I've studied and assessed the problem for me in real life. In real life, if there's a group of people talking, I don't want to interrupt, so when someone finishes talking, I'll wait a beat or two before saying something to be polite. But other people seem to understand the exact instant that Person 1 stops talking and they'll jump in immediately. So I'll wait until Person 2 stops talking and will try to give them an extra beat or two to be sure that they're done, but by then Person 3 is already talking. So I pretty much just stand there and don't say anything, whereas on the internet we can all talk simultaneously so it's not an issue.

In real life, my post above would've been "I've stu-" and then I would stop talking because the next post after me would've already started talking.

I'm going to have to abstain, Mr. Rain Man. This poll requires thought and introspection.

And, I would rather die on Spider Island than engage in thought and introspection on Saturday morning.

FAX

Y'know, I've been -

God help me I can't tell if you are playing me here or not.

You seem to be having that problem a lot around here lately.

I have a colleague that is the same way. Sometimes after he's been inturrupted a few times I'll break into the conversation and ask "Max, what were you going to say?" For an unreasonable fee, I'd be willing to provide this same service to you.

Well, I -

Wow, that'd be -

Also, if you don't care about a certain topic IRL, you're sometimes forced to sit there with an interested look on your face, hoping someone will digress, and hoping that you'll be paying enough attention when they do... you can be much more selective here, and even choose to ignore certain topics or people.

I wish real life had an ignore button.

Oh sorry, what were you saying?

Oh, thanks. I was about to -

"The lurkiest" is pretty darned clever.

In RL, you should get a t-shirt that says "On Line I'm A Really Funny and Interesting Guy".

:D You mean the haterz in the Dane thread? Yeah it was so ridiculous I thought for a minute it might be a parody.
I need to stay off the intertubes for a while. Its sunny and around 70 today, think I'll go for a ride, I don't get confused when I'm burning carbon fuels.

I'm quite a bit funnier in real life due to timing and knowing the audience. I also poke fun quite a bit more, because it's a different dynamic, as far as how the pokes come across. I've also learned that online, many times, there's a parsing of every little word and meaning that isn't done or necessary in RL conversation.