Most Users Online Ever...Yesterday?

[flow]

Is it my imagination, or has our classroom grown? Granted, I'm one of the younger users on here (in more ways than one). It's nice to be part of a growing community though.

 

[del]

Indeed. I enjoy this forum much more than other MBTI forums.

 

[Decaf]

I'm not sure how to feel about it. On one hand when the posts start coming in too fast I get drained and stop wanting to participate On the other hand I love this place and would like to see it get the recognition for the bastion of positively (sometimes) applied INTPness that it is

And on the other hand...

 

[loveofreason]

Hmmm... like a one way mirror isn't it?

They could be out there pulling faces and staring, pointing, laughing... we'll never know.

I dare NoID10ts to press his butt cheeks against the glass! That'll fix'em!!!

 

[Dissident]

Hey you lurker, yes YOU! No voyeourism here! Register.

 

[Melkor]

-paces up and down, glaring in the general direction of the glass.-


Say? You think they're gonna let us outta here?

 

[EloquentBohemian]

-paces up and down, glaring in the general direction of the glass.-


Say? You think they're gonna let us outta here?

It's your choice...

 

[Jordan~]

Would so have gone with the blue. Why trade one possible illusion that you're comfortable with for another that you're not?

 

[bdubs]

If the other lurkers are anything like me they may feel a little insecure sharing their thoughts with other people. Unlike when you tell someone your opinion in real life, when you post your thoughts on a forum it feels like they are there permanently. I do not want to feel like I am misrepresenting myself. Combine that with the fact that my spelling is far inferior to my vocabulary and posting on a forum can sometimes seem a bit daunting. That said, it is quite addictive!

 

[Artifice Orisit]

What will it be Neo?
Laxitive or Viagra

 

[NoID10ts]

We're all just lost souls swimmin' in a fish bowl.

And, they are watching us. Right now. I can feel their eyes on us.

What's that?

Stop tapping on the glass!

INTP's are people too, dammit. We aren't just here for your amusement!

Oh man, I'm gonna throw up.

 

[Chimera]

I'm not sure how to feel about it. On one hand when the posts start coming in too fast I get drained and stop wanting to participate

_________
____________

-glances at her own posting history, only to find her last post was days ago-
. . .
-sigh-

I'm personally a fan of the smaller, tight-knit forums. No 'ffence to the new people.
Just imagine what it would be like if every one of our lurkers decided to join. . .
____________
_________
​

 

[Kidege]

I'm personally a fan of the smaller, tight-knit forums.

Ditto.
The quality of my posts isn't what it used to be. I still post regularly cause I like this place, but I'd prefer if the pace were slower and I had the time to think things through.

 

[EloquentBohemian]

I would echo that sentiment, Kidege. Smaller groups are more relaxing and one can give more thought to one's replies. I find that I read through many threads, but choose only a few which interest me most.

 

[Auburn]

*sigh* ...glad to know I'm not the only one...

I wonder if anything could be done about it...

I'm sure an entire forum of INTPs could come up with something... but...

The growth of the forum seems to be inevitable...

*stealthly fades away into the crowd unnoticed*

 

[EloquentBohemian]

Though, in thinking about it, there is a difference between members and active members. A forum could have a fair number of total members, but the percentage of those involved on a relatively regular basis could be small.

 

[Agent Intellect]

my problem is, when i look at the posts, i pretty much just look for the same few familiar names (although i've stopped looking at most of the Coberst posts). i don't want to be a dick to the new people, but i just can't seem to help it.

 

[Auburn]

From what I can tell, the active members are: LoR, Nia, Cryptonia, Ermine, EB, Chimera, Severus, AI, NoI, Fusion, Dissident, Ogion, Flow, Cognisant, Kidege, Melkor, Jordan, Waterstiller, Decaf, and Jesin. (I'm probably missing a few)

I find this to be a very nice, comfortable, and decent size group. If it stayed like this, I would have no problem at all. However, I agree with you AI, I just somehow don't have the same motivation to respond to fresh members as I do to the above metioned members. If any new members are reading this, I apologize.





(A part of me feels weird saying this... somehow I still comsider myself relatively new, and perhaps I'm talking out of line.... )

 

[Decaf]

Its the click mentality. That word gets a bad name, but its really a perfectly natural state of mind that we all go through. Or at least introverts go through. Our motivation builds up to extend our social network until the breaking point, when we go out and meet people (like when we start participating in this forum), but being introverts we can't sustain that behavior. Eventually we fall back to being comfortable with our current environment (i.e. our current friends). Embracing new people can be outside of our comfort zone and so we resist it even though we wish we had the motivation to be truly nice.

At some point we'll feel a stronger compulsion to branch out again and it'll be easy to link up with new people, but just because its tough now doesn't make you anti-social or mean. Being welcoming despite those feelings does make you very nice though. Most of us are just pretty good. Well, maybe not Melkor

 

[Waterstiller]

Jesus Christ, Decaf, you just summed up what I've been so confused about lately.

It's like spacial summation - I'll get aggravated by a number of little things until I decide to finally act. Most recently it has been the desire for a partner, and so I've been branching out and hanging out with new people. And I've actually been somewhat social lately; I found a truly amazing group of people. With my new-found knowledge of MBTI, it's easy to set limits on how much time I spend with certain people. I'm setting up a system of socialization instead of avoiding it entirely, or avoiding certain types of people entirely. I'm finding something to love about everyone. (it's hard to not love queers, nerds, and hippies though)

But I'm still agitated enough to keep socializing because my need for a partner is still unfulfilled. Somehow, I think finding someone would be counterproductive in a way because then I'd lose all this motivation I currently have to branch out and better myself.


I took the purple pill.

 

[Agent Intellect]

it does seem rather like theres a maximum amount of people i can keep track of and subsequently care about in my head. besides the few people (Auburns list had it pretty much right) that i look for, everyone else seems to just run together. my mind can't differentiate them. its definitely a clique mentality, because its like the people i know are on an individual basis, then everyone else is just "everyone else" and i usually just do the introverted thing with them and don't talk to them (i'm sure that sounds more dickheaded then it really is).

i know when i sometimes (very rarely) lurk on INTPc, i just can't seem to care that much about what those people are saying because i don't know them. they're all just nameless, faceless automatons.

 

[Ogion]

Yeah, i can agree with pretty much everything said above. Never thought that i'd be part of a clique someday

Ogion

 

[NoID10ts]

Unlike in real life, I'm an attention whore here and you people are trying to thin out my audience, dammit.


But seriously, are we still planning the world take over? If so, don't we need all the INTP brains we can use, to that end. Once we have succeeded we can weed out the ones we don't like, it's not like we are going to develop any emotional attachments to anyone.

Also, don't forget about Cogs aspirations to build an INTP brain powered super computer.

 

[FusionKnight]

But... I wanna keep my brain!

 

[NoID10ts]

But... I wanna keep my brain!

Stop being so individualistic! Think of the collective. one big Borg like INTP entity roaming the universe.

 

[Dissident]

I understand what you are all saying but all the people you know here and enjoy talking to joined at one point or another. What if when EB found the forum read that we didnt want any more people and he decided to go some other place, or Nia, etc. We would have lost big time. There surely is a lot of people out there with interesting ideas to share. The ones who dont really fit in will eventually leave on their own (or we'll kick them out like Thomas Young )

 

[NoID10ts]

I understand what you are all saying but all the people you know here and enjoy talking to joined at one point or another. What if when EB found the forum read that we didnt want any more people and he decided to go some other place, or Nia, etc. We would have lost big time. There surely is a lot of people out there with interesting ideas to share. The ones who dont really fit in will eventually leave on their own (or we'll kick them out like Thomas Young )

I agree.

 

[EloquentBohemian]

What if when EB found the forum read that we didnt want any more people and he decided to go some other place, or Nia, etc.

Hmmm... I'd just be a lonely lil' Eeyore wanderin' the Internet....

I do read alot of what the newer people post and there are those who do intrigue and/or interest me. Though I partly agree with the 'clique', in a way of what A.I. said about a "maximum amount of people". As well, I pick topics to involve myself in which interest me or which I want to discover more about.

I also believe that you have a valid point, Dissident, in that "The ones who dont really fit in will eventually leave on their own". Part of why it took me time to actually join was that just about everybody is younger than I and usually I would have considered that I would not have fit in, but the conversations themselves, and the fact that there were no personal attacks, is what swayed me to give it a go. I'm very glad that I did.

For those who are considering joining, I would say, "Do so", for one never knows if they can swim until they jump in; and it's not that you are being ignored, but that we are INTP's and by nature, we take our time accumulating and assessing before making a decision.
Just be aware that INTP can mean I'm Not Through Procrastinating.
(...I wish I could remember who said this first)

 

[Dissident]

NoID10ts stop stealing my lines man!

 

[NoID10ts]

You see. We are becoming the collective, where one individual is indistinguishable from another, or the whole. Our INTP collective is coming along nicely!

Up with INTPness!

 

[FusionKnight]

So, basically you want to be one gigantic INTPness... suits you!

 

[Agent Intellect]

i think i pay more attention to people who are active in the science, philosophy, and religion forum, too. the INTP and psychological forums were great when i first got here, reading all that shit about how much people thought like me and so forth, but now i seem to spend most of my time in the philosphy, fun, and siberia forums.

 

[loveofreason]

Monkey Sphere.

There's a biological limit to the number of relationships we can maintain.

Beyond our Monkey Sphere individual others become just so much chaff in the wind.

 

[Waterstiller]

Monkey Sphere.

There's a biological limit to the number of relationships we can maintain.

Beyond our Monkey Sphere individual others become just so much chaff in the wind.

Ah shit! This is why the whole collective thing isn't such a great idea..

lor is merging with Perseus!

 

[Dissident]

Actually, its very interesting stuff

http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html

EDIT: Its called Dunbar's Number

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_number

 

[NoID10ts]

Actually, its very interesting stuff

http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html

That's fascinating! It explains alot. Now if we could just thin out the worlds population to around 150 .......................

 

[Agent Intellect]

my monkeysphere is no where near 150 people. i'd say less then 50. does that mean i have a smaller brain?

 

[Ogion]

Well written article. And intuitively it sounds very true. Though of course i have my problems with the explicit number "150" Unnecessary (and thusly wrong) detail.
And i think there may be some 'slots' which get occupieed by random people with whom you have a temporary connection. You know, you sit in the bus, which is getting late, and you sigh because of that and in front of you there is another person who sighed as well and you to have a short eye contact and agree together that it is annoying that the bus runs late. There, you just accepted that person into your monkeysphere for a few minutes. Afterwards, in the evening, you probably already forgot that person...

Something to be thought about

Ogion

EDIT: AI: You sure? There are prolly at least a dozen people on this forum which are part of your monkeysphere, aren'T there? Then there are relatives, some firends, perhaps other internet contacts...I think this may grow faster than you think...

 

[Agent Intellect]

i don't know, maybe it sounds cold, but i'd say a good portion of my relatives aren't in my sphere. if something happened to them, i probably wouldn't even find out for over a year. and i have enough offline friends i could count them on one hand.

 

[Jesin]

That may have something to do with how carefully we use the term "friend".

 

[Kidege]

Ugh. Just think of the erm, geniuses who demand individual attention for 3 to 5 groups of 50+ students. *sigh* Does it happen wherever you live? Cold as the comfort would be, I'd like to think it's only a 3rd world characteristic.

 

[eudemonia]

I'm with AI on this one. I regard most people I come across as people I meet on the journey. I have an appalling indifference to keeping in touch with people - even close friends. Actually, I don't. I don't keep in touch with anyone from school, anyone from university or from work. I think its something to do with connection. I live my real life deep in my basement and to be quite honest, there are only one or two people who have come anywhere near my basement. Most of the time I interact with people at the street level - which is where they feel comfortable. That's fine. But they don't see me or know me and as a result, there is no connection. I am skilled now at connecting with people at street level but it bores me. I find myself making others feel good but no-one really making me feel good. Sometimes I even wonder if I'd care if anything awful happened to me. Am I part of my 150? Maybe my brain's way too small to cope with even myself.

Shit - that explains a helluvalot

Actually, in some weirdly worrying way this does not apply to some of the people on this forum.