 9:47 AM on October 11, 2013

My fella has had an account for years and years, and I saw AskMe over his shoulder at some point when we first started going out. I was intrigued by the huge range of topics people asked questions about and by the good answers they were getting, and read it regularly for the next year, only clicking over to the blue if I was really, really bored, because for me the green was the main part of the site. I got an account as a present to myself after finishing the research project for my master's degree and it's been well worth those last-five-dollars-to-my-name. At some point I even branched out to commenting on the grey! I <3 you all, MeFi.
posted by daisyk at 9:50 AM on October 11, 2013

and who ya gonna call?

CORPSEBUSTERS
posted by elizardbits at 9:51 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I was aware of Metafilter for years, I had met various of the principals back in the early days of "the weblog revolution", at a "Break Bread with Brad" in SF and probably any number of other get-togethers, but I had long felt that the web was better served by individual blogs. I remember being amused that baylink described my blog on here as something like a mini-Metafilter (can't find the original quote right now), but never really gave the site much heed.

Then Brad died, and I almost signed up just to participate in the memorial thread for Brad, didn't, but seeing the community here in that thread got me reading back.

And it was finally being called an outlier in a thread on funding public education that got me to sign up and to 'fess up to being same.

Had an amusing email exchange with Matt where he was surprised that I hadn't been a MetaFilter user since the early days. But, nope, I'm just not that much of a joiner.
posted by straw at 9:55 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Holy crap! My very first comment was about how red light cameras cause traffic accidents, a topic for which I was just about to google links to comment on the brand-new Chicago speed trap FPP.

I'm not sure if my time on the site is done now, or if I should just sit here quietly until enlightenment hits.

Enlightenment. *snort*
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:03 AM on October 11, 2013

I apparently joined so that I could answer a trigonometry question that a half dozen people had already answered.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 10:06 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I don't know what made me finally sign up but I clearly remember the Fistful of Rikers thread a couple days later made me so happy I did.
posted by MaritaCov at 10:06 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I have been a Metafilter member for approximtely ¹/₃ of my life.
posted by boo_radley at 10:14 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

So I could make a pro-locavore comment.
posted by bearwife at 10:15 AM on October 11, 2013

I stumbled upon the site around 2002 when blogging was really starting to take off. But on account of not being able to participate, I pretty much forgot about the site completely until a few years later when I saw an AskMe thread show up in a google result page and said, hey, Metafilter has a Q&A site now? Well look at that, you can sign up now too. So I did. I think my first comment was to plug Meshuggah in a music recommendation thread, but I don't think that was the thing that made me sign up, just the first thing that I did.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:18 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I got an account to get rid of ads. It took me most of a year to actually comment on something.

I can't remember when I first discovered Metafilter — back before sign ups closed, I think.
posted by danielparks at 10:24 AM on October 11, 2013

I lurked for ages then was in the office late and thought I might as well wait for 8pm so that the new tranche of membership an opened up (IIRC). It was lucky I did as a 1 year lockdown started shortly after. Looking back my comment was totally banal, about a broken link. Its good to see its over a decade since I first upbraided someone for not RTFAing though.
posted by biffa at 10:26 AM on October 11, 2013

I have a burning hate that occasionally needs to be expressed. Here seemed like a good enough place.

I still hate every last one of you.
posted by eyeballkid at 10:27 AM on October 11, 2013 [11 favorites]

The baby is split lengthwise, griphus. That way, both parties get an equal share. Splitting the baby width-wise would mean that all parts of the baby weren't distributed equally between both claimants.

I joined because I thought I had a clue. Now I realise that having a clue is an extremely rare event for pretty much everyone ever.
posted by Solomon at 10:29 AM on October 11, 2013 [13 favorites]

Thank you for the expert advice, Your Majesty. Should some accommodation be made for the imbalance in internal organs, e.g. the heart being slightly to the left?

On an unrelated note, when were sign ups closed?
posted by Renegade Duck at 10:36 AM on October 11, 2013

I really wanted to argue with someone about the intersection of omnipotence, omniscience, and free will. Typical.
posted by Errant at 10:44 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

...and you didn't know how to prevent yourself?
posted by metaBugs at 10:47 AM on October 11, 2013

Personally speaking, since the heart is on the left and the liver on the right, I deem that both halves are created equal. However, this will of course be constrained by your judicial area, and you should consult a lawyer conversant with local laws. IANAL.
posted by Solomon at 10:49 AM on October 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

"I deem that both halves are created equal." posted by Solomon....

o.O
posted by zarq at 10:52 AM on October 11, 2013 [4 favorites]

On an unrelated note, when were sign ups closed?

The day signups first closed isn't listed on The Timeline, but I think it was shortly after 9/11/2001. They were periodically opened and closed over the next few years. The site lived on a server in someone's apartment, so it couldn't really handle much of any traffic.
posted by muddgirl at 10:53 AM on October 11, 2013

The internet was young, and I was....younger than I am now.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 10:54 AM on October 11, 2013

I tried to look at my earliest comment on the profile page and the server timed out... So we'll never know.

Probably something to do with Doctor Who or Batman.
posted by Artw at 11:00 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I have been a Metafilter member for approximtely 1/3 of my life.

Yeesh. I'll hit that point next year. Hopefully the place is around for me to hit the half-life point in 2027.
posted by LionIndex at 11:01 AM on October 11, 2013

Nope, turns out it was to inform someone of the UK usage of the word "reckon", followed shortly by several discussions about terrorism. Ah, 2005.
posted by Artw at 11:02 AM on October 11, 2013

I think I did okay with my first post, though.
posted by Artw at 11:05 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Also just discovered that File Pile login screen still exists... haven't thought of that mystery wrapped in an enigma for a long time.
posted by muddgirl at 11:06 AM on October 11, 2013

Probably something to do with Doctor Who or Batman

My first comment was Batman-related! I thought it was of the utmost importance that people know how awesome the Batman: TAS title cards are. Because they are totally awesome.
posted by maqsarian at 11:07 AM on October 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

I had a general sense that this was a good community for me, just by virtue of forced-lurking for 3 years..

I don't recall what exactly attracted me in the first place, other than that it was a link from the Mac NN Lounge in about 2001. I'm not too smart, but I'm very persistent. I clicked the "register" button randomly for 3 years, until one day, it worked.
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:14 AM on October 11, 2013

I'd been lurking for around a year, originally directed to the site by John Walkenbach's blog I think. There was also the hilarious drama queen MetaTalk thread which was linked on OTF Wank, not really sure which came first. I started the sign-up process but didn't pony up the dosh until I just had to answer a question about the history of societal attitudes to mental retardation.
posted by goo at 11:16 AM on October 11, 2013

I lurked for like, a million years .. but really amped up the reading during my poopy divorce in 2011. I finally bit the bullet and joined in January of 2012 to answer a question about fashion (of course).
posted by dotgirl at 11:16 AM on October 11, 2013

My blog post about Kaycee Nicole was an FPP. I signed up to clarify something stupid I had said in someone else's comments about it. I was going to actually stay off of Metafilter entirely and let the site hash what they wanted to hash. But I didn't realize at the time just how big a deal Kaycee Nicole was to some people and I had been insensitive joking about it and wanted to apologize. (I thought it was a seriously limited Online Journaler event. Seriously.)
posted by headspace at 11:16 AM on October 11, 2013

so I could vote #1 the quidnunc kid, of course
posted by chinston at 11:17 AM on October 11, 2013

I think I was linked here through some other content aggregator, and decided I enjoyed reading the comments as well as the articles. I signed up for an account and my first comment was on an Everything is Terrible post, apparently.
posted by codacorolla at 11:17 AM on October 11, 2013

I only occasionally regret it.
posted by goo at 11:20 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Lurked for a couple of years, then finally ponied up the five bucks when I felt rich enough. Took ages after that to actually work up the nerve to post.
posted by arcticseal at 11:26 AM on October 11, 2013

I had been lurking forever. I signed up to answer a specific question but then chickened out. It took a while to work up the nerve to start commenting, and I still haven't made any posts or asked any questions. But I'm glad I finally signed up! I spend a lot of time here.
posted by oomny at 11:29 AM on October 11, 2013

I lurked as far back as 9/11, so that means I went 4 years reading MeFi but not saying much... Bet you all miss that.
posted by Artw at 11:29 AM on October 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

It's not easy to get me to part with five bucks, but I was in bed with the flu and all likkered up on hot toddies and apparently felt an urgent need to tell you all about the lousy makeup job that the undertaker did on my cousin.
posted by HotToddy at 11:32 AM on October 11, 2013

I joined to ask a question.
posted by corb at 11:40 AM on October 11, 2013

I joined to ask a human relations question about my relationship with my boyfriend. I broke up with him after a subsequent anonymous AskMe.

Metafilter: DTMFA.
posted by Paper rabies at 11:53 AM on October 11, 2013

metafilter: I only occasionally regret it.


ach.. now I got to go and bleach my fingers. *sigh*
posted by edgeways at 11:57 AM on October 11, 2013

It was 9/11 and I needed someplace to talk and be among people.
posted by pxe2000 at 11:57 AM on October 11, 2013

I lurked until signups reopened in 2004, then bought accounts for myself and my sister that very day. I think I originally found Metafilter via Memepool.
posted by killdevil at 12:04 PM on October 11, 2013

Wow, I didn't make my first comment (or Askme answer) until almost two months after I signed up. I guess I liked it enough here to sign up even without the immediate urge to say something.
posted by ClarissaWAM at 12:10 PM on October 11, 2013

After lurking for 4 or 5 years, I paid up (under an old nickname) so I could reply to a person whose pet had died. I learned so much from everyone here that I felt it was finally time to give back.
posted by kimberussell at 12:10 PM on October 11, 2013

Lurked here for quite a while, paid up in 2009 to post to a Doctor Who thread for the last David Tennant story.
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:14 PM on October 11, 2013

I'd been lurking for at least a couple years as I remember reading the 9/11 thread live. I'm not really sure why I didn't sign up at that point as signups were apparently open but they closed afterwards and I remember repeatedly trying to get an account and then I was alerted to open signups at monkey filter and jumped on it. I managed to hold off for almost a month before posting a comment (really I was sort of terrified of making a bad impression).

I think I was directed here by memepool and I went there to check to see when metafilter was linked and dang it the site has fallen to squatters.
posted by Mitheral at 12:21 PM on October 11, 2013

And now I see the first post on MonkeyFilter was a year after my account was created here so now I don't know what to believe.
posted by Mitheral at 12:26 PM on October 11, 2013

I joined to answer a question about joist sizing. Mine was the last answer in the thread. On good days I tell myself that's because it was the authoritative answer, and not because it was several hours after the discussion had ended.
posted by Bruce H. at 12:28 PM on October 11, 2013

Never lurked, joined to ask a question. Stayed to answer questions.
posted by Ideefixe at 12:44 PM on October 11, 2013

I lurked for probably 5+ years and read several times a day. I sort of still consider myself a lurker because I don't post or comment too often, but I am now "here." I signed up because I had to do something social and actually getting out in the world outside my family is nearly impossible for me. I have met many people on the site and at meetups (including Jessamyn at the last one!!!) and everyone has been great. I might not fit right in with some of the politics and attitudes of the majority of the people here, but everybody has been so decent and welcoming and this place has actually helped me be more outgoing and confident - even if I am just hanging around in the shadows here most of the time.

I was introduced to the site by a coworker years ago (maybe 2003) who I one day asked "Hey, what's that green/blue site you're looking at all day?!?"
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 12:52 PM on October 11, 2013

Some completely unrelated forum, eons ago: I had been planning to join anyway but joined a little sooner than I intended in order to jump down some throats cuz folks were saying "Let's just stick homeless people on a bus and ship them elsewhere!" Yeah, like that works. (So not.) But I do not normally do stuff like that.

Anyway, I am not inclined to lurk. I like talking to people. I was gifted this account and jumped right in.
posted by Michele in California at 12:56 PM on October 11, 2013

I joined to answer a question about an automated graphic design program.
posted by subtle-t at 12:58 PM on October 11, 2013

Apparently my very first comment was talking about how well-off Elizabethan actors were. That's right...I know my Shakespearean theatre, ladies.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 1:00 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I joined because I really liked the dynamics of the community insofar as people seemed to talk about things instead of just yell at each other.

I made this account because the first account I made had my last name attached to it, and that was dumb.

My first comment was sort of a threadshit in an AskMe thread about messenger bags because half of my answer was a question about how I could accessorize my own damn messenger bag.
posted by oceanjesse at 1:02 PM on October 11, 2013

For some reason I needed to encourage someone to wear belts with dresses. Soooo 2009.
posted by Mizu at 1:06 PM on October 11, 2013

I think I finally paid so I could ask a question. /boring
posted by wenestvedt at 1:07 PM on October 11, 2013

Mr. Bad Example: "I know my Shakespearean theatre, ladies."

But obviously, not, you know, in the Shakespearean theater.
posted by boo_radley at 1:15 PM on October 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

I joined to recommend a therapist. Therapy, has askme thought about trying it? It might help!
posted by ldthomps at 1:26 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'd joined so I could make an FPP, as I couldn't post to memepool. So, in order to be eligible to post, I made an NPR/Sigur Ros joke, Kattullus approved, and the floodgates opened.
posted by not_on_display at 1:31 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I hate eyeballkid, and when I heard he'd shown up here I was all "Fuck that guy, I'm signing up too."
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:33 PM on October 11, 2013 [3 favorites]

I had to check, because I had no idea when my first comment was or when I made it. Just about 8 years ago I ponied up my 5 bucks to write a comment about Harriet Miers, of all people. And it was an "actually" sort of comment, too.
posted by Biblio at 1:33 PM on October 11, 2013

Color me sheepish.

When I was a kid, I loved me some tapioca for desert. Until my brother and sister started stirring raisins in my bowl and telling me it was cat poop.
posted by y2karl at 1:45 PM on October 11, 2013

boo_radley: "But obviously, not, you know, in the Shakespearean theater."

Oh my god, what did that even mean. I think I need to eat something.
posted by boo_radley at 1:53 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

In July of 2000, I had some opinions about goings-on at UCSB.
posted by thomas j wise at 1:54 PM on October 11, 2013

I joined because, well, I wanted to. Later that same day I wrote my first comment about Neo-Confederate secessionists. Given the number of times I've been drawn into similar arguments over the years, I guess you could say I'm kind of a James Petigru of Metafilter.

It's true. I had higher aspirations once.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:57 PM on October 11, 2013

Long time lurker. I think I signed on to answer a series of questions relating to my profession that were not getting solid, useful answers.
posted by OHenryPacey at 1:58 PM on October 11, 2013

I joined to tell other people their opinions about video games were wrong, and to namedrop Pathologic as the best game of all time. But I was weirdly polite about it just then.
posted by Rory Marinich at 1:59 PM on October 11, 2013

Several-years' lurker, signed up and answered the first question where I thought I had something to say.
posted by Namlit at 2:05 PM on October 11, 2013

I'd been lurking for a while when I was a student, but I didn't really have any spare cash and I figured I was spending too much time here anyway. At some point after I'd finished that I saw people were talking about physics on the blue, and I knew the answer so I had to sign up. By the time I'd registered and found a username that wasn't taken (and urgh, I really hate this one but now I guess I'm stuck with it) other people had cleared everything up, but hey, I still posted.

It's been fun guys, cheers!
posted by Ned G at 2:06 PM on October 11, 2013

I was another longtime lurker (3-4 years? something like that) when someone asked a question trying to identify a somewhat-obscure 50+ years old book, and I just HAD to answer. Even better: I named the right book! Wheee!
posted by easily confused at 2:07 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

But it was my brother who first introduced me to the site, so I guess he owes my previous employer 6 months of productive work.
posted by Ned G at 2:11 PM on October 11, 2013

I went in in order to correct Dios on something about Part 7 of ERISA, then saw that he corrected himself, but I pointed that out, anyway.

Christ, what an asshole.
posted by Pax at 2:27 PM on October 11, 2013

So, no one is using this thread as their first comment? How un-meta.
posted by Pax at 2:30 PM on October 11, 2013 [3 favorites]

Sorry, five what now?
posted by yerfatma at 2:30 PM on October 11, 2013

I lurked for YEARS (seriously, since, like 2007 or 2008) and finally wanted to ask a question about an upcoming surgery that I was freaking the fuck out about. No one I knew had had a similar surgery and I wanted some first-person accounts and advice. And I was like, "GASP. I WILL ASK METAFILTER!" It took me two months to get up the courage to ask the damn question, though. Heh.
posted by Aquifer at 2:32 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

During the closed-sign-ups phase, monju_bosatsu offered me a sock-puppet account without much history. I've been giving it a history ever since.
posted by .kobayashi. at 2:37 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Mine is actually pretty funny.

I wanted to answer an AskMe because it kinda upset me the way the OP was seeing herself in a really shitty "i am wrong by default" light... and when i went to create an account it said "that name is already in used".

I put in my username, and tried a couple passwords i've used in the past and... it signed in.

It turned out i had an account for years and didn't even know. I had been lurking for a very long time without even knowing i had registered going "this place is nice to read, but i don't know if i can justify spending $5 on it".

Apparently i dodged some "closed registration" wall by a hair too back when i registered. It almost feels unfair, like i took the last something in a store and then put it on a shelf and forget when there was a line of people waiting.
posted by emptythought at 2:41 PM on October 11, 2013 [7 favorites]

I am a total newbie, but I joined earlier this year to tell people about my gross non-friend from college.

But I first found Metafilter (well, Ask MeFi) during a low-ish point in my life when I had a lot of angst and stress about the dating scene, in which I am basically hopeless. After a few weeks of incessant Googling, I noticed that the best and most interesting advice came from that green website. So I started lurking.
posted by chainsofreedom at 2:48 PM on October 11, 2013

I was a longtime lurker until a comment by krinklyfig inspired me with the perfect username.
posted by trunk muffins at 2:55 PM on October 11, 2013

Someone asked a question about zombie movies and I'd just seen a film festival showing of Zombie Honeymoon, and wanted that person to be looking for it once it got released.

It's like I was just waiting for the most Pittsburgh question possible to answer.
posted by Stacey at 3:01 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'd read casually for a few years, then upgraded to dedicated lurker for about six months before I signed up. I'd been hesitant about making an account, as I worried MetaFilter would then consume even more of my life (it has), and because I am anxiety-ridden and perpetually indecisive.

The tipping point came when I told my then-boyfriend about the site. He checked it out, liked it, and immediately made an account. Apparently I spent twenty days stewing over this before finally committing.
posted by bethnull at 3:29 PM on October 11, 2013

I'd been lurking for years, but when the opportunity arose to tell this story about my cat I had to take it.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 3:29 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I wanted to have the longest user name ever.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 3:30 PM on October 11, 2013 [7 favorites]

well, i have this keyboard and i have fingers - that's pretty much all the excuse i've ever needed

but my first comments on metafilter was as one of the many people who discovered the "anonymous" hack that let anyone comment as "anonymous", which was quickly closed

i lurked and waited to be one of the lucky 20 a day who would get in - finally i succeeded and haven't stopped typing since
posted by pyramid termite at 3:37 PM on October 11, 2013

In my memory, I signed on so I could ask the Internet an embarrassing question. In fact, I signed on seven months before I asked that question. I needed a less stressful version of reddit.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 3:47 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I lurked for about nine years, and was perfectly happy just reading Mefi. Then I drifted away from the message board that was my previous online home and just sort of lurked everywhere for a year or so. Then a string of really interesting FPPs apeared here, one, two, three - and I found that I really wanted to comment on them, but couldn't, so I finally made the leap.
posted by Kevin Street at 3:47 PM on October 11, 2013

Paying is for noobs.
posted by terrapin at 3:50 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I wanted to have the longest user name ever.

Well, it's unique...
posted by Artw at 3:53 PM on October 11, 2013

It would be best if the first five or so years of my commenting history were lost to a radioactive asteroid impact or something.
posted by kavasa at 4:03 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Maybe more. Ugh.
posted by kavasa at 4:04 PM on October 11, 2013

Rogers Cadenhead announced a contest to see who could best predict the outcome of the 2000 Presidential Election. In order to enter, we had to join Metafilter.
posted by UrineSoakedRube at 4:04 PM on October 11, 2013

How did I have friends then?
posted by kavasa at 4:04 PM on October 11, 2013

I hear you, kavasa. It's a really good thing I never commented back when I first started reading MeFi. I used to be a drunken, angry, contrarian. Well, more so than now even.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:46 PM on October 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

I joined just to comment in this thread.
posted by inigo2 at 4:47 PM on October 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

i lurked forever and finally figured it was time to join when I had a dream I ran into a couple of the mods in the feminine hygiene aisle of my local CVS.
posted by Cocodrillo at 4:58 PM on October 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

I lurked for a long time and then finally joined so I could talk/argue about fMRI studies and cross-validation.
posted by en forme de poire at 5:11 PM on October 11, 2013

I had an account way back in very early days, but never commented and eventually forgot the password and email associated with it (I remember racing home from class on 9/11/2001 to obsessively refresh the metafilter thread because I didn't know what else to do). I finally signed up for another account in late 2005 because I'd run out of other ways to procrastinate about grad school applications, and I also didn't post very much. This account is new, and I'm continuing my time-honored tradition of serious and committed lurking.
posted by tapir-whorf at 5:16 PM on October 11, 2013

My brother recommended askmefi when I was going thru some shit, best thing he ever told me about, I guess he was paying me back for introducing him to The Who way back when.

I emailed him my username and he never sent back his so sometimes I do a double-take or I wonder but I know he's out there and if you run into him he's the greatest and I think he should marry that woman and have some kids please.
posted by lakersfan1222 at 5:26 PM on October 11, 2013 [3 favorites]

You know, if he ever asks you all, please say yes to the kids at least!
posted by lakersfan1222 at 5:28 PM on October 11, 2013

I just showed up to self-link.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:38 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I was a lurker here from about 2001 on. I think what finally got me to sign up was being envious of Mrs. usonian, who got an account about a month before I did.
posted by usonian at 5:39 PM on October 11, 2013

I knew the answer to this question and spent a couple of weeks fuming that I couldn't shout it at everyone in the thread. Then once I joined I thought it might look weird to post to a thread that was almost a month old, and didn't actually answer it.
posted by rollick at 6:06 PM on October 11, 2013

I knew I'd been reading MeFi for a while before signing up, but apparently I also waited several weeks after joining before jumping in to, y'know, actually say anything. I, in the parlance of our times, LURKED MOAR.
posted by Elsa at 6:10 PM on October 11, 2013

I still haven't decided if I want to sign up.
posted by birdherder at 6:21 PM on October 11, 2013 [3 favorites]

Then once I joined I thought it might look weird to post to a thread that was almost a month old, and didn't actually answer it.

Well now it's driving me crazy. What was the answer?
posted by usonian at 6:27 PM on October 11, 2013

I've been racking my brain, but I honestly don't know what tipped me over. I don't know if it's some kind of record or something, but I had been a casual drive-by reader of the blue for well over a decade (certainly before Sept. 11, 2001, because I remember reading that thread) (I'm embarrassed to mention how long it was before I discovered there was a green, not even to mention a gray). I used to browse this place, Slashdot, Fark, a couple others. But I was just a reader, until 2011. Maybe it was that year's forcible breaking of a personal stasis, when I got a new job and suddenly had to change cities. Maybe it was the example of tzikeh, who I've been friends with for yonks, and who has been an active member. Maybe I'm amazed at the way you love me all the time.
posted by theatro at 6:32 PM on October 11, 2013

I'd been reading Languagehat's blog for five or six years before I even noticed Metafilter. Or at least I think that's how I noticed it. It might have been Making Light, which I used to read around the same time. At least I think that's how I joined. It wasn't very memorable.
posted by Nomyte at 6:39 PM on October 11, 2013

I'd been lurking forever. My ex found the site, and would read me bits of it, so I got in the habit of coming here myself. I think I signed up when I had finally gotten a paypal account. My first thing was to answer an AskMe question the next day. And mostly, I still lurk.
posted by Meep! Eek! at 6:47 PM on October 11, 2013

if you run into him he's the greatest and I think he should marry that woman and have some kids please.

Hey!
If I happen to see
the awesomest bro in the world
I'll tell him she loves him
I'll tell him she wants him
I'll tell him they need some babies!
Oh, you can betcha
That I'll tell him.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:48 PM on October 11, 2013 [3 favorites]

I'm approaching my 7 year mefiversary of when, after a while of lurking, I just had to sign up for an account because someone had to defend bulimia(?!) sorry y'all
posted by twoporedomain at 7:24 PM on October 11, 2013

I had to look this up, but what prompted me to sign up after lurking for ages is that I just had to answer a question about Renaissance drama. 5 years later I am deeply, ambivalently enmeshed in a PhD program in...Renaissance drama. I am rolling my eyes at myself.
posted by apricot at 7:47 PM on October 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

Oh dear, everyone? Really? I just thought metafilter was awesome and signed up.
posted by yohko at 8:09 PM on October 11, 2013

Incidentally, while I've been reading since about 2002 and became a member in 2005, I consider my true de-lurking to have happened in 2009, when some bullshit in the Schroedinger's Rapist thread and a previously-unnoticed need for community in the wake of my best friend's death combined to push me right over the edge. That's when the mental switch from reader to contributor flipped for me and I started talking way too much.
posted by Errant at 8:28 PM on October 11, 2013

Started lurking during 9/11 when a number of friends on a community blog we shared were linking here. My only attempts to sign up came during shutdown time. Never occurred to me to write and ask for an account (I've said elsewhere that my mindset was pre-2.0 enough that I would have as likely written to Time Magazine to ask for a subscription). When signups came open for $5, it was a no-brainer - I'd been waiting a long time.
posted by Miko at 8:37 PM on October 11, 2013

This was actually the second thread that I commented on, but it was much funnier than the first. Mathowie's first day at Pyra.
posted by judith at 8:44 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I used to be a drunken, angry, contrarian.

It’s fucking exhausting, isn’t it?
posted by bongo_x at 9:37 PM on October 11, 2013 [3 favorites]

It was a fighty thread about health care in the US, naturally, wow, almost 9 years ago.

Boy am I glad we got that problem solved.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:10 PM on October 11, 2013 [2 favorites]

As a young right-winger, I used to lurk forever during the Bush years to see how awful liberals were during the political posts. Then a funny thing happened. I stopped being part of the religious right, became a liberal, and started to enjoy reading posts and find like-minded people who had a global perspective. I joined to be part of the crowd. Still feel like I don't have as awesome things to say as the rest of the group, but still read it daily. Thanks for being such a part of my life everyone, even if I don't ever meet any of you.
posted by dealing away at 10:20 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

It was free and so was I.
posted by pracowity at 10:23 PM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Fun to read through the very first threads I participated in. This place has changed a lot. What I notice is, with so many fewer participants and no favoriting, there was much more conversation going on back in the day. People didn't make comments to get favorites or be a yahoo as often. People were civil and fights were so infrequent; when they did happen, it was usually people from far different ideological backgrounds, talking about big political issues, usually someone I disagreed with vehemently but whose ability to create a cogent argument in a hostile place I respected enormously.

Things are just a bit more anonymous now, and certainly people are quick to attack each other. *sigh* this is probably just us getting caught up to the rest of the Internet now.

Also, I miss the img tag a lot.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:43 PM on October 11, 2013 [3 favorites]

I signed up twice. The first time was back in the pre-fiver days. I can't remember what the hell the password for that account was. I spent about a year trying to remember and finally gave in a paid the five bucks.
posted by 26.2 at 11:01 PM on October 11, 2013

I'd been lurking pretty steadily since... jesus, like, mid-2001? And I finally signed up 11 years later to make a comment about Goldeneye? It's kind of ludicrous when I think about it.
posted by jason_steakums at 12:05 AM on October 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

I paid five dollars to talk about a cat stomping on someone's nards in the middle of the night.



WORTH IT.
posted by louche mustachio at 12:39 AM on October 12, 2013 [4 favorites]

Yeah, I lurked for a long time before joining, but I don't think it was the urge to make a snarky remark about a Florida state Easter egg that impelled me.

However, I'll note that a) following my original link today takes us to a page that says:

Due to Congress’s failure to pass legislation to fund the government, the information on this web site may not be up to date. Some submissions may not be processed, and we may not be able to respond to your inquiries.

and b) After finding the egg in question on an archived page, I must stand by my snark.
posted by taz (staff) at 12:45 AM on October 12, 2013

I've mentioned this before but I bought this membership as a Christmas gift for my husband. I had noticed that he was spending a lot of time on this site and would look over his shoulder and think "god, that looks so BORING."

Then after I registered, I logged in and browsed around on AskMe, and I was like oh, look, a vegetarian recipe question, I could answer this... and somehow now I'm over 2000 answers deep. Whoa. And my husband has never used the account.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 1:03 AM on October 12, 2013 [5 favorites]

I jumped right in with both feet to argue about capital punishment (I'd been a longtime reader/lurker though).
posted by biscotti at 7:05 AM on October 12, 2013

Same as most: Someone was wrong on the Internet. I had to correct that.
posted by y6y6y6 at 7:27 AM on October 12, 2013 [9 favorites]

I asked one of those "is my boyfriend cheating on me and is he a dick" questions back in 2005 or something. Everyone said "Yes" but l still stayed with him for a while until... well... I found out he was cheating on me and realized he was dick. I can't find that old post. With this account, Apparently I wanted to know about splitting the cable bill evenly with roommates even though I didn't have an HDTV and rarely watched movie channels.
Typical shit!
posted by KogeLiz at 8:44 AM on October 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

What was the answer?
posted by usonian at 2:27 AM on October 12 [+] [!]

Ha oops, I'm pretty sure it was Tell Her Tonight by Franz Ferdinand. (guess I can go ahead and close my account now).
posted by rollick at 8:48 AM on October 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

Alex Reynolds vs dios drama queen poo-flinging and associated pile on.

Sadly no longer available for public consumption but at the time, it made me laugh like a drain.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 9:52 AM on October 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

Fun to read through the very first threads I participated in. This place has changed a lot. What I notice is, with so many fewer participants and no favoriting, there was much more conversation going on back in the day. People didn't make comments to get favorites or be a yahoo as often. People were civil and fights were so infrequent; when they did happen, it was usually people from far different ideological backgrounds, talking about big political issues, usually someone I disagreed with vehemently but whose ability to create a cogent argument in a hostile place I respected enormously.

Things are just a bit more anonymous now, and certainly people are quick to attack each other. *sigh* this is probably just us getting caught up to the rest of the Internet now.

Or perhaps it is an opportunity to grow as human beings, figure out how to effectively relate at this scale, and set the example for others to follow.
posted by Michele in California at 10:37 AM on October 12, 2013

I joined because I needed help and advice beyond what I was getting in therapy, and I have received that many times over since then.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 10:54 AM on October 12, 2013

Looking back at my first comment ever, I'm thinking I was in that magical time-window where I was drunk and still had $5.00 on my debit card.
posted by Cookiebastard at 11:11 AM on October 12, 2013 [2 favorites]

I joined to answer a question. I don't remember whether I was much of a lurker before that. Pretty sure I found metafilter through notmartha.
posted by annsunny at 11:39 AM on October 12, 2013

My wife jokes that I needed a new audience for my stories, and she's probably right. My first comment begins with "Back in the mid '90s..."
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:58 AM on October 12, 2013

I signed up because I felt that I had not been consulted, which resulted in my most-favorited comment ever, regarding the specifics of how to successfully convince another person that you are about to break one of their limbs. It was a 100% "well, actually" situation. I spent at least an hour on that comment.

(As follow-up to it, I'd like to note that Rousey has made some errors in building her position as ambassador of women's MMA and Rousimar Palhares just recently got cut from the UFC following a win because Oops, he did it again/he played with Mike Pierce's ACL/got lost in the game/ooh, baby, baby.)
posted by daveliepmann at 12:16 PM on October 12, 2013 [3 favorites]

I lurked for most of freshman year of college and signed up for an account the following summer, because I was so bored -- leading to my first question. I did not learn to whittle, but my pie skillz are now off-the-chain good.
posted by coppermoss at 12:45 PM on October 12, 2013

I've been reading since the Brill's Content cover. Apparently I was one of the few people that subscribed to that magazine as it went out of business not long after that issue.
posted by mmascolino at 12:52 PM on October 12, 2013

I heard about MeFi shortly after 9/11 and started lurking. After the Bert 'n' Osama thread I knew I'd found a home. Sign-ups opened again briefly a couple of months later and I got in.
posted by homunculus at 1:09 PM on October 12, 2013

If people want to talk about Urdu poetry, they sure as fuck aren't gonna do it without me.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 1:21 PM on October 12, 2013

I was googling some sort of relationship problem on a lark, and found AskMe. I was promptly blown away by the thoughtful answers and refreshing perspectives. These were people who were not recommending game-playing! Who advocated women asking men out! The Ask vs. Guess thing was genius!

In fact, MeFites sounded like such great sources of information and answers in general that I immediately noted the website and started sifting through the AskMe archives every day. I lurked for years that way before I finally got an account, mostly so I can favourite all the awesome answers and questions that I used to flag with browser bookmarks.

I also try to add to the good advice, but think I fall short of many others in that regard. :)
posted by Zelos at 2:33 PM on October 12, 2013

Found this site by accident while working for the Richard Bacon show on Radio 5LIVE. It produced their single most successful call-in of all time. Went back to USA and joined as a way saying thanks and discovered this site is cheaper than a blog and more entrepreneurial. All this site needs now is a VRBO.
posted by parmanparman at 2:48 PM on October 12, 2013

I'd been lurking for years, and was never able to catch the "open enrollments" when they happened - so I was happy to pay my five buck!
Several days later, I got to help with MS Word question - and that made my fiver totally worthwhile to me!
posted by dbmcd at 3:09 PM on October 12, 2013

Lurked for a long long time as is usual... was a D&D post that finally had me breaking cover with this anecdote
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:32 PM on October 12, 2013

I found my way here through Monkeyfilter and spent more time over there even after attaining dual citizenship. I'm pretty certain that I was able to sign up without paying so I'll always feel that I owe Matt 5 bucks plus interest.
posted by islander at 5:53 PM on October 12, 2013

I lurked for ages, then someone asked about non-Asimov scifi about robots, and I just really wanted to recommend Susan Palwick's book Shelter.
posted by creepygirl at 6:08 PM on October 12, 2013

Kuro5hin was getting kind of boring and I totally forgot my Reddit login info so when memberships opened I went in. I lurked for awhile prior to creating my account.
posted by jadepearl at 6:45 PM on October 12, 2013

Classical music. (A different account.)
posted by John Cohen at 7:20 PM on October 12, 2013

After obsessively lurking for 3-4 years, I finally signed up for the professional white background. Plus, I got so much from the site after a while it felt like stealing not to kick in my $5.

It took me exactly 11 months to comment - I still mostly lurk, I'm averaging just under 7 posts a year.
posted by the.carol.baxter.experience at 7:31 PM on October 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

It's pretty weird looking back on it now, but I finally paid $5 because I really needed to weigh in on the subject of wearing shoes in the house...
posted by 256 at 8:30 PM on October 12, 2013 [3 favorites]

I had been lurking for a few months and then I read the Help me help my friend in DC thread. I joined a couple of days after that thread. My first comment was in response to a camera flash question.
posted by ssri at 9:23 PM on October 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

Someone made an FPP about my song a day for a year blog, which I realized when I saw a shockingly large number of page views and tracked them back here. It seemed surprisingly natural to give these strangers on the internet $5 and start hanging around.
posted by daisystomper at 10:21 PM on October 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

What got you to put down five bucks to say something?

Generally speaking, hubris.
posted by troll at 10:21 PM on October 12, 2013 [3 favorites]

Earlier I woke up from a nap with half an excellent idea.

In my dream I was at a sandwich competition. I was in a small room full of the best of the best sandwich artisans. I walked past most. Most were presenting a sandwich that was a mere refinement of an existing sandwich. One stopped me in my tracks.

The sandwich was ham, spicy brown mustard, on a huge soft pretzel. But there was more. He started to tell me the rest when I woke up.

I need to know. Damnit, I need to know.
posted by Ad hominem at 11:24 PM on October 12, 2013

I signed up because I had just been through a bad breakup and I really, really needed to talk about it.

For a while I kind of threw myself into trying really hard to answer other people's relationship questions. Mine was done and gone, but maybe I could prevent that from happening to anyone else?

I had lurked for quite a while before I signed up, mostly reading things off the blue. So after I started to heal from the breakup, I started paying attention to things other than the human relations section of askme again. I did spend the next five years being single, though, so I definitely read those questions; reminded me that relationships aren't all smiles and warmth for anybody.

Now though, well, there are smiles and warmth again. And it is good.
posted by nat at 11:58 PM on October 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

Signed up in early 2005. I see that my first comment was a light-hearted remark about Spamalot. My second was a semi-serious but essentially jokey one about Michael Jackson. Then shit got real: third thread, Israel. Fourth thread, religion. Jolly times.
posted by Decani at 2:28 AM on October 13, 2013

I lurked for years - I can remember, back when I first lived in this house (so somewhere between 2006 and 2007) realising that I couldn't get to Metafilter because of some weird error in the modem settings on my wifi card and fucking about with in to get access (so lurking since 2005 I think). I joined up in 2009 though, after my daughter was born to comment on an askme about getting one's shit together.
posted by geek anachronism at 2:41 AM on October 13, 2013

I had finally gotten a Paypal account with money in. Hurraz!
posted by Quilford at 3:20 AM on October 13, 2013

WAIT NO

Actually, I had gotten one of those gift pre-paid credit cards from Australia Post! And I am pretty sure I spent just under $95 buying games and then I remembered that I could sign up for here for $5 and the conversion rate juuust was low enough for me to make it
posted by Quilford at 3:22 AM on October 13, 2013

It's pretty weird looking back on it now, but I finally paid $5 because I really needed to weigh in on the subject of wearing shoes in the house...

I think that means you fit in perfectly.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 3:52 AM on October 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

I signed up FREE in April 2000 simply so I could change prefs. It makes me happy, more than is probably healthy, to know that I'm actually $15 ahead of most of you suckers, after winning one of the monthly thingies a few years ago. Ha!
posted by peacay at 4:04 AM on October 13, 2013

I signed up via an investment firm, which recommended MeFi membership as a "buy" when the price went up over 500 points from par. That means I paid $20 for membership (including brokerage fees). Only then did I realise that MeFi membership is zero-coupon and the secondary market trades at a discount, which means it has negative yield - the only way I can recover my position is by getting elected President of MeFi and raiding the mod's pension fund. Hence this "vote #1 quidnunc kid" bullshit I'm always going on about.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 5:53 AM on October 13, 2013 [21 favorites]

Tremendous wisdom shown in the last comment. Move ahead accordingly.

+1 invest with quidnunc kid. Totally cashing in here.
posted by Wolof at 6:55 AM on October 13, 2013

I had questions about castration. Really.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:19 AM on October 13, 2013

I signed up because my mom had just died and I was going to post on AskMe about something related to it. Not sure what. I never got around to doing it.

It's really weird typing that out.
posted by dismas at 8:12 AM on October 13, 2013

What got you to put down five bucks to say something?

Inflation. Used to cost a penny.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:00 AM on October 13, 2013

it didn't cost me such

just my voice

silenced all my life!
posted by The Whelk at 11:11 AM on October 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Apparently I signed up to tell someone how to use Powerpoint, but later I gifted a membership to somebody because he was lurking, and then started e-mailing me (best!) answers to post on his behalf. $5 made him a much more active and helpful user than I ever plan to be, to the point where I see a question and send it to him, then notice he's already answered it.

But I'd been lurking myself since at least 2008, because my neighborhood smelled funny and googling around showed this thread, so I sent it to a friend who lives upwind from me, only to realize he was the OP.
posted by mgar at 11:30 AM on October 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

On the advice of a friend who is no longer a member, I finally signed up after years of on-and-off lurking to ask a question about an art forger. I never got around to asking the question, but I mentioned it the last time this very topic arose, and loquax suggested an answer.
posted by tangerine at 12:47 PM on October 13, 2013

2007: Southland Tales had just been released to movie theaters worldwide. A young man finally pays a $5 signup fee on an internet forum. The glorious movie was being savaged on Metafilter, and he couldn't allow this injustice to stand.

I really liked Southland Tales and I hope it gets some (cult) love on DVD. Part of the problem is it immerses itself thoroughly in the messy absurdity of Post-9/11 America. So all the tragedy and ridiculous camp and youtubery clash together without any warnings. And there aren't many cues telling you how to react to any particular scene. No wonder critics aren't too keen on it. As long as you can accept that this is all intentional, though, it's a pretty hilarious and intriguing movie.

I find it hard to believe that this was intended to be a "single coherent story" within a traditional film framework. I think it's more likely that people are trying to fit it into that mold, and of course the movie fails spectacularly in that way. This movie is trying to do something very different, and you can see it even in the individual scenes - within a single scene in the span of a few minutes, the movie can jump wildly from satire to kitsch to non-jokes to melancholy to outrage, and sometimes several of these simultaneously.

The movie has become much-loved, widely considered one of the great masterpieces of the past decade. History has proven him right, much like with every comment he has made since.
posted by naju at 1:38 PM on October 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

I lurked for a long while, probably starting in 2002 or so. Finally joined in 2005 to crusade for trans rights, as is my wont.
posted by jiawen at 2:01 PM on October 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

When I discovered Ask MetaFilter I thought something like, "I get to tell all these people what to do with their lives and I only have to pay $5 to do so??? What a deal!"
posted by Jacqueline at 4:03 PM on October 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

I answered a question about Luke (of 2 Live Crew), which is pretty much the purest possible example of what the internet was made to do. Incidentally, kmel, I'm still waiting for it to be marked best answer, though monju_bosatsu certainly deserved recognition for posting that link (now broken) to a history of Miami Bass.
posted by pullayup at 4:39 PM on October 13, 2013

Someone was trying to identify a spider.
posted by jquinby at 6:01 PM on October 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Poor impulse control.
posted by zennie at 10:27 PM on October 13, 2013 [5 favorites]

Lurked awhile, at least a year.
Paid my fiver for the saddest reason: To download "Punch 'Em In The Dick".
posted by Mister Moofoo at 1:20 AM on October 14, 2013 [6 favorites]

I remember the site from the early days when only a couple of posts fitted on my monitor and they were all from a guy called Matt Hoohah -- or something like that.

To be honest, the concept of a blog was completely lost on me. Why was this guy reposting the internet? Is it spam?

Started lurking proper around 2003 (along with Fark) and joined a couple of years later. It was Kottke who got me to shell out the $5 when he blogged about an AskMe post where someone was looking to identify a WWII soldier in a photograph and got a positive ID within a few days.

Ten years later, I don't know where I'd be without MeFi. Probably a lot more productive.
posted by popcassady at 4:20 AM on October 14, 2013

I googled breasts and the Himalayas and I got a green hit. I had no idea what the place was, had never heard of it... but was desperate enough to find out about boobs and snow to spend the money. So... thanks. Also... looking back... I'm WORSE in real life than I am here. And that's terrifying.
posted by taff at 4:32 AM on October 14, 2013

I was a lurker on the site from more or less when it started but never really got drawn in until Ask was added. My first answer posted to Ask was about oranges, but previous to that I emailed a couple of Askers with answers and a comment like "Hey, I'm not a member of that site, but here's an answer". After a couple of those I realized it was pretty weird so I just finally joined.
posted by mikepop at 6:41 AM on October 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

My first comment was, not surprisingly, on the Green and bicycle related. It took a few years to get up the courage to post my first FPP.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 8:29 AM on October 14, 2013

just like everybody else does
posted by fleacircus at 9:26 AM on October 14, 2013

I lurked without paying for at least a couple of months. I was a paying MeFite for 2 weeks before I needed to ask a question. Apparently on the same day, I decided to answer a few. I've been on the green ever since. It took me a lot longer to get onto the blue. I didn't quite understand the point of it at first.
posted by Sophie1 at 9:26 AM on October 14, 2013

I knew people on here (hi Speicus) and had only joined Monkeyfilter because MeFi was closed. I still remember the brief spurts of open signup and being so pissed that I missed the windows.

Weirdly enough, at least half my MeFi friends are old MoFi friends.
posted by klangklangston at 11:21 AM on October 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

I had been impatient to get an account forever, and once I did, it was really important to me to come in and compare Dick Cheney to a lizard alien from V.

I stand by my assessment.
posted by emjaybee at 11:27 AM on October 14, 2013 [2 favorites]

i was told there would be field mice and shrews
posted by The Owls at 11:45 AM on October 14, 2013 [9 favorites]

I'm not sure. I thought it was to answer a question, but my oldest contribution appears to be about pre-paid cell phones, so I don't think that was it.

It's a little disturbing to me that I don't know! Especially because I'd been lurking for so long (but with gaps here and there) that I quite seriously was surprised to see that I could actually sign up for an account - I thought that the doors had closed permanently back in the day and managed to never notice that things had changed.

Maybe it was a question that I ended up deciding not to answer. Or, maybe I answered some other stuff before getting to the one I was really motivated to join after. Now I want to go back and time and ask myself what was up.
posted by SMPA at 3:55 PM on October 14, 2013

Elizardbits bought my membership because I wouldn't stop IMing her about shit I wanted to say that I couldn't.
posted by syncope at 5:42 PM on October 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

Vino vender venturia
posted by clavdivs at 8:52 AM on October 15, 2013

It was 9/11.
posted by Windigo at 10:34 AM on October 15, 2013

I signed up because my username chose me and I didn't want to lose it.
posted by ogooglebar at 1:16 PM on October 15, 2013

I thought we couldn't get any worse in the world's view. What the hell are we doing? Todd Lokken.
posted by ersatz at 12:00 PM on October 16, 2013

Kattullus gave me a membership as an Xmas present. It would be churlish not to spend at least 20%of my waking hours commenting. I mean, really!
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:32 PM on October 11 [2 favorites +] [!]

Also, Kattullus is the gift that keeps on giving.
posted by ersatz at 12:01 PM on October 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

I started reading early winter of '99 and didn't do a free signup because I was a bit intimidated by all the erudite and articulate members who all seemed to know each other personally and had meetups with booze, and shoutouts and in-jokes like all your base and pancakes, Pepsi Blue, and mathowie's Cubical Dance.

And then you had to pay to join, and I was too broke, but they had this sponsorship deal, and I wrote some guy, and he said, "Sorry, I don't think you have what it takes." So I took my umbrage over to this place, and had a whoopin' good time without you-all.* After my tale of woe, some other guy freebied me a sign-up, but I could have warned him it would not End Well.

So I hang out here nearly every day and have MeFi to thank for expanding my horizons, introducing me to html tags, and teaching me how to dispose of the bodies.

Also, I miss the img tag a lot.
And the blink tag!!

* But I kept coming back secretly.
posted by BlueHorse at 6:58 PM on October 16, 2013

Blink still works on Metafilter; it has just been depreciated in modern browsers so they ignore the tag. You can turn it back on in Firefox.
posted by Mitheral at 7:37 PM on October 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

"I" purchased an account when I could convince my parents to pony up the $5...
posted by yaymukund at 11:43 PM on October 16, 2013

I wouldn't stop IMing her about shit I wanted to say that I couldn't

and you're never even here, you jerkface
posted by elizardbits at 12:44 PM on October 17, 2013 [3 favorites]

I don't know if this merits a new thread or not, but I was looking over the comment stats at waxy (here), and comments spike in Nov. 2004. This is, of course, when registration went paid, however was that the result of external pressure (some particular thread got famous and starting driving site membership) or did more people start registering because it went pay?
posted by codacorolla at 2:10 PM on October 17, 2013

I think it was because it was a US election month.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:12 PM on October 17, 2013 [2 favorites]

I do think it must have been in large part due to the election - look at the daily graph. $5 signups didn't start until the 18th.
posted by muddgirl at 2:20 PM on October 17, 2013

I think that makes sense for that particular spike, but after that point it remained high and maintained a general upward trend.
posted by codacorolla at 4:46 PM on October 17, 2013

Kattullus gave me a membership as an Xmas present.

Also, Kattullus is the gift that keeps on giving.

I got a Kattullus in my stocking.
posted by homunculus at 6:29 PM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]

I got a Kattullus in my stocking.

Next year, try to not be such a bad boy.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:43 PM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]

Next year I want a Kattullus in stockings.
posted by homunculus at 7:04 PM on October 17, 2013 [1 favorite]

Next year I want a Kattullus in stockings.

For that, you'd have to be a very bad boy indeed.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:12 PM on October 17, 2013 [2 favorites]

Oh man, now I'm having flashbacks to Christmas 2002.
posted by Kattullus at 8:42 AM on October 20, 2013 [1 favorite]