I thought we might have another thread for all the lurkers out there. It’s been well a couple of months since the last one.
You may already know this, but when you post your first comment, it goes into moderation, and sometimes it takes a while for one of us to see it and free your comment so it shows up for everyone. Once it’s released from moderation, it goes into the comments with the time-stamp for when you first submitted it, so then most people probably never see it. So it’s not surprising that first comments often don’t get replied to.
So I thought we would try another open thread where I can keep a particular eye out for first comments that go into moderation.
Some of you guys poked your heads up on previous lurker threads; hoping to see you guys again today, too! And a few of you have even started commenting. :-)
In any case, it’s lurker appreciation day here on Balloon Juice! Welcome, all.
Totally open thread.
cgerrib
De-lurking to comment and to thank y’all for the “authors in our midst” feature with me a few months back. It was fun!
sxjames
I’m not actually the first to comment, am I?
Apparently so.
Anyways, come on in, the waters fine.
Tony Jay
Hello, all you lovely people!
Say what you like about the Lurker’s Lounge, but say something. You never know, you might enjoy it. 8-)
VBKim
Hello all, longtime lurker here. My morning routine includes a look see at BJ every day, without fail. Greetings of the season to all!
JoyceCB
Hello everyone! Just popping in to say how much I enjoy the On The Road submissions. I enjoy almost all of Ballon Juice, I’ve been lurking for years, but lately the OTR and any pet threads have been such nice diversions from real life. Thank you all.
eclare
Open thread: I watched episode one of Only Murders in the Building this morning and really enjoyed it. All the actors are good, but Steve Martin, who I think also came up with the idea, is sublime.
Cameron
When will there be a shirker thread for lazy old farts like me?
Yutsano
I’m not really a lurker per se, just really rare around these parts lately!
Anyway: hello!
persistentillusion
@eclare: And there is apparently a second season in the works. I binged it hard when it dropped. ETA, the first season.
Time Travelin
Been lurking since Cole was a republican. He was the only intellectually honest repub blogger I could find
eclare
@persistentillusion: Yay! I dropped Netflix to watch this and Dopesick, mainly. The recent stuff on Netflix just doesn’t appeal to me
Eta> I limit myself to one streaming service at a time.
WaterGirl
Hey lurkers! Welcome!
@Time Travelin: Holy cow, that’s a long time!
WaterGirl
@Cameron: I thought all the BJ threads were shirker threads since we often comment while working. :-)
WaitingForMountainLife
@Time Travelin: Me too! I’m not much for commenting but I read BJ every day. Happy Holidays everyone!
jeffreyw
I left a few taco/nacho platters over there on the sideboard to nibble on when delurking. Or uncloaking or whatever it was they called it when those other guys killed their stealthing circuits.
Time Travelin
@WaterGirl: Doesn’t feel like it, but sheesh yeah. I think there was some hubub in the middle east at the time.
Cheryl
I’ve been lurking for more than a decade so thought I’d say hi…I’m a shelter photographer so always enjoy John’s shenanigans with his pets. I’m also a bleeding heart liberal so feel right at home on this site
Cameron
@WaterGirl: Yeah, but I’m shirking while retired!
sheila in nc
Thanks, WaterGirl. I’ve commented once or twice but I mostly lurk. Constantly. It’s amazing I ever get anything done.
SusePgh
I think I’ve only posted a couple times (once when I voted by mail coz I wanted a sticker, maybe again for the jabs?). Not much to say and threads are usually dead by the time I get to them, but I’m def a regular here and like so many others appreciate AL’s aggregation posts, BC’s wordsmithery, WG’s calm and Resolute-ness (been re-watching Lost in Space :), and JC’s crankiness as well as all the brilliant commenters. Love yinz.
thruppence
About 99% lurker, but I’m here several times a day (on break at work now) Occasionally I might even have something to say…
BobinPDX
Still lurking, and still here, reading every day…
NuisanceFactor
I think this is my 2nd comment here and I think NuisanceFactor was my Nym but I can’t be sure. Last time someone helped me see the Reply button.
Mark Lass
done lurking
flurdman
I have been lurking here since John Cole first had his epifiney and left the dark side
coin operated
One of my occasional de-lurks. If I recall correctly, I got here just after the Schiavo trainwreck got started. Cole had finally had it…his rants were a thing of beauty (and still are) and I knew I’d found a home.
Primer Gray (formerly Yet Another Jeff)
@Time Travelin: Heh…back when Andrew Sullivan would quote John.
WaterGirl
@Cheryl: oh, yay! you should submit a set of your shelter to pics to the On The Road photo series in the mornings.
WaterGirl
@Mark Lass: lurk less, comment more! that’s what i always say.
Primer Gray (formerly Yet Another Jeff)
@eclare: That conversation on the street in the first few minutes…wow. So gloriously dark.
Primer Gray (formerly Yet Another Jeff)
I’ve been an occasionally active commenter, but it’s been a while…slowly delurking lately, but then I get too far behind in a thread and then there’s two new posts before I read the comments in the one I was looking at and…as usual, I get lost in the mists of time very easily.
TheQuietOne
@eclare: Thanks for the reminder. We started this a month ago and really enjoyed the first few episodes.
My routine has become looking in first thing in the morning then later for a Betty Cracker post.
John
Cheryl
@WaterGirl: sure thing!
zhena gogolia
Hi, lurkers!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Hey there, Lurkers! Good to hear from you.
Old School
Hello everybody!
eclare
I’m not a lurker, but now I’m trying to figure out when I started reading, since some of y’all have been here a while!
I think I’ve narrowed it down to 2006-2007, based on other things going on in my life then. I know I was here for that awful day when General Stuck’s death was confirmed…and Tunch (RIP). I can’t remember what year that was, though.
And like some others, I was tipped off to this place by none other than Andrew Sullivan’s The Dish. So I guess he did one good thing in my book!
Welcome everyone, no matter when or how you got here!
CaseyL
Greetings to the lurkers! Thanks for being here.
SpaceUnit
I’m not actually a lurker anymore, but the top thread is about the Saudis and the unrealistic beauty standards they have for their camels so I’m hiding out down here where it’s safe.
different-church-lady
Hey, speaking of moderation, I totally used the C-word downstairs and I ain’t sorry, nope, not a bit…
different-church-lady
LURKERS! WE LOVE YOU! NOBODY LURKS LIKE YOU!!!
Dan B
Hi lurkers! I love the front pagers and the comments are 99% interesting to read. Don’t be shy.
And I got a free Adam Schiff book today. BJ comes with bennies! Time to read up for the Book Club.
SpaceUnit
@different-church-lady:
So long as the word wasn’t “camel” you’re good.
persistentillusion
@eclare: I hop back and forth for the same reason. AMC+, then Hulu, followed by Netflix.
Mo MacArbie
Thing is, I usually lurk in time as well as space, lagging a day or two behind. Unless, of course, I’m accomplishing even less than usual; then I can keep more current. So I’m either lurking while slacking or slacking on my lurking. Slurking?
Dan B
@eclare: I confessed to getting here from Sullivan who I read because a cousin’s son liked him so I read him to get an idea of his politics, the cousin’s son’s politics. The guy moved to Beijing with a multinational, married a local, stayed for years, moved to the US when it started to look dicey.
SpaceUnit
@Dan B:
Sullivan is a tool, but his blogging format on the Dish pretty much set the standard back in the early days. Credit where credit is due, I suppose.
Did I mention that he’s a tool?
eclare
@persistentillusion: I think I’ll do that going forward, it was so easy to cancel Netflix and start Hulu! No annoying phone calls.
WaterGirl
@eclare: That was 2013. i know because that was the year the huge tree fell on my house.
eclare
@SpaceUnit: I really liked the View From Your Window contests.
WaterGirl
@different-church-lady: Yep, that’s the one word that’s in our Bj spam filter.
Shall i delete that for and take the comment out of moderation? Or do you want me to ditch the whole comment?
Memory Pallas
I have been lurking here since 2002 or 3. Daily Kos was launched around then, and I started paying attention to political blogs. I think I saw this place linked on Atrios’ site. Decades later, this is the only thing I read regularly online. I don’t have much to say, but I thank you ALL for your passion, wit and wisdom. I don’t cook. I do have a pet.
eclare
@WaterGirl: Thank you. I know I was here well before then because that hit hard.
SpaceUnit
@eclare:
Yeah, I never managed to guess any of them, but I got fairly close once or twice.
nonrev
Great source for Fun, news and analysis
BilltheCob
I’m just trying to remember my nym…
grumbles
Not really a lurker, I do post somewhat randomly.
But, hi everybody. Been a reader since John’s conversion, back in the day, and posted a lot more before about 2011, when things changed a bunch for me.
No kittens were skull-fucked in the writing of this post.
Interstadial
I suppose I should introduce myself after posting under this name once in a while over the last, I dunno, few years.
My reading of Balloon Juice started not long after John took a political u-turn. I actually was posting on BJ under another name, long forgotten, back in those early years, and even went to a BJ meeting here in the San Francisco area that featured Doug J. who was in town on business.
At some point my login was lost on my computer and I couldn’t find the written backup, so I had to come up with a new one. In geologic terms, a stadial is a glacial period (what most people would call an ice age) during the last 2.6 million years, which itself is actually a single ice age when viewed in context of the Earth’s history. An interstadial, also known as an interglacial, is one of the relatively warmer periods between two stadials, with quite a bit less ice. We’re in one right now.
No, I’m not an earth scientist but more of a plant geographer with an interest in the past vegetation of the western U.S. I’m also interested in having a sane, decent, and functional country for us to live in.
While I come here almost daily, it seems like I have a remarkable talent for finding threads that I’d like to post on only after they’re moribund or on their way there. I think I’ve been the last or almost last to post on a number of threads the last few years.
Cowgirl in the Sandi
I found this place when reading FireDogLake (I know – read it mostly for Christy) and Jane told Cole (after his conversion) to ‘come on down’. Thought I would check it out and I’ve been here ever since.
different-church-lady
@WaterGirl:
I WANT YOU TO POST THE WHOLE COMMENT!!!
Okay, failing that, asterisk the naughty word?
Primer Gray (formerly Yet Another Jeff)
Ok, tried from work computer and nothing, so trying from my phone. I was occasionally active here in The Before Times and remember the days where Andre Sullivan would quote John…
Trying to delurk more often, but I tend to barely be through the comments on a post before the next post hits…and I also tend to get lost in the swirling mists of time.
And maybe I just can’t post from my work laptop.
Scuffletuffle
@Cheryl: are you able to share shelter critter pics? I have a notion that they would go over well here…
Forever Lurking
I’ve lurked on these comment threads for years. Since you insist, I’ll stick my head up and wave hello. And head back to the shadows.
Alce_e_ardillo
I’m still what you would call a semi-lurker, but I have posted a bit more. I have significant OCD about grammar and typos so it slows down my typing speed. I find BJ easier to post to than the great orange Satan (DK not Trump). Plus I like the community here. Is there any one in the Capital district of NY? Because I would like to do a proof of life there.
Nelle
@Cowgirl in the Sandi: Wasn’t Christy grand? I’m loosely connected to her via Facebook and the Peanut has graduated from high school. Shocking.
Primer Gray (formerly Yet Another Jeff)
Ok, I am still not seeing my posts. No good on work machine or personal phone. Help! I want to delurk!
different-church-lady
@WaterGirl:
Yeah, that’s the stuff! I mean, she totally earned that particular violation of propriety, no?
Mo MacArbie
@Alce_e_ardillo: Not for many years. That “germy” cat keeps posting Daily Gazette stories here though, so that seems suggestive. I think ArchTeryx mentioned a place around there several years back.
Athenaze
Mostly a lurker chiming in here for myself and on behalf of Ariobarzanes (who is so committed to lurking, he probably won’t comment at all).
WaterGirl
@Memory Pallas: You have been around for a long time, maybe almost as long as John Cole. Welcome to commenting!
Kristine
Hi to all lurkers!
I still feel like a lurker compared to a number of folks here even though I comment every so often. I try to read to the end of the comments before doing so b/c I get to threads late and someone has likely already posted what I would’ve posted anyway. Post something once/Why post it again?
WaterGirl
@grumbles:
That could be a rotating tag.
WaterGirl
@Interstadial: if you know the email address you would have used all those years ago, i can find your old nym for you.
Math Guy
I don’t post much, but have been reading you daily for about six months now. This is a great site.
WaterGirl
@different-church-lady:
i’m sorry, Dave, I can’t do that.
i could replace it with “the C-word” if you like.
Ohio Mom
I am not a lurker but I remember when I was. For some reason, I was extremely nervous about posting.
But I did a few times and nothing terrible happened, so I kept it up. May it be so for all of you.
WaterGirl
@Alce_e_ardillo: There’s always the 5- minute edit window. :-)
WaterGirl
@Forever Lurking: hello back!
WaterGirl
@Interstadial: I’m pretty sure that J R in WV has
youeveryone beat for posting late on threads.At this point, i think he considers it a point of honor!
WaterGirl
@grumbles: love your nym. grumbles is most excellent.
When i need to do site testing not as admin I use “Grumpy Bunny”. not quite as good as grumbles…
WaterGirl
@BilltheCob: i searched for your email address and BilltheCob and there are no previous comments for either. So you haven’t figured it out quite yet.
Layer8Problem
I’ve been mostly lurking here since somewhere after John’s tectonic shift, very rarely posting under nyms I’ve forgotten. I think I was pointed at Balloon Juice by Atrios, or Brad DeLong, or maybe Little Green Footballs even. Whatever, I was unemployed and had just moved from Slashdot to this new thing called Reddit and was casting about for someplace matching my cynical attitude.
What do I value? Betty Cracker’s intelligent wit, Anne Laurie’s steady upbeat nature (I think I live around her old neighborhood), Kay’s informed commentary, NotMax’ media recommendations, Tony Jay’s stemwinders, and John’s occasional curmudgeonly surfacing from the chthonic extremities of this site. And WaterGirl, and Tom L., and the too-long-absent Baud, etc., etc., etc.
WaterGirl
@Layer8Problem: Happy to welcome you, even if i did only get an honorable mention in the last line. :-) But I consider Tom Levenson excellent company, so i am really only teasing.
Layer8Problem
@WaterGirl: You deserve more than honorable mention for all the infrastructure work I think you do around here. And I’m gonna pay for putting Baud last.
eclare
@WaterGirl: That’s the truth!
Primer Gray (formerly Yet Another Jeff)
@WaterGirl: Sadly, I don’t get that far. Post go POOF.
WaterGirl
@Layer8Problem: You just want until
your fatherBaud gets home.edit: Seriously, though, I don’t even belong in the same sentence as Betty Cracker! So I was totally teasing.
Layer8Problem
@WaterGirl: I know, no worries! This site has too many valued people on the front page or in the comments to properly thank.
stinger
Hi, lurkers!
Tony Jay
@Forever Lurking:
Somehow it’s comforting knowing you’re out there, in the shadows, eternally watching.
Well, I say comforting… 8-)
Other Suzanne
Since you’re asking….I’ve been lurking at BJ for years. Don’t even know how I got here. I’ve commented a time or 2, over the years. Most recently, under this ‘nym.
I DO know I live in the same county as geg6! (Hey neighbor!) Grew up here and let’s just say, ‘poor life planning’ finds me here yet again. Aka ‘karma’ or FAFO… But anyway, Balloon Juice is a must-read for me. I’ll try to comment more.
Tony Jay
@Layer8Problem:
That’s very nice of you to say so. This is a great place to vent, partially because people let me, but also because people here appreciate a good, long, stream of consciousness barrage of vile invective.
And dick jokes.
Other Suzanne
Also….duh! I spent 4 YEARS at a fine liberal arts college in West by Gawd. It was a very interesting 4 years, to say the least, particularly as a WOC. (It was my dad’s ‘safety’ school; I wanted to go to Pitt) Thought I made some life-long friends there; recent events say otherwise.
Keep up the good work, Balloon Juice!
Nomokesh
All right! Delurking after lurking for… for… oh wow. It was definitely when A. (certain) Sullivan would have a link to here.
Okay, now back to lurking. Thanks to everyone for working to make The Internet’s Only Readable Comment Section™
DoReMI
Delurking briefly before going back undercover. Started reading here when I found the link at Daily Kos and have kept reading here ever since (DK not so much).
In late 2019, my job of 16 years was downsized out of existence, and I decided to take my administrative skills and look for a job in the healthcare arena. It seemed like an area unlikely to be subject to downsizing. Timing is everything; I was fortunate to get a job in January 2020 with one of the largest healthcare/hospital systems in MI. I don’t have the necessary hubris to take the credit or blame for the pandemic, but I also won’t ever offer to be a career counselor.
I’m exhausted most days so will continue to be a lurker, but I do enjoy the wit, wisdom, and snark found here. It helps.
WaterGirl
@Nomokesh: welcome!
Layer8Problem
@Tony Jay: Sir, I am an attentive and appreciative student of long-form invective. My non-platonic life partner was once graced with my opinion of the G. W. Bush Administration and the Republican Party in general on a long trip upstate; while I paused for a breath I was told “you realize you haven’t stopped talking for forty minutes, right?”
Rob
I’m kind of a lurker. I mostly read the posts, almost never look at comments. Sometimes I do look at the latter, and some of those times I make a comment or two, especially if WaterGirl asks about site performance issues.
Layer8Problem
Seconded!
Beisbol Houligan
Delurking as requested. I will now redon the cloak of lurk once more.
Mr. Prosser
I comment occasionally, usually in Albatrossity’s posts. Been reading the posts since 2006 but rarely comment. Did once have an On the Road post.
geg6
@Other Suzanne:
A Beaver Countian! I’m in Center and originally from Hopewell. Lived in New Brighton for about 20 years. I’d love to move back there. I hate the suburban hell that is Center Township.
Riodawg
Delurking as requested. Love this community. Y’all keep me sane and hopeful. Thank you.
Primer Gray (formerly Yet Another Jeff)
Test
WaterGirl
@Rob: And i appreciate it!
WaterGirl
@geg6: I assume that you figured out that your email address was munged up, and fixed it, because you went through at #97.
WaterGirl
@Riodawg: yay!
Matt (one of the good ones)
Hi. Been a near-daily reader for many years now. Happy to say a couple of front pagers I follow on the Twitterthing follow me back, which is flattering. More than once I’ve been pulled from a deeeeply pessimistic place by reading the clear-headed, informed, and humane posts and comments by all you great folks. Thanks, all.
Other Suzanne
@geg6: Get out! My mother and I went to Beaver (me thru 9th) then to NJ to graduate. Maternal family’s been here for at least a century! Wow. I’m in Beaver Falls: Home to Broadway Joe! And Oram’s Bakery. (so I’ve heard)
I always refer to Beaver County as the LBC: Little Beaver County! LOL!!
Cheryl
@Scuffletuffle: I will….I’m on IG @CLSmithPhotography if you’d like a preview of what I do
The Lodger
@Layer8Problem: Last is a prime spot in the credits. After all, if it was good enough for Jerry Mathers…
geg6
@WaterGirl:
Yep, exactly.
geg6
@Other Suzanne:
Mmmmm, Oram’s. I like the pizza at D & G. I miss the Upper Valley! I never get there anymore. My ex got custody of that end of the county. LOL! Hell, I miss the house my ex and I pretty much gutted and rebuilt. While living there. We were young and crazy. Such a beautiful old house though.
Creature_NYC
Still mostly lurking. Hello, all, and happy holidays!
Travels with Charley
hello! I’ve been lurking since around 2008 and BJ is my first and last read of the day. So I’m usually too late to threads to offer a meaningful and witty and succinct comment. Love this place though!
Other Suzanne
@geg6: I can practically see Oram’s from my window. (If I lived in the front of the bldg) Less than 5 min walk and still, I don’t go. But those cinnamon rolls. Maybe tomorrow….
AliceBlue
Long-time lurker since maybe 2006–hello to all the front pagers, commenters and fellow lurkers!
I’m addicted to this place.
Rob
Dogs Understand an Average of 89 Unique Words And Phrases, New Research Shows
https://www.sciencealert.com/dogs-respond-to-an-average-of-89-unique-words-experiment-finds
Bill Arnold
(Read all comments so far; wow!))
Hi to all the lurkers – de-lurk more please!
(I have a crawl/download of this site, and appear to go back to 2004. Mostly in the GWBush era I was being the polite liberal in the saner RW site comment sections;.)
Mirona de FTL
Love all the jackals – I learn so much! And now, back to my regular lurking.
Richard
I’ve been lurking here for a couple years now. All roads lead to Balloon Juice eventually. I am a survivor from the past, like 60 years ago. I find your format clunky and hard to use. I know that you have your reasons. I think you are trying to protect your integrity.
But still, sometimes when we are having an argument, this format is not useful. Regards.
Chbnna
I’m mostly a lurker, but have commented a few times….seems like i’m almost always late to the discussion. Also, where the frogs posts we were promised?!?
Gloomyjim
well, I think to make a comment, but then I remember all the folks here what dislike gloomy peeps…
/s just in case
MizPurple
Briefly decloaking to prove I’m still alive. I got into political blogs ahead of the 2000 election and one of them eventually led me to John Cole. Fast forward nearly 20 years and THIS is the only one I still read daily. You all are just that good. Came for the smarts, stayed for the snarks.
One More Red Nightmare
Am I too late for the lurker party?
Greetings from Colorado. The wit, humor, and energy on this site keep me sane. Well, how about moderately sane?
Rachelphoenix
Hello! I’ve been lurking for the duration of the pandemic. The covid threads are great. I also appreciate a liberal blog that doesn’t hate Biden/Harris.
I have two adorable cats, Alex Hamilton and Erin Burr. I recently bought a house for the first time and moved to the San Bernadino mountains, where I have a marvelous lot with towering incense cedars and can keep chickens. I have six hens, Darrell, Sally, Clarissa, Bill, Mary-Lou, and Gwendoline Mary Lacey.
Tony Jay
@Layer8Problem:
Better out than in, that’s my motto.
Not applicable to all circumstances, but mostly its served me well.
La Nonna
I visit every day, but the time difference means it is almost always too late to join in the discusssion. Love the place, it definitely keeps me in touch with the goings-on in the old country (in this case the US).
La Nonna
I visit every day, but the time difference means it is almost always too late to join in the discusssion. Love the place, it definitely keeps me in touch with the goings-on in the old country (in this case the US).
Barroc
Hello! I’ve been lurking oh gosh…eight years? I don’t make comments on the internet much. I really enjoy coming here pretty much every day, this blog is the greatest. I lived in Portland and surrounding environs most of my life but moved to southern California a few years ago. Lifelong Democrat, I voted for Carter my first election. I I’ve been tempted to comment here a few times so here I am!
Asparagus Aspersions
De-lurking to say hi on a dead thread and to basically echo La Nonna above. I’ve been reading BJ and the comment threads pretty much daily since 2008, and know more about what’s going on in some of your lives than I do in the lives of people I’m actually related to. I can rarely follow any discussions in real time, since I live overseas, but this place helps keep me sane.
Just Sayin'
Hi, long time l lurker here, thought I’d speak up for a change.
Stephen
Came here via firedoglake. Rarely comment. Often amused & sometimes comforted.
Longshot O'Leary
@VBKim: Same here. Love the attitude, pics, and blogroll.
Barroc
Hello! I hope I’m not too late! I visit here every day. My earlier attempt to de-lurk went into moderation. So is this one!
WaterGirl
@Primer Gray (formerly Yet Another Jeff): All better now, and all of your comments have been released.
Sorry you were stuck!
No name
@MizPurple: Since you say “still”…did you ever post as PurpleGirl?
Primer Gray (formerly Yet Another Jeff)
@WaterGirl: Yay! I think it all started when I tried to reply on John’s post with a picture of a Victorian Murder Frog Xmas card….maybe not. But, I’m free!
Primer Gray (formerly Yet Another Jeff)
Steeplejack (phone)
@Just Sayin’:
The site software does not like apostrophes in nyms, so every comment you make will have to be approved by a front-pager. If you ditch the apostrophe you won’t have that problem. (The changed nym will have to be approved, of course.)