so funny

I was just reading Angie's post in introductions about 'loving old lurkers' and started laughing. It never occurred to me to lurk. I'm such a loud mouth I can't even keep quiet online!

How many of you lurked before joining up and piping in?

[MrsC]

I think I lurked for all of 30 mins. My delight at finding others in the same boat and the quiet desparation brought about by being a residancy widow got the better of me. I just had to join in. :|

[Vishenka69]

I lurked for years before really joining the discussions. During DH's med school years I was a bit intimidated by most of the members. Most of you were older and had kids and houses and seemed worlds away. It wasn't until we got married and he started residency that I realized how much in common we actually have.

[Stella]

I lurked for awhile because like ^ said, I feel worlds away, as I am the inexperienced girlfriend of a Med 1. I finally thought "heck with it" and dove in. Kind of like going and sitting up in the front of a 500-person lecture hall. You forget how many people are in the room when you're not sitting in the back looking at them all.

Well said! I am also the inexperienced girlfriend of an MS1, but I had to go through the pre-med Master's cert year and that sucked worse than this year (so far anyway)! I guess I felt a touch more entitled and, like jesher, I can't keep quiet. (As you can tell by my 400 something posts since... June? July?)

[Vanquisher]

The first time I came here, I didn't find it very helpful, and so I left.

I came back later, finding the same site in a desperate search to find others "like me." The second time, it stuck. It was hard though. I didn't understand all the superficial chatter. Why was I the only one who had "real" issues with the medical lifestyle? Were all dawkter spouses really like the stereotype? I asked probing questions that were followed by answers like, "I'm sorry. That sucks." Well, yeah, it's nice to hear that, but misery loves company, and where the hell was my company? Finally, a very kind-hearted soul PM'd me and clued me in on the "private rooms." There, I was assured, I could get answers to my "real" questions and commiseration for my "real" struggles. So, I wrote my residency review - anonymously. I begged and pleaded to be bumped to private forum status, as it was hard for me to get those first 50 posts with all the superficial stuff. I just didn't want to talk about that crap. I wanted help; I wanted to know I wasn't alone. I could talk about that superficial stuff later, when I knew I belonged here. That confirmation did not come until I was granted access to the private rooms.

So, while I definitely understand and appreciate the need for privacy and agree that it is necessary, it is still hard to break that outer shell for some of us. I am so glad that I toughed it out and stuck around though.

Now, you can't get rid of me!

ETA: I joined November 10, 2004. I didn't post until Jan 10, 2005. I didn't lurk at all during those two months.

[rainbabies]

I lurked for all of 5 seconds.

[KCwife]

I joined Jan 18, 2005 and posted that day....as we were beginning to ponder the match process at the end of MS3. However, I only have 328 posts. I tend to go in and out of lurk mode for whatever reason. I am a hermit.

Sometimes reading, especially while still in med school, was very comforting. I really didn't feel that I had anything to offer, advice wise, but it was nice to read the advice of those in the know. At that time Michele, Alison_in_oh, and I were the only MS wives (all MS3). ETA: And Tree.

[migirl]

I also jumped in right away, but ... gulp ... I just went back and looked for my intro post to see when I joined ... it was 2002! (I kept going back further and further through the intro posts, thinking "it can't be this far back, I must have missed it!" )

I can't believe I've been here that long! :thud:

[rainbabies]

FutureRN, you can just post a couple like this....







:>
they add up...you know

you can do it.....you can do it.....she's gonna go....ALL..... THE..... WAY!!!!!!

[DCJenn]

I joined before we even had private areas- or maybe we did and I'm not remembering. It was also about 10 servers ago!

I joined in February, 2001 and have never left.

Jenn

[rainbabies]

I joined before we even had private areas- or maybe we did and I'm not remembering. It was also about 10 servers ago!

I joined in February, 2001 and have never left.

Jenn

wow, jenn....you're really dating yourself. just kidding. all of you have been such a wealth of knowlege and huge support.

[DCJenn]

OK- little miss 50 posts, PM Nellie and she'll wave the magic wand.

Jenn

[DCJenn]

nmh

that's Nellie.

Jenn

[Auspicious]

I lurked through most of the med school application process and then started posting right after MS1 started. The relationship was new-ish and so was the medicine thing--I wanted to know what I was getting into. I think I lurked more than six months but less than a year, if I remember right.

[Vishenka69]

I went back to see when my first posts started and it's almost 4 years ago. Although I'm pretty sure I was briefly lurking before that. I didn't even realize that I really joined the site (and felt that I belong) about a week after we got engaged.