What was Datalounge like in its early years (1995-2005)?

Racist

It was about Norma Shearer mainly.

Oh honey. For one thing, it was HUGE. TONS of posts, page after page after page (this was before continuous scrolling). I could go on Datalounge after work, and it would take a few hours to get back to your last read post from the same time 24 hours earlier.

All the people you know who are gay now were gay here in 1995.

Plus, there was a regularly updated manifesto from Editor.

We scrutinized every move of Bea Benaderet and Charles Lane.

[Bold] Fucking amazing !!!!!

How did everyone react to Princess Diana's death?

Different color schemes

Lots of posts, and you had to read the replies page by page, I think 20 comments per page before you had to click to the next one. Terrible color schemes.

A lot fewer people with thin skins, cognitive issues, pathological obsessions, and/or crippling loneliness back then. More actual wit and knowledge.

It was LSA-less.

R8, thank you. Then, for a while, you could choose element colors as if it was windows. My color scheme was always navy blue on a sea of cream yellow.

[...]

It was witty and fun and full of information.

This was actually a full service website with different sections and articles with a gay focus like Health Care, Politics, Entertainment, Politics. I found DL because I was searching for health information about HIV when I became concerned about a friend. When I explored it more I found the forums.

There were different forums and I remember politics was different from gossip or maybe it was entertainment. But there were forum nazis scolding people for posting in the wrong forum - which of course led to funny exchanges.

And I liked the old format that had pages rather than having to scroll through it all. Also the trolldar was great.

And no it was not racist.

[...]

I haven't been coming here that long but all I know is it should be a lot funnier than it usually is, if I know my gay men. I'm sure a lot of this has to do with the omnipresent thought police, ever ready to taze, beat down or kill if need be. The hallmark of any group of gay men used to be wit, hysterical laughter and bitchery.

Also, too many grim or violent stories here. Intentional, or is everyone morbid and clinically depressed? (See laughter issue above).

[...]

How so?

R17 ...and GLAAD paved the way.

There are still some very funny posters here. I've posted some threads and read replies that had me doubled over with laughter.

My life with the DataLounge began with the 1982 conception. I was hiding in a hotel closet where I worked peeking through the slats and saw Muriel lift her heft and open for the putty-colored probe of an ancient mainframe.

Better.

There were fewer posters, and the ones that did post were much more likely to be insiders in Hollywood or New York, in publishing or movies, in politics or fashion. We actually used to get some really good gossip, often before it was released to the general public.

Now we just get posts from people living in their mother's basement in Atlanta asking if anybody here has ever met a celebrity. And it seems as though by the word "celebrity," they mean anyone who goes outside in the daytime.

I was here in 2004, but posted anonymously, wandered off at intervals, and came back occasionally. I remember being here in 2014, as well, because I have some dated screen captures of the format, which I saved with the dates. In 2014, a bunch of us posted pictures of ourselves, which was fun, and I saved them all. I'd post a few pics if I could find where I saved them. This is the house of 1000 External Drives, and I'm not sure which drive they're on, but I'll do a search one of these days.

There were interesting posters, as well. I remember Josh Kilmer-Purcell, who was writing has book at the time, and a TV actor who was on one of the evening police or legal dramas. There was Kipper, the librarian, and a dominatrix originally from Halifax and relocated to New York. Her name was Magdalene. I remember her telling the story of her old home in Halifax being bought by the Scientologists as a headquarters. I believe the late Cackle-Cackle from Half-Moon Bay was here then, as well.

Anyway, if I can find the photos and screen caps, I'll post some of them. It might take a while.

The Prancing Ponies would always get banned for either baseless conjecture accusing all cast members of Lord of the Rings for being gay or fraus taking up too much bandwidth.

I could never tell which.

Everybody would trash President Bush except for Peg once in a blue moon.

It's not like today where Boris drops Fox News propaganda into every thread, especially if it involves the vicious denigration of women or minorities.

R23, in 2003 it was insider insider gossip - gossip about people working deep in the bowels of Hollywood and New York who you never read about.

Plus, you had magazine and newspaper gossip. You never read about non-Vogue editors and alumni any more.

Magdalene was really interesting. I remember her and remember thinking it was something I liked about this place and the internet. I will probably never meet a dominatrix in real life, but I was able to hear her stories about her life and her insights into her various clients. It was fascinating.

Does anyone have the map of dataloungeland? Remember Shobe and Rac$i$t Lesbian Troll Alert? Kirker? Who was the photographer that was a head case, David something?

There was great, great gossip! I agree with the poster above the formatting (and colors) were different and it did take hours to scroll.

I forgot about Peg. I loved Magdalene; her life stories were amazing.

I was here with Josh (Kilmer-Purcell//1/2 of The Beekman Boys) too. He was always so nice to me.

Ponies pranced, the WTC bottomed, Judy Pill’d, cak graxied, Julie cunted, Red Dragon cheesed. It was a simpler, happier time.

Fewer trans.

You rang?

Stars didn't need dialogue back then. We had Blazin' peaks!

David Ehrenstein was authenticated back then and always trying to impose his egocentric view on everyone, demanding Hollywood make movies exactly the way he wanted.

Now he posts anonymously.

Oh and Peg, yeah, was a headcase. She switched from Democrat to Republican rather suddenly I remember. There was somebody she loved and he didn't win the democratic nomination and suddenly she loved George Bush. But I can't remember who it was she loved initially. Anyway, it was a fun and wild place.

R35 beat me too it.

David Ehrenstein David Ehrenstein David Ehrenstein and hit Friday night meldowns. Those were the days!

Well, there’s this from November 1996…

Golden Girls wasn't a daily obsession.

There were a couple of threads over 10 years, But it wasn't until the Obama years that the Redundant Copycat Thread Thief discovered he could get CONSTANT mileage from GG, so started exploiting it daily and creating cloying, unfunny memes with Yvonne, etc.

The Copycat Thread Thief could be Muriel, BTW. Whoever the person is is desperately hungry for posts.

[quote] Now he posts anonymously.

Does he still?

Ban on soap opera threads

[quote]gossip about people working deep in the bowels of Hollywood and New York

So to speak.

If David E does still post here, I think that would be great, but come out from behind the curtain. You were a gay, black guy in the 1960s. You can't possibly be that thin skinned.

I always wondered what it was like on here during 1995

R43, David Ehrenstein's spirit was broken when it was proven that his idol Lena Horne lesbian/bisexual.

They made fun of me for trying to upload a picture from my hard drive to this site, R44. These were evil people and they never let me forget it.

I love this, sitting on my virtual verandah sipping my rather real gin and tonic and reminiscing. Wasn't there somebody just obsessed with Russell Crowe? I mean there are trolls and anyone can say anything, but this bitch was committed (and should have been). And didn't she ultimately have his baby or some nonsense?

r1/r12/r15 wasn't here stirring the racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynist shit on every thread in accordance with Republican and Russian designs.

r15 wasn't alive in the 1960s or whatever gilded age he's trying to exploit. He just heard that wit and "bitchery" were high points of some bygone era to gays, so he can trick DLers into becoming the toxic, bigoted, anti-liberal utopia of white supremacy he yearns for.

I'm a veteran of the Usenet flame wars so Datalounge wasn't anything I couldn't handle.

It was much better in the past. That's for sure, the great mass of unwashed hadn't found out about it yet in that time period.

I remember one of David's post with photos of a luncheon (or some other well heeled event) that he posted. He got crucified. I think he was expecting the exact opposite response.

We had a lot of fun back in the day. DL was mentioned in Entertainment Weekly and we had an influx of people, but at our core we were a spunky lil group.

People mostly ignored trans issues instead of devoting their lives to hating trans people

The lesbians were obsessed with Danielle Egnew and Elizabeth Mitchell

R47, Libby was the troll who was obsessed with Russell Crowe and claimed she was pregnant with his baby

There was a lot less talk about Donald Trump. And really no talk at all about the Slovenian whore.

YES, that was it r52. I wonder if she kept it up. Is she "raising" the "child"?

Oh, I'm 97% sure David Ehrenstein still posts. There are Black Jewish supremacy posts that could be him, which some people accuse of being Matt Anscher.

But anytime you see a poster mocking a celebrity with "LOOK AT ME!!! LOOK AT ME!!! LOOK AT ME!!!" you can bet it's David E. That was one of his favorite taunts.

Ironically, attention whoring is David Ehrenstein's modus operandi!

We outed Marcia Cross!

Pope Buck I was the funniest DLer ever.

And he or she managed to be that without ever being mean or cruel to anybody.

Donald Trump was hated even before he became president....everyone laughed at him for the birther shit.

Everyone knew about Kevin Spacey being a sleaze and a chickenhawk, aside from SS Terri and the "Spacey Cadets" who thought he was a misunderstood straight guy

SS Terri :)

That was the name of a combatative poster who drove everyone crazy.

Blue Agave had some fun blind items and seemed like a cool guy

SS Terri, another headcase, but now I can't remember why.

R15, dear, we are NOT your gay men.

Thank you.

Joey Luft liked blue just as much as he does now.

I remember Blue Agave. He was wise, cool and fun. A true "eldergay". Remember some guy named Price Leatherbarrow? Also White Belt Man and some nut named Stewart Swerdlow.

It really was so much wittier and more fun back then. Seems like a lot of mentally unstable, thin-skinned trolls have made their way here lately.

^ Stewart Swerdlow was my guilty pleasure troll. He was fun to laugh at

There was also the Anthony Hopkins stalker. I bet he/she had a fit while watching the Oscars

r3 is correct, there were like, 10 times as many posters and threads.

When the paywall and paywall threads hit, participation on DL dropped precipitously and we got the handful of extremely motivated posters and paucity of voices we have today. Sadly, the loudest voices are now mentally ill and/or right-wing trolls. Allowing sock puppets and eliminating Troll-dar has only empowered and amplified them.

[quote]Donald Trump was hated even before he became president....everyone laughed at him for the birther shit.

Darling, R58, EVERYONE in the NYC area has hated Donald Trump since he first put his then pinkish face in front of a camera,. Long before the birther shit, and they/we have been on the DL since it started.

There was often some really good gossip from people like blueagave and Susie Lee. And there were some hilarious running jokes, like Dataloungeland, the Weird Little Girl (*kisses doll*), and the almiqui. And David Ehrenstein's frequent meltdowns (always followed up by his complete denial they were alcohol-fueled, although no one believed him) were pretty funny.

I think a lot of posters are looking back with rose-colored glasses though. The board was overwhelmed during the years of "The Lord of the Rings" with obsessive fans of Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan, who were said to be in love by insane stans who were involved in some kind of massive "Let's pretend" game. They were so insane and swarming the webmaster had to create a special subforum just for them called "The Prancing Pony."

There was also an ongoing troll named Libby (aka Jenna) who liked to pretend she had been impregnated by Russell Crowe (this was back in the days when he was considered desirable), and though she started out kind of funny she refused to drop the joke for years and completely wore it into the ground.

And there was also one of the meanest and most random trolls I've ever seen, who called herself "Miss Helen Bedd"--she would lash out at random people for practically no reason, and was really vicious, persistent, and almost awesomely unfunny. She was finally vanquished when some brilliant anonymous poster figured out her weak spot was to be accused of secretly being a very geeky gay character actor named David Dean Bottrell on "Boston Legal," and they would completely cause her to lose it--he did it so consistently he finally drove her away, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

It was like the Deep South with charm, grace, manners and chivalry and certain uppity kinds knowing their place. Now it is overrun with carpetbaggers.

^ Miss Lindsey, is that you?

DL was never a place for "manners"

Remember Bonnie Mace? She used to post the most ludicrously filthy lesbian "gossip" ... just super dirty and side-splittingly hilarious, like Dolly Parton getting her pussy eaten in a Dumpster, that kind of thing. I remember another poster once claiming or theorizing that Bonnie was actually David Sedaris.

And of course Carol "when did I eat corn?" Channing ...

I liked DL far more when threads were organized by subject categories. It was far easier to avoid subjects you have absolutely no interest in, rather than having to scroll through everything.

🎵🎶 Don't you ... 🎶🎶🎵

🎵 ... forget about me 🎵🎶 ...

Do we remember when the mention in Entertainment Weekly was? That was what brought me here for the first time, but I don't remember what year that was. It's been a fucking while though

There was a separate section for politics, and a "Flames and Freaks" section

You forgot about James?

THIS IS BULLSHIT!!

George Eads and Eric Szmanda were everyone's favorite crypto couple

Helen Lawson started posting twenty years ago!

Oh, I do remember the talk of the original CSI cast. Jorga Fox....what the fuck happened to her?

DL was focused on only the biggest, most important stars on the A-list.

Like Trevor Blumas.

Reading this thread just made me realize that it's almost my 20th anniversary of visiting the DL! I learned about the site in coverage of Michelangelo Signorile publicizing Andrew Sullivan's infamous "milky loads" personal ad ... David E was all over that situation and he very much loomed large as a personality here when I was first visiting. In general there used to be more Authenticated posters but I think all the hate and abuse they got over the years has diminished that.

Twenty fucking years ... jesus. I was still in my 20s!

^ And Keram Malicki Sanchez

I remember Milky Loads gate! I still like to mention it on Sully's Twitter feed

DL started the Mike Piazza outing scandal that landed on page one of the New York Post. They cited an internet source and some things they printed were things discussed here.

There were a couple of Elaborate Scenario Threads (EST) that truly were awesome.

Of course, the "I'm in Love With My Father-in-Law" one set the standard that has never been equaled by any other.

Dallas man marries wealthy Dallas debutante. He falls in love with her rugged, wealthy, butch father who throws him mean, mind-blowing sex. Tears, quarrels, scandal, they run off together...

Almost EVERYBODY bit for it. DLers took sides.

Then, with masterful subtlety, the OP changed the tone of his posts, letting you know that he was pulling our collective legs.

Man, that was awesome. Hundreds of posters hung on for that wild ride.

The OP of that thread came forward and took a bow. I asked for more installments. He politely declined saying he has "retired" those characters.

All the gossip about Bruce Weber, Kevin Spacey, and James Levine turned out to be true

Everyone knew Clay Aiken and Ricky Martin were gay from day one. No one pretended they were straight aside from fangirl trolls

It used to be “And Now They’re Dead!” And Lani O’Grady, Dee Dee Ramone, and Mitch Hedberg were properly roasted.

Also, everyone knew Ian Thorpe was gay. No one was ever fooled by his attempts to look straight

I remember Thom Bierdz posting here and his insane hatred of Louie Anderson.

It’s thought that Thom lost his shit here while posting under another name in a thread, and someone said that Louie was much more attractive than Thom. It became a pile-up and Thom went beserk.

Good times.

[quote] —Ayyyyyyden Fonzarelli-Dudegash

Ah yes, that legendary michfest-attendee sense of humor, on full display yet again.

I think I came around here when everyone was daring some weird guy named Justin (?) to show us his dick. He finally did. And then he left.

Funny, very VERY funny at times. Several very smart, witty people posted here in the beginning and the threads were original and less "Pop Culture-y: There were genuine insiders from the Broadway and Film/ TV industries who posted interesting and real dish.

"The Nastiest People on Broadway Parts 1 and 2 " are emblematic of this era of Datalounge. Also Blue Agave posted loads of gossip about Hollywood that later was verified.

Threads like "Why isn't ________a bigger star" did not exist. It was just smarter, funnier

Wat was the name of The Canadian couple that got roasted? She personally responded and we all fell in love with her? Was that one of the wacky dominionist threads?

We had some good times. Does anyone remember the crab walking lesbian girlfriend thread? Let's pretend we're Sumerian housewives' or the little animal that lived in the desk drawer thread? Cak and graxy? Why is stupid me? Wasn't that Ehrenstein?

Was that the bride whose wedding registry was spammed by DL, R94?

People SWORE Anderson Cooper was straight.

I've been here since 2004. Seems like a long time ago. And there were industry and government insiders on here spilling the goods that you could really believe. And lots and lots of wit. I often found myself laughing out loud, something I rarely do now while reading DL.

I miss Judy Pills. And Price Leatherbarrow. And Kipper the librarian, who could find out almost anything. And Magdelena.

I remember Kirker, Catherine of Sienna, Mrs Patrick Campbell (no period after the "Mrs"!), and Miss Helen Bedd. I wish I could remember more, but alas, my memory fails me.

I know it's a joke that DL was "so much better last year," but it really was. Really.

[quote]Helen Lawson started posting twenty years ago!

Were the posts by "Helen Lawson" as unfunny then as they are now?

Bex

Davis E

Terri:)

Libby { with her lover Russ }

Kicker

Kipper

r11fat

LittleRock

SteveS

GET {Gloria Estefan Troll }

Skin Woman

Wendy

Iola

^ * Kicker = kirker

^ David E

Was that the bride whose wedding registry was spammed by DL, [R94]?

Yes, was her name Gale?

Soaps threads were great back then because there was a mix of current gossip and nostalgia for the great New York soaps. Now it's just nostalgia.

And we were kind to each other. I started a thread where I included a wrong soap as a P&G soap and people didn't lose their shit.

DLers were never kind

I don’t remember her name, R102. Maybe someone else will.

The only other bride of note I remember was Jodi of Jodi and Jonathan fame. That one turned out to be an EST.

Everyone laughed at Star and Al. And we all knew that Al was family and the marriage would never last

And Clay Aiken.

There was a thread about American Idol and someone posting he would like the mic shoved up his ass.

It was a possum that invaded somebody's bathroom drawer.

Why are straight me so stupid?

I preferred the original cuneiform version of Datalounge.

There were some political insiders with good D.C. gossip.

A couple of people above posted about this place having way more posts than now, but I remember it being quite the opposite of that. (But then I've been here since late '98 when DL was less populated and prior to mental institutions dumping their inmates on an unwitting audience.)

Back then, you could very easily scroll back to see what was last posted hours and hours earlier with little difficulty.

So while many more people posted under authenticated handles - I was one - there were a lot less posts in general. And yes, racists & misogynists unfortunately existed back then too, probably in the same proportion.

I think the 2000 presidential election was the beginning of the DL crazy - although on a minor scale compared with now - although it really kicked into high gear following the WBM Riots a few years later.

Were there a lot of ageist young guys giving elders shit back in 1995 and where are they now?

My pussy stank.

Yes Cheryl and on a related note, water has always been wet.

Didn't the "oh, fank you, you fixded my cheeseburger" kid's mom actually come and post here?

I do remember some couple's wedding blog got trolled. I also remember some guy who appeared on a HHI show, scouting for a villa in Italy, and the ensuing drama of his finding a gf and their blog. Lots of giggles when she referred to him as a "handsome international bachelor". I always got the impression that she had her eye on his villa more than him.

More funny and much less racist.

Bee and Bear and more

[quote]Do we remember when the mention in Entertainment Weekly was? That was what brought me here for the first time, but I don't remember what year that was. It's been a fucking while though

That brought about the character of "Debbie, the EW-reading Soccer Mom."

[quote]Didn't the "oh, fank you, you fixded my cheeseburger" kid's mom actually come and post here?

Yes. She was HORRIFIED.

Star Jones' engagement and betrothal to Al Reynolds in 2004 brought forth the classic thread "The Marriage of Bigaro."

And there was a average Midwestern hetero couple -- I won't repeat their names -- who we decided was the most boring, basic couple on earth. Hundreds of posts going down Internet rabbit holes as to the mundanity of their lives.

[quote] Everyone laughed at Star and Al. And we all knew that Al was family and the marriage would never last

The Star and Al wedding thread was an EVENT. It started with a post featuring Al getting a "Desperate Housewives"-style blackmail note: "I know what you did and it disgusts me..."

And it exploded into a sprawling (sometimes hilarious) rainbow-colored epic of spite, depravity and pointless bitchery. Truly Datalounge's shining hour. So much so, it was removed from the site.

Yup, r120, when the Liza & David Gest wedding thread wasn't as entertaining as Al and Star, you know that thread was in a class by itself.

Guerlain Chamade. Groovy, baby!

One thing I used to just love was the poster who would pose mock-naive questions about whatever ridiculous thing Star had said on 'The View": e.g. "Star Jones just announced on 'The View' she doesn't like it when kids trick-or-treat her place for Halloween. Now, why do you suppose Star wouldn't enjoy giving out candy to children?"

Also loved the threads where someone could get a long troll going without most people realizing, with the two most famous ones being mentioned above: the homophobic Jodie's wedding ("When do the tears stop?"), which resulted in so many posters anonymously attacking some poor innocent bride-to-be on the Internet named Jodie that the thread's author had to reveal he had been trolling lest he get sued; and "Not Without My Daughter," about a gay man suspicious that his overweight daughter from his previous marriage had stolen and devoured an entire can of frosting. The problem with these threads, however, were that they were so successful and so funny they spawned a million unfunny imitators by would-be trolls who could never, ever figure out that less is more when it comes to posting fake scenarios.

Ted Danson for Aramis

The ‘Why is Julianne Moore in the Middle?’ Troll

Butterfly's Honey, the Mariah Carey troll

r112 is not telling the truth.

DL had NOWHERE NEAR the number of right-wing propaganda posts, matching Fox and Trump talking points on every thread. Every thread wasn't hijacked and perverted into an anti- "woke," "SJW," trans, woman or minority-bashing session, including gay bashing.

DL now has a troll(s) dedicated to this, who are willing to buy multiple accounts — a dedication from possible monetary incentive that DL didn't have until the registration system about 10 years ago.

Before the paywall, everyone could start new threads and post. So there was TONS of participation and a lot more openly female posters. There were a lot more left-field threads and the posters got much more lasting bans and red tags. Now, it's only the super motivated who are willing to pay. There was a drastic and immediate decline the first couple of years when DL switched to registration. The DLers who stayed and paid tended to be nerdy, milder in manners and few.

But then loons started subscribing and this place has been redundant pop namedropping and right-wing hate for 7 or 8 years.

Honestly, the bigoted trolls were drowned out by sheer volume before e-mail registration and the paywall. Now they have a disproportionate influence — chiming in on every thread because they're hyper motivated and possibly incentivized monetarily.

Everyone made fun of this guy when he was busted at a gay bar

R69, ugh. The Ponies. Those posters were fucking insane.

My sister was (and still is) a good friend of Dom. The shit I got for daring to say he's straight (he is) was downright abusive. I quit posting any gossip after that. Wasn't worth it.

David E. also believes every actor is gay.

I posted on Datalounge like this from my Fire Island beach house with the gang in the background.

R127 - of course DL had nowhere near the same "number" of right wing nuts. That's because it had nowhere near the same number of posts & threads. I was talking of percentage, not number.

Clearly you and I have different memories of what it was like here during the 2000 election, which was the beginning of truly nasty, angry posts. It was also around that time or shortly thereafter that a number of "authenticated" posters were stalked by triggered people. I remember one woman from NY in particular who was essentially chased away by posters who clearly had contempt for women.

Early DL with its "authenticateds" had a convivial feel, but The Invasion of the Crazies in the early 2000s was the beginning of the ugly - though that hasn't stopped me from coming here.

As one or two posters mentioned upthread, some people are looking at the past through rose colored glasses.

R127, many of the current posters who take umbrage with some of the trans stuff are NOT right wing! We're pro trans, but also pro science. And very pro woman. Sometimes those three pro-isms butt heads. It's just life. But it certainly doesn't make anyone right wing.

"David E. also believes every actor is gay."

No, he's the one who insisted Lena Horne was straight

r133, one of the hallmarks of the right-wing trolls is to post right-wing shit while claiming not to be right-wing. At least peg and co. admitted what they were - freeper trolls. Hating trans people doesn't make you "pro woman"

I would imagine that the DL of yore mercifully didn't have [bold]every single thread[/bold] devolving into a flamewar over Trans?

You got me, R135. I'm a secret right winger. Wow. You are one sharp tack. Saw right through my decades long fight for liberal and Democratic ideals. All of which was just a clever, exhaustive ruse so that I can be anti-trans. On an anonymous forum board. Whatever...

Back to the thread, if I recall correctly, the DL has ALWAYS been better before, according to those who were there prior. Sort of our version of a NIMBY mentality.

That said, I think the EST were so much better before. Nothing beat Not Without My Frosting, Daniel Boon, The Samsonite NYC visitor.

R127 is absolllllutelllly r-r-r-r-r-r-right.

The p-p-p-place is so, so, so b-b-b-b-bad now it makes m-m-m-eee stut-stut-stut-stut-stutttttter.

I started posting here in 2002 or so. Does anyone remember the person that used to post and claimed that he was an escort to the stars? Richard Simmons, Bruce Vilanch, John Travolta, etc were supposedly all clients. Those threads were always a hoot.

But what got me hooked were the Classic Movie threads. Those are still fun and full of knowledge.

Although the website was a little classier & funnier back in the day, I can still count on you bitches for a good laugh. The laughs are just fewer & farther between.

Editor, I want it noted that peg was more than one person!

[quote]That said, I think the EST were so much better before. Nothing beat Not Without My Frosting, Daniel Boon, The Samsonite NYC visitor.

Please add to that Once Around the Garden and Autumn Harvest.

Does anyone know how to cunt any more?

I look back at the turn-of-century DL with rose-colored glasses.

Nobody said there weren't right-wing trolls, r132.

But you made it sound like they were pissing on every thread. which they weren't and they couldn't. The crazy, right-wing views were about 10 percent of what they were in 2020. There was noticeable consensus that George W. Bush was a trainwreck and bad for the U.S.

Also, "crazy voices" were probably only about 10 percent of the posts back then, too. It's about 90 percent nowadays. Clever, non-toxic satire and sensibility are about 10 percent of what you might find on modern DL.

There's no possibility that things actually WERE better 15 years ago.

Right.

Because the inability to post pics, GIFs, link previews, Troll-dar the trolls and block people was such an improvement.

Can somebody interpret r138?

Peg impersonators were clearly parodies and hilarious.

[...]

Remember when peg's kid was growing pot and she was so pissed? It was the real peg. Then there was White Belt Man and Blanche Dubois. I liked them

Honestly, I can't really remember peg. Must have avoided her threads.

Does anyone remember the queen that would stroll up and down Santa Monica Blvd? Or was it Santa Monica and Robertson? Owning it like a cat walk? He was hysterical.

Violet Venable was also a sweetheart

The Wendy and Iola flame wars were legendary! They were so crazy they'd take their wars to others gossiped as the wars were going. It would start here and the jump over to filth2go then to Akol and so on. They'd link the wars as then hoped around the net. It was fucking insane and hilarious!

^^^ There are trolls, alright. But why would anyone buy numerous accounts when it's all anonymous and you can post as many different opinions as you want without being recognized?

"Every thread wasn't hijacked and perverted into an anti- "woke," "SJW," trans, woman or minority-bashing session, including gay bashing." Well, 10 years ago there wasn't a concept of "woke" and trans people were almost invisible compared with today. The world has changed and the DL along with it. I find a lot of hostility in some of the threads but I don't necessarily see a lot of gay bashing, frankly.

And let's not confuse people who are not "woke" with right-wingers I think the right-wingers here are a very small minority and they probably opine frequently within the same thread to look like they're a herd.

I come to the DL for the gay wit, which never ceases to amaze me.

I found this place in approximately 2005, when Michael Jackson's Former Publicist was spilling the beans on his (MJ's) tortured life. It was about the same time the classic "Dialing the phone with a pencil" thread started.

It was hilarious.

Pre-trolldar, the celebrity gossip on here was fantastic.

I think there's a lot rose colored glasses being worn here.

It wasn't all sunshine and lollipops and love ins.

I've been coming here (off and on) since around 2002 and ALWAYS if anyone started posting good gossip that seemed like it was the real deal coming from an insider, there'd be a bunch of outraged cunts who would start with "this isn't true!" and "Fake!" and always "You all think EVERYONE is gay!" and eventually they'd drive away the person serving the good dish.

But, I will agree there is more divisiveness on here but....there's also more divisiveness EVERY WHERE nowadays.

2002-2003 on weekends you’d get the batshit crazy trolls because Webby was off until Sunday.

Nambla and torture threads would take up space in Politics. This being DL, they’d be called out because they posted in the wrong section.

R92, I think his name was Brandon but am not sure. Wasn't he also bisexual and ended up claiming he had fathered a child and was moving with it to Texas? Had fucked a married guy and was trying to blackmail him? (Which turned a lot of DLers against him and he was labeled a psychopath. ) I think he posted a face photo or claimed to and was a handsome but horsefaced guy with black hair and glasses.) And finally tried to get people to send him money. He had a nice dick.

Later someone claimed it was an elaborate scam by a lesbian.

Good times!

Jon-Eric from Kansas or Missouri? posting about being gangbanged on a pool table in the back of a bar.

1995?....Before the Lesbians found this site?....Oh it was amazing....You could be proud to post gay sleezy stuff without an ELLEN posting about where she and her wife like to vacation...

r153 = Poorly disguised right-wing apologist. "Woke" is a right-wing slur.

Boris knows perfectly well trolls buy multiple accounts to circumvent bans, red tags and other posters who ignore or block them.

r159 = Boris the Nazi Incel, out to demonize, degrade and exclude the lesbians once again!

Trolldar.

That's what I miss. It was an invaluable and surprising tool.

[quote]And no it was not racist.

It really was, but I'm sure people didn't notice it as much, because back then the GenX humor was this weird "post racial anti-PC" stuff, the kind of things you see in old tweets that get dug up during a so-called cancellation. Also, there was a short list of banned words like the n-word, k*ke, eldergay, f*ggot, etc. and, with respect, a lot of DLers are absolutely hopeless at recognizing trollbait, so if a post didn't have a blatant slur they wouldn't realize what was going on.

There were an absolute ton of "Mexicans are all lazy loiterers outside Home Depot" and even more "peasant stock" and "white adjacent" posts, nearly all from people who insisted they were joking, but like every other self-described "edgy" forum with jokes like that, by about 2007 we had a lot of posters who weren't joking at all. DLers have never been particularly internet savvy, so it took a while before people realized we had a real problem, and even longer for the owners to figure it out.

A lot of the funnier people around here left because we were overwhelmed with trolls.

Yes, R157. It was Brandon! I'd forgotten the backstory. Thanks for, uh, filling it in.

I still have the nude shots Brandon posted on DL somewhere I think R164.

[quote]The Copycat Thread Thief could be Muriel, BTW. Whoever the person is is desperately hungry for posts.

There are trolls who have been here for years who have a list of topics they use constantly, and sometimes they would start a competing thread if someone else posted about one of those topics first. Back when it started, people accused Muriel, and then they'd get banned for the accusation.

It wasn't long after that we were inundated with HuffPo articles and I know from experience that if you said ANYTHING negative about all the HuffPo threads, you'd get permabanned.

You're half right, R127, in that we did NOT have these alt-right anti-immigrant, anti-trans, racist, anti-Meghan, etc. etc. trolls who ruined every thread, constantly complaining about "wokesters" and such. We did have the Israel-Palestine trolls for a while, though.

But a lot of the threads people are fondly reminiscing about here were absolute hellholes of bigotry, and they didn't notice or didn't care, and definitely don't remember. In that way, r112 is right, it really WAS racist back then, despite what people say.

The Star Jones threads were racist as fuck, for example, that's when we started getting people posting sideways versions of the n-word like "nignog" and "niglet" because the n-word itself was banned back then. People act like the threads were deleted for no reason, but there were LOTS of reasons. DLers would post the most offensive, racist stuff about Lena Horne just to get David E. upset, then claim it was normal everyday gay bitchery. Whoever it was that posted about cagemeat would start a thread and within a few replies, it was fuckin' Stormfront around here, which I suspect is why the cagemeat threads, which were fun at first, stopped.

It was wonderful.

[quote]eventually they'd drive away the person serving the good dish

I am still to this day L I V I D about how a troll and a bunch of clueless DLers drove off Celebrity Caterer.

He would post a thread with blind items and then give little clues throughout the thread, and one day during one of his threads, some jealous troll said "OMG I trolldarred R999 and it's Celebrity Caterer pretending to be someone else!" It wasn't, it was CC giving a clue like he always did.

Clueless DLers believed the troll and accused CC of lying and using sockpuppets, so CC got fed up and left for good.

I remember you could filter out all political threads with the click of a button. Poof! Gone.

R127, only now chiming in. I’ve been here some around 2005 and I’ll agree. The speed of posts was furious back then, I wouldn't’ renew the page because I wouldn’t see the thread again and get lost.

Some time around the first obama administration things got much much more political. It’s been enlightening as i see viewpoints I’d never hear from people in real life or friends, but i would on the DATALOUNGE, but the place has gotten a LOT less entertaining. Less pointless bitchery and just more bitches

[quote]And there was also one of the meanest and most random trolls I've ever seen, who called herself "Miss Helen Bedd"

yup, and "lucy" and "goose" who were puerile trolls. there were definitely a different style fo trolling back then

I like the new data lounge. I feel at home.

I could have sworn Miss Helen Bedd was just Erna.

I remember Shobe and Shinjuku Baby. I do not remember Tybee though and he's the one who started the Zetalounge board for whatever reason. Did he get banished?

He did, old curmudgeon

[quote]David E. also believes every actor is gay.

On the contrary, Ehrenstein would blow a gasket when ANY actor other than the obvious was named gay here, like Paul Newman. I don't think Paul Newman was gay, but why would calling a person gay get such a violent reaction? He was very happy when the lesbianism of Katharine Hepburn was discussed (lots of others here couldn't handle that), yet Lena Horne's was off-limits. R167, I do not recall any "offensive, racist stuff" ever posted about Lena, it wasn't necessary. Ehrenstein would flip out and demand names of partners at the mere mention of Lena. Notice he never defended her "heterosexual" marriage to her gay white second husband. I don't know if Ehrenstein was serious or if he suddenly realized the obvious and couldn't handle it.

Josh was fun

Traffic seems increasingly slow these days.

The mental health of DL postered has seriously declined. While the serious hate viciousness is constantly on the rise.

It's just not fun anymore.

^^^ Yes, I know .......

The DL Grammar Police are still here. That's one thing that hasn't changed.

Everyone was a bottom then.

I think so, R174. I remember years ago someone said that he was banned, and when I went to search for threads he'd been in, couldn't find much of anything, it was as if everything had been deleted. You couldn't link to Tybee's own forum and the words Tybee and Zetaboards / Zetalounge were banned after that, too.

Tybee would occasionally imply that he was a moderator here on DL or had friends in the know who gave him IP addresses of DL users, which I assume is what got him into trouble.

[quote] But a lot of the threads people are fondly reminiscing about here were absolute hellholes of bigotry, and they didn't notice or didn't care, and definitely don't remember. In that way, [R112] is right, it really WAS racist back then, despite what people say.

I agree. There have always been racist and disgusting comments at Datalounge due to the anonymity afforded by the forum. That is not just a Datalounge problem. And yes, the Star Jones/Al Reynolds thread was full of racist stuff but those contributions were out-numbered by the witty comments. Not today though. There is very little wit and wisdom, it is mostly hate most of the time.

[quote] Trolldar.

Maybe I'm misremembering, but didn't the old trolldar only allow you to block one poster at a time, resulting in said blocked poster's posts showing up in piss-yellow?

You're right, r183, the ratio of deliberately racist or bigoted posts to good posts has changed dramatically.

I'll never understand the incessant need by some trolls to block posters. We all know that you're still following their posts.

[italic]Though Doth Protest Too Much !

I'm surprised at all the fond nostalgia for Trolldar because I clearly remember it being despised when it commenced.

What was it like? It was just like now: it reflects the current thoughts and feelings of intelligent gay men. That’s why there’s no other space quite like it. I feel like Towleroad and Queerty are filled with the idiot narcissist queens. Most of the posters here have a brain.

Despised by the trolls, R187.

It's sorely missed these days because DL needs a simple and impossible-to-ignore troll detection system. One click and everything lit up in bright yellow -- even the most clueless or naive DLer knew what that meant.

Nowadays you have to put someone on ignore, go out to your ignored tab, etc. etc. and it's a pain.

R189 - I think you would enjoy this site more if you wouldn’t worry about putting posters on ignore. Why not just scroll past? I personally want to see every opinion and post, no matter how idiotic! I suspect the people who “block” or “ignore” are just not as intelligent as most of us here.

Scroll past when there are a plethora of TikTok posts, 2015, and BRF daily about a month ago?

FF and ignore.

Self moderated forum.

I started here in 1996... I seem to recall it was in it's " a lounge" version back then. LOL at everyone going off on David E.

There was a member, I wish I could remember her ID.... something "woman" or "womyn". She seemed like the resident sage there for a bit.

YOU are the idiot, r190!

FF them!

[quote]I suspect the people who “block” or “ignore” are just not as intelligent as most of us here.

And I suspect you got upset at what I just wrote on the "Hilarious Trolling of Newsmax Host" thread, where you went on at length about how impressed you were with the far-right propagandist host of the show and all the empathy you had for him after he got (deservedly) trolled.

R174 I think Miss Helen Bedd was a persona of Erna also. There was yet another one that also posted under its name on the many Gawker sub-websites. And weirdly said Datalounge-like things there that really sounded off in that context.

I guess Erna is really dead. (Shit-eating Nazi cunt. )

R194 - You’re absolutely correct! So why can’t we have a discussion instead of IGNORE BLOCK DELETE? Do you have the ability to see other informed points of view? I’m not so sure you do, and that (and you) makes me sad.

Cry then. Go...

Goodbye!

You are ignored now!

[quote] So why can’t we have a discussion

You need two people to have a discussion. You cannot have a discussion with trolls who post about soap opera actresses clogging toilets in post after post.

Now, that sounds like Justina off his meds, r198.

R197 - Oh dear! You just exposed yourself as the biggest idiot here.

I’ve been around since the early aughts. I miss MichFest threads, especially the chronicles of Denise with her Don Quixote-esque fixation with organizing charter bus service to the Land. Those Rainbow Express threads had me howling.

Also, I remember Gypsy Robe Me, who was a source for fairly savage Broadway dirt back in the day, though I think they got doxed. I vaguely recall them turning out to be one of Harvey Fierstein’s understudies in Hairspray?

Does anyone remember Ciaran, the smug Irish twink going to grad school in Connecticut? He’d be close to 40 by now.

And that yokel with a wheelie bag who went on vacation to NYC with no accommodations booked and who was planning on just relying on the kindness of strangers he met at the bars.

R197, the point you're missing is that trolls can't have nor do they want discussion. That's why we block and/or FF. I do this to Matt, D-vida and the numerous Tik Tok shit. In the case of Tik Tok, IG and BRF it's simply to unclutter my screen. . Besides, only trolls care if they get blocked. No one else does.

The world is in decline. It’s not just DL.

Fox News has done enormous damage to the culture of our country in the past 17 years, and social media has been even worse, because it’s a fact-free zone ripe for transmission of blatant or subtle agitprop.

The result of all this has been hyperpoliticization of EVERYTHING (war on Christmas, anyone?), divisiveness, and rage. People spend all the time angry and complaining about the other side. Many people devote enormous energy to lying and misleading in order to stoke this inferno.

And DL has not escaped this trend. There are people who spend all day posting here in furtherance of their agendas which have nothing to do with gossip, gay life, or entertainment news.

Never got into the lesbian threads like the basketball or michfest threads - but then a lesbian would post some relationship based rant and all Hell would break loose and those could be fun

The michfest threads were hilarious though. A lot of creative energy went into those sly posts.

R205 The Michfest threads were some of my favorites. ("Man on the land!") That was a topic that needed a movie. One can only wonder who the stars would be.

[quote]You’re absolutely correct! So why can’t we have a discussion instead of IGNORE BLOCK DELETE?

I didn't ignore you on the Newsmax thread, and you didn't respond to me over there, so you obviously didn't want a discussion. Besides, you're an adult, it's time you learned that no one owes you anything, least of all a discussion.

Once you started saying the "yer an idiot" stuff to literally everyone on this thread, it became clear you were a troll, and I put everyone like that on ignore because that behavior just reeks of desperation. I'm not on DL to make the lonely and attention-starved feel better.

I still use the Subaru and a u-haul reference when I reference lesbian relationships.

I remember David Ehrenstein was always attacking Andrew Sullivan as "Milky Loads" and wishing him dead. I never understood why he hated him so much.

I remember when rosie o'donnell would post and make me smile

Just smarter and the standards, though not conventional, where higher. It seemed that there were fewer idiot posts back then or the response to them was more entertaining.

One thing I distinctly remember clearly was the "suffer no fools" aura that governed the place. I remember one poor pathetic poster trying to defend not knowing who Noel Coward was. This was in a theater thread. He was roasted and toasted in the most unrelenting and relentlessly entertaining way by elder Theater mavens.

Gay men trying to assert their Youth Privilege on DL by saying things like "I am sorry that happened before I was born" were schooled and put in their place.

There were also less posters who thought it was cute to act stupid like the one troll who's been here recently who thinks speaking in "tard" is clever or cute. We did not have the "foreign" faction either.

r153 YOU calling anyone a troll is laughable, hon. Put r153 on "ignore" and she her bullshit.

Keep projecting, dear.

^^^^* See her bullshit.

What r160 said.

[...]

I can never let a mention of David E go by without mentioning my favorite DL response ever. My BF at the time almost called 911 because I was laughing so hysterically.

Someone asked of David, "Was he on Dynasty?"

And a witty soul replied:

[quote] Yes, he had a long stint playing Dominique Devereaux, the most fabulous lounge chanteuse in all of Denver. He was, in a word, spectacular.

[quote] The world is in decline. It’s not just DL.

I think you're right.

Media is just so different now. I'm not saying we need to be fed Leave It To Beaver, but now there are almost no TV shows where a family, community or group of friends are shown working together to solve a problem, or face a problem, etc. Our shows are filled with antiheroes, killers, takers, and cheaters. Dexter is back, y'know?

I'm not blaming any one corner of the world, but a person who watches TV all day would see Fox, then watch Judge Judy, then hours of procedurals where people are brutally murdered. No way you could come out the other end of that not being afraid of everything, angry at everything.

The conflict inherent in most media showed up here a few years back and never left, sadly.

R211, what youth privilege? There were never tons of young kids on DL. Always tons of eldergays complaining about "kids today" and insisting that everything was better "in my day"

[...]

No boards on boards!

R220 = eldergay

[...]

[quote]I miss MichFest threads, especially the chronicles of Denise with her Don Quixote-esque fixation with organizing charter bus service to the Land. Those Rainbow Express threads had me howling.

I've been around since 1997 or 1998. I was searching on whether someone was gay or not. Is VoTN still around? And WHET 30, Fat and Friendless?

I used to post anonymously, then I posted as DustinDeWind for a while. I took a break and went back to anonymous for a long while. I've been a paying member for many years now. I just don't read or post as often because, as others have mentioned, we've been overwhelmed with Russians and racists.

R223 = eldergay who misses the Jim Crow era

[...]

R226, it's Neo Nazis who think everything was better in the past

[...]

This was DL's poster boy back then.

[...]

I wonder what happened to that claim that was on Crazy Days and Nights and reposted here about Paul Baressi and that escort who claimed to have had sex with Travolta, Cruise, Garth Brooks, Banderas, the blind Opera singer, etc. I can't remember all of them. Does anyone have a list?

R228, no, Neo Nazis long for the Jim Crow era

R231, wasn't the guy named Big Red?

I never knew that Prancing Ponies were LOTR stans.

That's fascinating in that you can trace a straight line from that to the Chalamet-Hammer crazies who are here now, and there have been plenty of other imaginary pairings along the way.`

[...]

R235 But the pre 94 AIDS years do?

[...]

I've been here since 2006. Still remember the separate forums for gossip and politics. Wish we still had them. I'm here for gossip ad entertainment, not politics.

Dustin, I still remember your "Love at First Sight" thread and how some witty posters wrote musical numbers. It was hilarious.

R237 is a gay Republican who is trying to convince us that helping trans people is selling out gays. He'll try to convince us that the GOP is doing so much for gays

[...]

R241 is a misogynist, anti-gay Republican who thinks siding with misogynist, anti-gay Republicans will help gay people

[...]

[...]

R244, you're siding with anti-choice Republicans who think women who use birth control are slots. Republicans are the ones passing anti-trans laws

[...]

[...]

The last eleven posts is why the fun has been sucked out from this place.

[...]

R239 - Well, most of the posters comments were right about "Mr. Right." Wrong on many counts.

Moved on to the truly crazy, drug and alcohol-fueled relationship with the poster child (and I stress the word child) for NPD. Got of that relationship after two years.

Took a nice long break. About a year. Started going to the local gay church, did some volunteering, joined a gay men's social group and met someone. We've been together for 13 years now.

Happy for you, Dustin!

[...]

We only had to deal with Freepers back then, and even they weren't as batshit crazy as the right-wing trolls we have today.

[...]

I disagree. They were horrible, but basically ineffectual. They weren't a religion controlling half the government like Qanon.

2005 also brought us DL threads about the Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts affair.

R256, and the Anderson Cooper fangurls (of all sexes).

DL was brutal and fast. They would dress you up, down, and all around.

You really could not keep up in 98 - 99.

Then I think Primetime started.

Oh, dear, r243. What a gross stereotype.

They were also some of the best stuff on here, R257.

R164, R165...Go to R12 on the linked thread

In the early years we even had a monthly in-person meet up at Julius’ every other Thursday evening. Back then less posters were anonymous and instead used their screen names, so we’d have stickers on our shirts with our screen name and then our real name underneath. Some nights started at 7:30 and went to closing time! I’m sure there were even some hookups/couples formed, but I was committed at the time and didn’t participate in the after hours “sessions.”

It was racist as shit then too. I learned slurs that I wish I could forget. We chased off a Black lesbian who had great gossip. Her name was Shobe.

I remember her name, but that's about all.

R263 - “It was racist as shit then too.”

Yes, but it was all in good fun! We laughed about it. Even the black guys liked it. And they made fun of us too! We weren’t so defensive and ready to fight.

There was a poster called Eurotrash

[quote]What was Datalounge like in its early years (1995-2005)?

Well, 21and2HOT2Bbelieved may have actually been 21.

Now she's 45.

Sockpuppets weren't possible prior to 2005, r169, so quit trying to manipulate people into disregarding Troll-dar. Ignore-dar is great for sussing out trolls and phonies; Troll-dar was even better. Anonymous gays need a site that has a more comprehensive version of that and blocking. It provided a constant stream of humiliations and some great laughs.

[quote]it reflects the current thoughts and feelings of intelligent gay men.

Then how do you explain all the blithering dumbasses?

Maybe yard signs really do determine elections and Zac Efron really is madly in love with snatch and Straight Me really are So Stupid.

Remember when two of the lesbians tried to set up a meeting with the hot top daddy farmer Hootz? I forget how we found out he was fiction, but we did. I miss Latifa and her cocktails.

Hootz thread.

I remember the first year of DL---There was a CABAL of Gays...They summoned forth a spell to create the perfect DataLounge Specimen to worship.....One who would play a gay teenager pursuing a creepy old dude....One with beautiful hair to distract from a basic face...One with no muscle mass and the body shape of a 15 year old boy.....And on December 27, 1995---Timothee Chalemet was born....Coincidence?....I think not....

R229, I more remember Brady Anderson being our favored pinup back in the day.

[quote]We chased off a Black lesbian who had great gossip. Her name was Shobe.

She was a basketball fan, and combined Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant to make the name SHOBE.

R224 Were you the dude who was married to a woman?

Any SS Terri :) threads still around? I don’t think we ever found out if it was male or female.

All the posts from Peg and SS Teri seemed to flood the board at 4am Central time. I’d step into the shower while my pc woke up. By the time I dried off there would be a live stream mud slide of mean spirited shit.

I still quote from this thread...

r190 = Boris the Nazi Troll, sick and tired of people exposing his Deplorable positions and lies.

We're all "immature" because we don't want to cyberstalk trannies with him and glorify citizens' brigades killing immigrants and looters.

R190 is right. Give it a rest, R279.

I think Terri vanished once it became obvious that Kevin wasn't straight and wasn't going to marry her

peg vanished when Obama was elected

Terri obsessed over Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest, too.

Who wants to "have a discussion" with an "intelligent gay man" who's "more mature" than me, who thinks any citizen can kill a looter or immigrant, believes the election was stolen and that justifies riots at the Capitol, thinks that yard signs determine elections, catching COVID is good for you and the POTUS, all women are worthless, whiny criminals, BLM are all rioters and trans must be eliminated before they destroy life as we know it?

Boris thinks we should be forced to hear his bullshit repeated like a broken record every day, so of course he's anti-Ignore and Block.

Well isn't the world meaner today, r218?

And isn't it because of the internet, Twitter, etc. where people get to spew hate they would never say to someone's face?

r237 = Boris the Nazi Incel.

Including trans isn't anti-gay or lesbian and we won the gay rights/ gay marriage battle already.

[Quote] Terri obsessed over Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest, too.

How could that be? Simon and Ryan were even on tv or anything else back then?

Terri:) vs Libby flame wars were ferocious! Libby was usually torn to pieces. It was sad at times.

It was fabulous. You dialed up your modem with a pencil!

Freeper Trolls!

Terri, Libbey, Shobe....the holy trinity of cunts

The Darkspawn/Bonisoli shit

r254 thinks he can pose as any authority he likes, such as an original DL poster, which he is not.

Then he thinks simply repeating the same lies like a broken record will make them true.

He lied for two years that Republicans would win the U.S. House in 2018; that failed spectacularly. He lied for two more years that catching COVID is good for you, his imaginary yard signs in PA and WI combined with convoys and flotillas would re-elect Donald Trump and voters Simply. Will. Not. Care that the Senate was in the hands of Russian-bribed Republicans who wanted to do NOTHING about the pandemic.

You're not "intelligent" or "mature" when you are completely dishonest. You're not good company. You're just a troll and a psycho.

It was when Simon dated the English model Terri Seymour. It was alleged that Terri was a beard.

Ya'll don't engage them.

Duh!

r265 = abject Reich fantasy from a lying, Millennial troll who wasn't there.

The comment was meant for R286.

There were pics of Simon and Ryan frolicking in a pool that were on a popular blog. I forget which, but Ryan was called Gaycrest.

R295 = eldergay who thinks everyone he dislikes is a "millennial"

Don't engage the right-wing propaganda trolls!

Just let their slurs, Fake News and backward values stand like stone statues of turds forever. Their ideas are the only ones allowed!

No, r297, your constant lying and misrepresentations of what DL was like before 2005 show you weren't here and weren't of age and you type like Boris the Nazi Incel, who is the same.

I first posted on DataLounge in 1995..I remember I had just come from the gym where every single straight man came on to me. It was the same day I went to the beach and met the Brewer Twins and they insisted on making love to me right there in the sand.

I remember, Crazymint, AYB, DrYes, SteveB, Arroz con Pollo, ButterBean, TequilaMockingbird (did he move to France?) Juanita “Jazz Hands” Bynum, Torta, to add to those already mentioned. Who was the female psychologist—Asian I believe; the lez who liked motorcycles...

Only gays and lesbians posted. There was wayyy more content. Much wittier posts and good gossip (in the 90s anyway). Downside: crazy posters stalking you around the site.

[...]

[...]

^ No, there were always straight fangirls, like the ones who started the LOTR threads

I loved the girls in fans

[Quote] SteveB,

SteveS?

Remember was it Latinagurl?

[quote]Butterfly's Honey, the Mariah Carey troll

OKAY, GAYS!

I was here at DL for their ribbon cutting ceremony....I bumped into RuPaul and told him he should do a reality show... Then I went on Craigslist and posted an orgy ad ---18 guys showed up ----and they were all Super Models and bodybuilders and one of them was starring on Dawsons Creek...It was wonderful and of course I was the center of attention because everyone wants me...

[...]

Yes, r307! SteveS and Latinagirl. Thanks.

Kevin Spacey was a HUGE obsession of this place.

The Oscar threads, pre-Twitter, were spectacularly bitchy and funny.

The 9/11 "the World Trade Center is a big bottom" thread which was one of the few real time posts, I believe was been into the Library of Congress (seriously.)

David Ehrenstein was FABULOUS- he single-handedly exposed "Milky Loads", aka Andrew Sullivan, who was then more widely featured on Charlie Rose and other media shows.

Michael Musto posted here very often - he's not dead btw - Musto's still alive!

Finally, and most historically, even the New York Times remarked about one solitary, simple post, placed on here 6 months before the story broke: "Two Words Governor McGreevey: Golan Cipel"

[...]

The friendly librarian is still around, I just lurk more than post. This thread has brought up so many memories. The almiqui (all hail our mighty coconut overlords!). Cash bars at weddings. Lesbian potlucks (I recall something about crockpot meatballs with grape jelly in the sauce). I actually had the pleasure of meeting both Magdalene and Kirker for drinks on separate occasions in Las Vegas while I still lived there and they're both terrific people. I miss Price Leatherbarrow. A genuinely sweet, funny guy. Judy "Pills" Garland was hilarious. Does anyone still have the DataLoungeLand map? That was absolute genius!

[...]

Musto still posts here.

I enjoyed his index of celebrities he's worked with over the years!

How does one go about arranging an in-person meeting from someone they meet on an anonymous website with no “private messaging” feature?

[quote]Sockpuppets weren't possible prior to 2005, [R169], so quit trying to manipulate people into disregarding Troll-dar.

R268, you dingbat, I said Trolldar was GREAT and I wanted it back! I'm the one who disagreed with the guy who said "no one liked Trolldar" because a LOT of people like me loved it.

And yes, you could sockpuppet back then, just use a different browser or clear your cookies. Some people said they had both laptop and PC, or tablet and PC, and a few people posted with their Blackberries, giving them two or more devices to post from as well.

A big problem with DL these days are the people like r268 who don't understand what they've read, or they can't follow a conversation so they yell at you about something that another poster said. It's exhausting.

[quote]Downside: crazy posters stalking you around the site.

They still do. The poster who calls everyone a "retard" got mad at me about something months ago and every so often he shows up in a thread to randomly tell me he hopes my arms fall off or I catch fire or something. Not even a grease fire, just a regular fire! He's boring.

The Hurricane Katrina threads were incredible. Started far in advance of landfall and took us right through it.

R11FAT, Leanne Devette. .

R317, it was a different 'Lounge back then. There used to be DL meet up gatherings in NYC bars for the brave. Magdalene was coming in for a fetish convention at a hotel. We met up in the bar where a huge group was. Recognized a couple of the club owners from NYC in her group. Went out for dim sum at about 2 am. She's amazing. Kirker and I met up at the Buffalo (now closed Las Vegas old school leather bar with serious potent drinks) on an afternoon when there were only a few people in. If any other DLers showed up, they didn't identify themselves. Kirker got a ration of shit from some posters here, but he was a seriously good guy in person. Good times.

Kirker was insufferable on here and he brought a lot of it on himself, but there was a troll named Daniel Bexton who went after him unfairly.

Once Kirker posted about abandoning his date in line for several hours at a Perez Hilton meet & greet at SXSW, he was over.

I can believe that about kirker, r322. He could be a bit much, a bit earnest, more than a bit self-involved, but never seemed like a particularly bad guy. I remember he was catnip for this place though, and sometimes it really was cruel.

[quote] There used to be DL meet up gatherings in NYC bars for the brave. Magdalene was coming in for a fetish convention at a hotel.

I recall meeting her in NYC at a meet-up, she brought her hot=as=hell boyfriend too

The whole Marcia Cross thing was well before my time but it amuses me so.

Of COURSE it happened here

[quote]Were you the dude who was married to a woman?

R275 - I was and am too old to be a "dude" but yes, that's me.

Friday afternoon drinkie poo troll!

Tinabina was funny.

heh, will always love drinkie poo troll. In fact, tomorrow is Friday ...

R322, is a fetish convention anything like a comic-con?

R330 - um tomorrow is actually Thursday.

dammit, still want that drinkie poo r332

I remember TinaBina and the Drinkie poo troll. Also, the Jealous, Bitches? originator came up with some pretty good scenarios.

[quote]The 9/11 "the World Trade Center is a big bottom" thread

YOU may be a big bottom, but the WTC was an INSATIABLE one.

[quote]In the early years we even had a monthly in-person meet up at Julius’ every other Thursday evening.

Trying to figure out how a "monthly" meeting can happen every other week.

[quote]David E. also believes every actor is gay.

And Cheryl believed that NO actor is gay.

[quote]Star Jones' engagement and betrothal to Al Reynolds in 2004 brought forth the classic thread "The Marriage of Bigaro."

"Engagement" and "betrothal" are the same thing.

[...]

Super obsessed with the cast of LOTR.

The Kitimat threads

I miss the Galloping Gourmet poster.

I was here before the LOTRs - that stuff happened much later after I joined and I didn't really notice the prancing pony bs. The forums were big enough that you could easily avoid what you weren't interested in.

I found the prancing ponies hard to avoid

[quote]I forgot about Peg.

It was always "peg" with a small p.

"She" always used to goad with pro-Bush posts, but she forgot to authenticate. So Tequila Mockingbird authenticated "peg" and posted about her job mopping up jizz at an adult bookstore. It drove peg crazy. Because every time peg posted something, the authenticated peg would do an "I didn't write that rubbish" post

My favorite was when DL took field trips to other sites.

Like when we made the Houston paper for shaming that Woman Pastor who was demanding Louis Vuitton and Gucci handbag gifts to come to her birthday party.

Or the very anti-gay IHOP -- International House of Prayer -- where we posted salacious accusations about the Pastor's clumbsy attempts to rim us.

Or the British board trying to solve the Madeleine McCann mystery. And Lee Anne DeVette created an uproar with a "She had it coming!!!" thread.

r345, that comes back to me, forgot about that

I used to post as "Lee Anne DeVette" after Tom Cruise hired his sister of that name as his publicist (a really bad idea).

There was a get-together of DLers at a bar (I think in NYC). I didn't go, but, apparently, someone went and told everyone they were Lee Anne DeVette. I thought that was pretty funny. And as I had no desire for people to know who I really was it served my purposes rather well.

r336, also DLer's starting sockpuppets on facebook to troll the "one Million Moms" page

r348, that's sort of true. I would post as "leeann devet" to further troll the cruise threads and someone at the NYC meet-up (josh?) got me confused with the "real" Lee anne devette. no offense intended, i hope none was taken

R350 Thanks for clarifying that. Of course, no offense. I thought it was funny.

I'll admit to feeling awkward meeting real people in a bar that up to that point were "authenticated posters"

"My favorite was when DL took field trips to other sites."

There was a blog run by some Christian lady who said she didn't want Brokeback Mountain to win at the Oscars because she didn't want the Oscars to be "too gay"

Oh, and her favorite movie was Chicago. LOL.

R1 is funny. Of course there were racists here then, but it was nothing like it is now. Datalounge has become virulently more racist in the past 5-6 years.

Much more so, I agree. There are far more right-wingers here than there once were.

Which Lee Anne DeVette posted at that Z place?

I was to meet Justina in NYC. We had a mutual ATWT fetish. A friend and I were staying at the Muse. (I love it! Great beds and get a balcony room. Not a great view but fun.) Anyway, I think he texted me he was there and what he was wearing and I saw him walking away when I went down. Oh, well.

Hope things are going well for you, Justin!

Who's Justin?

another authenticated poster who rubbed some people the wrong way, especially those who followed soaps

He seemed sweet, but had his moments.

Thanks, 359.

R355 - I actually don’t think there are far more right wingers now than before. I think many of us just have the age and wisdom to be a bit more conservative in our thinking.

r362, if you're conservative then you don't have any wisdom.

[...]

R363 - ouch! That’s certainly painting a large group with a broad stroke. I know that as I age I become more conservative and lean to the right a tad more. I’m not flying a Trump flag, but I look at the issues more open minded. But I am the type to watch both Fox News and CNN so you may not value my opinion at all. I like to hear all sides and make my own mind up.

Not more racists, R354, just a ridiculously broadening of what is considered "racist" and more posters calling everyone a racist.

[...]

[quote]But I am the type to watch both Fox News and CNN so you may not value my opinion at all. I like to hear all sides and make my own mind up.

That tells me all I need to know about your judgment. Fox News is not geared toward people who like to make up their own minds.

no wise person ever watched Fox News

From Nov. 1996.

What are the flowers on the side?

Trudy?

[quote]Which Lee Anne DeVette posted at that Z place?

Me. I was asked to leave QWhip when I told "Daniel Bexton" what I thought of him.

[...]

r370, that link doesn't work

[quot]e I told "Daniel Bexton" what I thought of him.

you weren't the only one

[quote]No one who isn't a sheep watches CNN or MSNBC.

Go back to Parler, asshole.

[...]

Are you also Tybee, r371. He was also "asked to leave." Tell the truth?

Tybee adored DBex

I’ve been addicted to DL for about three years now so I’m technically a newbie.

The thread that made me laugh the hardest to date (that first pops to mind) was a “fake” story of someone who was given a job opportunity to cater a business lunch for like 40 people with a meager budget of $200 or something. And asked DL for help. Like that was the interview for a terrible job, in an apartment complex.

Can anyone find the link? I have it but it’s on my old laptop.

[...]

[quote]Are you also Tybee, [R371].

No. Absolutely not.

Tybee used to protect Mrs Patrick Campbell.

this is true

R377 Besides, I would never choose to moderate an Internet message board. What a thankless, time-consuming pain in the ass!

1) DL had more intellectual minds.

2) DL had actual Hollywood insiders. Most of those eldergays are already dead or dying.

3) There were fewer women posting.

4) Trans and Queer homophobes were not a force yet.

Tybee also protected that Octopus guy and PPSM (whatever that stands for). Tybee was too nice for his own good.

R385, obsessing over trans people and queer people wasn't a thing.

r386, I believe Roger Octopus was a troll from Qwhip. I did LOVE Roger's obsession with Joan Collins.

From 1995 to 2001, trans-related threads/topics/posts were immediately administratively removed.

Lee Anne DeVette would fight with PPSM and other people at Z all the time. It was hilarious. That remined me of the fun old DL.

I seem to remember more behind-the-scenes types of insiders. Prop guys and set designers, etc. People who saw celebrities for extended periods of time and could get a better sense of them than people who have one encounter and now "know" exactly what that person is like. I liked those threads.

[quote]I believe Roger Octopus was a troll from Qwhip. Lee Anne would troll Roger hard. Posting pics of a dirty van with clown curtains, an octopus on the side, and "FREE KANDY!" scrawled across the hood.

Dolly listens to stereolab

Remember Mrs. Slocombe?

She left in a snit to go to France.

And remember the other blogger Pollyanna Prisspot School Marm [sic.]? He was CONSTANTLY posting links to his food/travel blog. It was so annoying!

One of my favorite DL moments was on a thread dedicated to Judging Amy where a fired writer came on to defend herself. It was surreal.

[...]

Trans people were relegated to Maury Povich and Jerry Springer.

R379 - I remember that thread! Everyone had ideas to contribute (make a huge tub of potato salad, etc) I’d love to reread it if anyone finds the link!

R398 Yes, that one did turn into a riot. What was the title of the thread?

OMG! YES r392! I totally forgot that! Thanks for the reminder! So fucking funny!

Roger Octupus's van:

Here it is (I have some of these bookmarked): Dinner For 70-Odd People on a Budget

Here’s the one about the friend visiting NYC in 2008 with just a luggage carrier and a few hundred dollars. Hilarious. My Friend is Going On Vacation in NYC.

I haven’t looked through the thread, but didn’t OP give us his name at some point? Daryl?

He wasn't doing it to be nice, R386.

Well I liked Tybee, R386, and prefer to think well of him -- so there!

[quote]I believe Roger Octopus was a troll from Qwhip. Lee Anne would troll Roger hard. Posting pics of a dirty van with clown curtains, an octopus on the side, and "FREE KANDY!" scrawled across the hood.

I'm reasonably certain a long-time troll stole someone's real life identity and pretended to be them with the Roger Octopus character, because he was just TOO quick to reveal personal information about himself at the same time he was "accidentally" sounding like a pedo. I didn't know anyone else suspected the same thing until someone started their own forum called G Chat where we talked about the Z Board people, and others had picked up on the same weirdness, too.

Immediately the long-time troll in question filed a false complaint with Zetaboards and pestered them so much he got that G Chat forum shut down.

I absolutely will not say who I think it was, but I do know Roger tried to post here a few times but was always immediately banned, and posts deleted or threads he started shut down within moments. I suspect the moderators recognized his IP address as being someone else's, this was in the days before decent VPNs.

Why won't you say who you think it is, r406? This is all very old news so what could happen now? It's not 2010 you know.

Unless you're Tybee, r406?

I thought Roger stole someone's identity, too.

But Tybee told me in DMs that Roger was logging on every time from exactly where he claimed to live -- upstate NY.

I still think his faux-naive persona was con.

Wasn't it PPSM how fucked with Roger at Z?

It was the most interesting place, so many different forums, so much gossip. Soaps, Prancing Ponies, Politics, it was hard to keep up. I found DL from a poster at a soap site and never looked back. Daytime Emmy Awards was another big gossip forum at DL. The octopus p kept pimping colloidal silver as a cure all, so don't believe everything. The place was loaded with talent, a forum for jokes and they were hilarious. Anyone could post and talk about anything. Of course dying in grease fire or hanging was big for posters one didn't like. Reading a good book, pages and pages of good stuff.

For all its flaws, there were no retarded Chinese or Russian trolls. I wish they'd go back to eating bats and drinking cleaning products.

[quote]Wasn't it PPSM who fucked with Roger at Z?

PPSM did call out Roger but kept his powder dry for Mrs Patrick Campbell.

He, rightly, found MPC/Erna's AIDS and Holocaust denials unforgivable.

It's Friday night. How about a David Ehrenstein meltdown! Somebody start a thread and play him if he doesn't want to.

Wit and Wisdom, flames and freaks forums, fun reads.

Wit & Wisdom was an actual honor that had to be earned, and couldn't be manipulated. It actually resulted in the bitchery being much more savage and hilarious. I remember the few times I made the roll call I couldn't believe it.

Now the function is absolutely meaningless. If you're ever on in the early morning you'll see the Russian and Chinese trolls liking their posts several times minutes after posting.

///////////

It was more fun. Less political, unless discussing LGBTQ subjects. Great source of gossip and blind items. I miss some of the old regulars.

I came aboard in the summer of 2001. I dug the OLTL related threads (what can I say I always watched Y&R and OLTL, thanks to my grandparents)..

The 9/11 thread stands out most in my mind..

Years later, I really dug the Susie Lee threads- She was a class act. And it was really great for a long time until really nasty people started attacking her. I don't think she even cared, but the thread died. This must have been in the 2007-2009 timeframe??

To this day, I don't know some of the "inside jokes" here because it was before my time, or I paid no mind to it then.

This site has been a fun part of life and I am thankful for it.

[quote]It's Friday night. How about a David Ehrenstein meltdown! Somebody start a thread and play him if he doesn't want to.

Why are straight me so stupid?

[quote] I could have sworn Miss Helen Bedd was just Erna.

No.

Erna is obnoxious and persistent, but really all she wants to do is post her nonsense plural forms and talk about sizemeat and stinkfish and other worn out tropes from the 1960s. But she's rarely mean to other posters. She is deeply annoying butbasically harmless.

Miss Helen Bedd's whole shtick was going violently on the offensive for no clear reason to other posters and just savaging them. She's still the meanest poster I've ever seen on DL, and she was here for years.

[quote] It's Friday night. How about a David Ehrenstein meltdown!

All you had to do was insinuate either Lena Horne or Jason Priestley were closeted, and he would suddenly instantly appear, hysterical with outrage. It was like saying "Bloody Mary" three times into a mirror in a darkened bathroom.

yum-oooooooooooo !

R362 is just Boris the Nazi Incel, always trying to distort the DL consensus as his own, warped view.

Truth is, he wasn’t here shitting on every thread daily with his vicious, toxic put-downs and pot shots at every woman and minority —including gays — before 2012 or so. He’s an unwelcome, unhinged, lying infection.

We’re supposed to think ripping up the U.S. Constitution, cancelling law and order, accepting constant government lies and killing each other with COVID is just “wisdom” that comes with “age.”

Get fucked, Boris.

Back in 2006 we used to have separate forums for gossip and politics. I miss those days. 4 yeas of constant Trump spam ruined this site. I'm talking dozens of Trump threads every day. DL was obsessed with him. People who came for the gossip couldn't escape the trump shit so thiis site almost died. It all could have been avoided if we had separate forums for gossip and politics. Or, you know, if ignoring threads actually worked.

R418 Same. DL actually had some good gossip back in the day. It became way too political over the years and the gossip stopped. Even the entertainment threads got fewer.

R389 Back in those days trans people weren't a threat to LGB people the way they are now.

Trans people aren't a threat to gays. But Republicans are.

[quote]Trans people aren't a threat to gays.

SOME trans people are threats to gay people.

But most are not.

What memories this thread brings back! A co-worker introduced me to the site in 1997. I’ve been here since, but mostly as a lurker until about six years back. Although I did start a thread about the correct tip for the server at my wife’s 50th birthday party.

In 1997 there were very few posters. I remember going to Greece for a week and when I got back I was able to read every post in an hour. There were separate forums by topics, but the vast majority of posts were in gossip. I remember when hundreds of Ellen posts were moved from gossip to tv by the moderator. Of course, the site exploded in popularity within about two years. And then threads started, but the order was static. And then there was a while where there was an essay at the start. And then the threads moved up as posts were added.

At every change there were complaints and claims that things used to be better. Certainly there are more actual trolls now, as opposed to just super bitchy posters and harmless oddballs like the intestinal parasite troll and the NYU student obsessed with Bill Gates’ autism. (Ahh ‘97)

You’re never going to make right-wing propaganda “happen” on a gay site, Boris @ R410.

Go fuck yourself with a chainsaw.

[Quote] You’re never going to make right-wing propaganda “happen” on a gay site, Boris @ [R410]. Go fuck yourself with a chainsaw.

I would normally eat pussy losers like you alive but I told myself this year not to make life harder for cunts suffering from stage four cancer. Good luck, bipolar mental case.

In the beginning it was only a nickel a year to join. Life was so much simpler, and cheaper, back then.

Much like Oprah, Datalounge was like sweet potato pie.

It was actually fairly controversial when they first started charging.

I remember when Josh and Kirker had dinner together and reported back about it, being all "We're DL celebrities and we wanted to let you know what a fabulous time we had!"

And Tequila Mockingbird responded, "That's a whole lot of needy narcissism for one tabletop."

And they were all hurt by that, responding, "But we even said how much we liked you!" Tequila didn't care.

Ghetto Tara!

[quote]Erna is obnoxious and persistent, but really all she wants to do is post her nonsense plural forms and talk about sizemeat and stinkfish and other worn out tropes from the 1960s. But she's rarely mean to other posters. She is deeply annoying butbasically harmless.

Erna is Mrs Patrick Campbell though right? He's really nasty to others and not harmless, he's an AIDS denier and a conspiracy psycho who talks about how Jews have taken over the banks for their "new world order" and all sorts of creepy stuff like that. He said every single disease was invented by corporations or Jews and he would threaten people who said otherwise.

Yes, Erna is a MAGA loon who hates Jews and herself.

Only erna is a Fan of erna

[quote]I would normally eat pussy

Ew!

Erna is far from harmless. She's a holocaust denialist ffs.

[quote] I really dug the Susie Lee threads- She was a class act

I found Susie Lee to be a charlatan. She had info here and there, nothing most people couldn't find out themselves if they read a lot...I baited her once and she gave a very obvious wrong answer. Was she David Ehrenstein in disguise?

There's always a faker out there. There's someone on the Carmen McRae FB group who claims to be Carmen's daughter. This woman threatens everyone with lawsuits, and threatens to close the FB group down because they didn't get permission from HER. Most everyone believes her. I figure she's a relative of a friend of Carmen's, because she has home snapshots. (Carmen McRae was a lesbian and has no children)

Remember the person who used to post a litany of "I EAT OLD PEOPLE'S EXCREMENT!" posts when they disagreed with someone? There must have been 30 variations on that theme.

I think it was Justin, posting from a free computer in a public library.

r445 = Okie Iola. Hee!

It's formatted poorly r445 but all of them are listed here at #467.

The best part was that the punctuation on those always had an unnecessary space around it:

" I HAVE A BOOB JOB ON MY BACK "

The worms inside your inverted penis hole called, r433 / r410.

They said lying to yourself doesn't make you superior to anyone after all.

Part of r433's bipolar and schizophrenic delusions is thinking that nobody can tell he W&Ws his own posts in the absence of genuine, human support.

Exactly five W&W on all of your posts, really? I bet five people haven't even read this thread.

When you're letting out your last and dying of cancer please think of me laughing AT you, r448. I hope it's painful for you. You deserve it.

Sure, r449/Cancer troll. You have 15 ww in 5 min. Hope the Chemo fails.

[quote]Why won't you say who you think it is, r406? This is all very old news so what could happen now?

Looks like you just found out, smart guy.

[Quote] Looks like you just found out, smart guy.

I did? Where?

[Quote] bipolar and schizophrenic delusions is thinking that nobody can tell he W&Ws his own posts in the absence of genuine, human support.

Most of my posts in this thread have 0 WW so what are you blabbing about?

I called you bipolar because you are and then you call me the same. How original and dangerous of you. So scary. Take your meds, hon.

R447 I saved without the weird formatting:

I HAVE ANAL WARTS!

I EAT DOG SHIT I FIND IN THE STREET!

I’M A NURSING HOME RAPIST!

I HAVE TINY MEAT CLIT PUS!

I DO DONKEY SHOWS FOR A DIME IN TJ!

I HAVE SHIT STUFFED HOLES!

I’M A PLUSHIE!

I EAT OLD PEOPLE’S EXCREMENT!

MY PUSSY STINKS!

MY MOTHER IS MY SISTER!

I EAT PEANUTS OUT OF MY GRANDPA’S SHIT!

I SUCK PUS OUT OF ASS PIMPLES!

I EXPRESS MY DOGS ANAL GLANDS WITH MY TONGUE!

I STARRED IN TWO GIRLS ONE CUP!

I RIMMED JOHN WAYNE GACY!

I VOTED FOR BUSH TWICE!

I’M A COOZE!

I’M A REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER!

I’M A CUNT!

I WEAR RED HATS AND PURPLE CLOTHES!

I SHOP AT WALMART!

I WEAR STIRRUP PANTS!

I WEAR SOCKS WITH SANDALS!

I CHEW ON USED JIZZ RAGS AT ADULT BOOK STORES!

I WIPE BACK TO FRONT!

I HAVE LOOSE STOOL!

I POST UNDER THE NAMES LEE ANNE DEVETTE, OPRAH’S MINGE AND BRENDAD ICKSON!

I HAVE MAGGOTS IN MY ARMPITS!

I CAN SHOVE A WHOLE MIDGET UP MY ASSHOLE!

I LOVE PUFF PAINT AND SEQUIN SWEATSHIRTS!

I USE TWINKIES A TAMPONS!

I LIVE UNDER THE OKLAHOMA CITY BRIDGE!

I’M LOVE NECROPHILIA!

I WAS TIMOTHY MCVEIGH’S BITCH!

I USE MY DEAD GRANDMA’S LEG AS A DILDO!

I HAVE A BOOB JOB ON MY BACK!

I EAT STD INFESTED ASSHOLES!

MY DAD FUCKS MY HOLES EVERY DAY!

I’M A PEDO!

I BAREBACKED WITH JEFFREY DAHMER!

I CHEW CORNS OFF OF OLD LADIES FEET!

I EMPTY OUT COLOSTOMY BAGS AND BATHE WITH WHATS IN THEM!

I’M THE GUY GETTING FUCKED BY THE HORSE ON VIDEO!

WILFORD BRIMLEY SITS ON MY FACE AFTER EATING CHILI AND KRAUT!

I STICK TAMPONS IN MY ASSHOLE TO CONTROL LEAKAGE!

I ATE OUT GILBERT GRAPE’S MOTHER!

UNCLE DIRTY RUBS HIS SHITSTAINED THONG IN MY FACE!

MY MOM SHOOTS FRANKLIN MINT EGGS OUT OF HER SNATCH!

I COLLECT PRECIOUS MOMENTS AND HUMMELS AND HAVE FIBROMAYLIGIA!

I EAT TOE JAM AND YELLOWING TOE NAILS OFF THE MORBIDLY OBESE!

I DRIVE A YUGO!

I LICKED THE WALLS OF GAYLE GRINDS HOUSE!

MY MOM LETS ME GET MY R GS EVERY MONTH FROM HER SPECIAL PLACE!

I EAT BED SORES!

MY DAD CALLS ME HIS OWN PERSONAL TOILET!

r456 = Iola/Justin

Oh, yeah. This is old DL!

[quote]GRAND CENTRAL STATION

Do you mean the subway station or do you mean Grand Central TERMINAL?

Grand Central Station refers to the terminal, just as Penn Station always referred to the terminal. No one would call the subway station Grand Central Station.

I'm sure r462 is perfectly aware of the distinction but couldn't resist the impulse to be an asshole.

R463, Grand Central is not a "station" since all trains end there and do not have another stop, hence the name terminal. The subway Grand Central is a station since trains stop and go on to other station stops. Penn Station is actually a station, not a terminal.

The DL

[quote]Penn Station is actually a station, not a terminal.

It is a terminal also. LIRR and NJT end there.

No one on the planet says Grand Central TERMINAL.

Technically the LIRR trains head to the West Side Yard after discharging passengers at Penn Station.

But on the other hand, while Grand Central might be terminal for MetroNorth and the S, it is just another station stop for the 4, 5, 6 and 7.

So everyone is wrong.

It's like Grand Central Station on this thread!

R469, Grand Central - the computer rails - stops there. The SUBWAY, is an entirely different thing. But maybe you've never been on anything other than a subway. I feel sorry for you.

R471 did you you just attempt to insult me by insinuating that I sound like I don’t live in the suburbs?

Could you please insult me some more along those lines?

I loved the recipes

I love it when a fun thread gets stopped by OCD queens on DL endlessly fighting over something that doesn't matter.

"It does!"

"I doesn't!"

"Does!"

"Doesn't!"

"DOES!!!"

"DOESN't!!!!!!!!!"

[quote]posting about being gangbanged on a pool table in the back of a bar. —But who hasn't been?

Me. Is there anyway to fix this?

Ridleyville cumdump did some zoom conferences on the subject a while back

When you need to catch a train anywhere in the country and you need a ride there, do you say, "I need a ride to the train terminal"?

No. You say, "station."

It's Grand Central Station.

R477 too much information for a cab driver who doesn't speak English.

DL images took forever to load, thanks to dial-up. I would bake a cake while waiting to see a picture of Bea Arthur.

I baked a cak

I do miss the glory days of the Wit & Wisdom sidebar. Often the quotes chosen were both witty and wise, and many of them came from threads I hadn't bothered to read. It was like a Best Of feature.

I liked that too r481. I don't mind the current w w system, but maybe a little bit of Muriel Picks some W W of her own might not be terrible.

It was

I'm not reading through 200 plus replies to say

DENNY. The man with the three wheeled Samsonite traveling around Manhattan bars was DENNY.

I stand corrected, it was DANNY.

And here is the thread.

It was very free like the Wild West

[quote]It was very free like the Wild West

Were you one of the saloon gals?

did you wear a black hat?

I don't know if they were around in 1995, but I miss redtags. I know Muriel brought them back in limited form, but they were better in the old days.

I started the "Footballers in Love" thread that spawned about 2500 other threads that went on for years. I don't even watch soccer. Sorry.

Red tags don't even work as intended. Two 'prominent' DLers were red tagged recently, and at least one of them has already returned, posting as normal.

I think both have r491, that's unfortunately what happens with red tags, they must expire or maybe people can easily create new accounts without being spotted.

it was like . . . when doves cry

No. Just no

All these crazy threads are like Justin OCD shit.

really?

Correction:

r362 DOESN'T WANT YOU TO THINK "there are far more right wingers now than before" because r362 is Boris DeFuckwit, the right-winger, who takes a toxic dump disparaging minorities or Democrats On. Every. Thread. and thinks he can trick everyone into believing right-wing hate views and Fake News.

i.e. r362 just doesn't want you to think.

"Age and wisdom" = Diving head-first into the far-fetched cons of a pathologically criminal nutcase and orange slime mold who took Russian bribes in exchange for capturing the White House, then used the government to extort personal fortunes out of world leaders and industry, left all his promises unfulfilled, let 500,000 Americans die of COVID nonchalantly, tried to cancel democracy, ignored laws he didn't like, got impeached twice and kicked out of the White House, then lied about the election being stolen and plundered his sucker base for more money.

So "wise." So "conservative."

DL users are supposedly "not intelligent" because we Block and Ignore liars and some are sick and tired of the toxic, unfunny, monotonous put-downs of innocent people.

"Informed adults" want to inform us that a legitimate election was stolen, that American jobs and benefits rose under the job-losing Donald Trump, that Obama is a foreign-born Muslim and Hillary is trafficking your kids for sex slavery in a basementless pizza parlor's basement.

Quality "information" and you're "immature" if you block it.

NICE TRY, BORIS.

. I think many of us just have the age and wisdom to be a bit more conservative in our thinking.

OP, the answer to your question:

It did not have crazy paranoid freakshows like r497 conducting his own personal witchhunts. Also, people were very strict about coming godnw on other posters if they posted in all-caps, like he is doing.

Nothing triggers Boris DeFuckwit and his butt-hurt tantrums more than exposing him for what he is.

A LYING, RIGHT-WING COWARD who thinks we're all as stupid as Trump supporters and will fall for anything like r498.

[quote]Also, people were very strict about coming godnw on other posters

AT LEAST MY ALL-CAPS CONTAIN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, DEFUCKWIT!

What's a "coming godnw?" Is that the divine title for Cheeto-Christ Stupid Czar?

Have you told your Republican readers you threw Trump under the bus after 5 years of sucking his balls? That will go over well with the other Nazis.

[quote]My favorite was when DL took field trips to other sites.

This is post-2005, but the best field trip ever was the one we took to the old Daily Mirror forums during the Maddie McCann media frenzy. We worked those British fraus into a lather, I must say.

I don't think this Defarto person is an old DLer. I've been here since 1995 and I don't remember his trollery then. He's a new one since Orange Shitstain. I blocked him a few months back but I'm positive he's not an "old" poster.

Point being, don't listen to him regarding the old times.

I remember when we field-tripped over to One Million Moms. That was a hoot.

The names alone were genius: Norma May Bates, Gertrude Snoddy, Cheryl Bexton, and Judy Bills-Garland.

I remember all those R504. Goddam it, it was fun back then. I'd be in stitches laughing so hard my stomach hurt and people at work would be staring at me.

[quote]I don't think this Defarto person is an old DLer. I've been here since 1995 and I don't remember his trollery then. He's a new one since Orange Shitstain. I blocked him a few months back but I'm positive he's not an "old" poster.

Our old right-wing trolls—peg, dickfitz, Longe, Lindy, etc.—never stuck around for very long because they'd get flamed to a crisp. peg in particular always hit and ran and never tried to defend herself.

I was absolutely transfixed by the saga of Kelli the Muse and Her Lovelorn Swain, Nick Carter. Unfortunately, somebody tipped her off about us.

I must have stayed off of HelenBedd's radar as I never had any run ins with her. Did it die perhaps?

I remember when DavidaR first hit the scene with long wordy posts about George Clooney secretly managing her career and her "I will take a lie detector test" proclamations. She was of course savaged and deservedly so but she hung around and went off her rocker when he married Amal. She was kicked off of several other websites for her really nasty, vindictive posts and one of the other message board webmaster's wandered over and was all "man, that crazy bitch is here too?" I guess DR had mentioned DL on that website. Some say she is still here but I blocked her finally and I don't think she clear her cookies that often.

WHET Dawn Davenport, Ivana Kipling and Lynn Stairmaster? And LondonGuy, was that his moniker?

God, I loathed David Ehrenstein. Arrogant piece of shit.

[quote] peg in particular always hit and ran and never tried to defend herself.

peg just wanted to troll. She lovedposting shit that would get people upset, and they'd try to call her out but she'd never respond.

I wonder what happened to Peg? NanMichygynWoman (was that it?) was real or not or just a humorous DL archetype someone made up?

peg once claimed to be a lesbian mom in the Pacific Northwest, but "she" was strongly rumored to be Patrick Guerriero, who was president of the Log Cabin Republicans in the mid-2000s.

Nan Michiganwomyn was a DL character, along with her dyslexic protegee, pussylips.

Peg = Greg

R505, same. I’ve gotten so many great laughs out of this place over the years (and learned so much as well). It’s definitely not what it used to be, but DL will always hold a special spot in my heart.

I was a real Arroz con Pollo fan. Is he still around?

I was a crazy mint fan

R502 I didn’t say anything about the old times. I started posting here 2 years ago.

I used to enjoy Blue Agave's posts. He was a wise, elder gay with great stories.

I remember DL when it was just writing on cave walls.

R520.

I do recall the prancing ponies with no joy at all

[quote]2002-2003 on weekends you’d get the batshit crazy trolls because Webby was off until Sunday.

Does anyone else remember that time MPC absolutely lost his crackers over Thanksgiving weekend (or maybe Memorial Day weekend, I've forgotten which holiday) and caused so many problems that apparently some moderator came into work just to shut the whole site down until they came back on Monday to deal with it? I can't remember what set MPC off but he was psychotic, the usual hateful and HIV-denying stuff, but also saying that DL was a MKUltra CIA project located in a bunker in Iowa.

nope, glad I missed that, she's a fucked up mess though

My favorite Erna/MPC story was when a scat fetish site posted a scathing review of her self-produced porn videos.

Blech. What a mess

R501 lmao. That I would like to see.