What are you willing to do to get MiddleFinger Mom to come back?

[Tsiyu]

38. No hunger strike or self-flagellation here

But some advice:

To post on DU, one must have a thick skin. There are thousands of posters here and there are bound to be some who don't like you.

If you want replies to your threads, you don't sit there like a king or queen and wait for the world to come to you. You have to give back. For example, RESPOND to people who post on your thread. Make a connection with them, thank them for replying to you. If I respond to three or four of a person's threads and they NEVER acknowledge me, I figure they're kinda narcissistic and I don't even open their threads anymore. ( I don't open MFM's threads because I am still on dialup and they take too long, though I do love his thread titles and am always curious what's inside. )

And post in other people's threads. There are many threads in the Lounge that get no or very few replies. They drop like dung in no time. Take a moment and respond to those who are new to the Lounge or who rarely post. Build relationships.

Quite a few years back, Swamp Rat and me had some funny PMs about the Lounge. It's like that neighborhood bar where there are a few old curmudgeons who've become fixtures in the place. They fade into the dark corners but they're ALWAYS there whenever you go in for a pint.

They speak with whiskey-gravelled voices and they either make fun of strangers or they ignore them.

Well, many people are shy, and when they get ignored, they take it personally.

If the Lounge is only about those few people, it's not going to get a lot of traffic, so take the time to respond to other threads, and you'll find that those posters will respond to you as well.

The Lounge is always going to attract posters, but if Lounge Lizards want to see it thrive, they have to have some give and take. Or, they can only respond to a half dozen posters and then cry that they get no love. Personal choice, I'd say.

My $.03 ( advice is trading higher per barrel these days. )