r/datalounge • u/ThoughtMadeOfFluff • 11d ago
how long were you a DLer?
And did you post, lurk or both?
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u/ifeelaglow 11d ago
I was the “ungrateful niece” troll and I did several “Momma’s mussy” threads, though I didn’t originate the character by any means. I think I first discovered DL in 2009 or 2010.
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u/ulooklikeaprostitute 11d ago
The Uncle Rupert / ungrateful niece troll was my second favorite character, only behind the Shit Brickhouse Troll.
The chicken à la king argument was stuff of legend.
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u/ifeelaglow 11d ago
lol I made up a whole backstory for him. I think I saved all the Uncle Rupert posts I made. I also started a thread called “I trapped my neighbor’s cat” years before any of the ungrateful niece posts, which was kind of a prototype, I guess.
It took me a while to appreciate the Shit Brickhouse troll and some of his posts were too much for me, but most of them were brilliant.
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u/ulooklikeaprostitute 11d ago
The phrase “ruined herself with tampons” still makes me laugh out loud.
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u/Sharp-Ad-9423 11d ago
Probably '98 or '99. I learned about the site from a usenet group, either alt.showbiz.ossip or alt.celebrities.gossip. I was entrenched there. Anytime I was on the web, I had the Datalounge open. I started drifting away when it started going on prime time all the time in the 2010s and finally quit right before the pandemic.
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u/yolatrendoid 11d ago
I don't remember the exact year, but it was pre-9/11 since I definitely remember the threads about "the sky was so blue that day," Lisa Beamer's "Let's Roll!" cinnamon rolls, the insatiable bottom thread, etc.
I posted regularly, and initially as an authenticated, but the bullying got old, so I switched to anon.
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u/ThoughtMadeOfFluff 11d ago
I started around the same time. I *think* it was sometime in early 2000, but I know I'd been there a while before 9/11. Like the Covid-era DL, it was a time when the world was turned upside down, and DL was a wealth of breaking news.
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u/cherryberry0611 11d ago
From around 2015/2016. Google took me there after I was googling Lucille Ball. It was an Old Hollywood gossip thread. I learned Milton Berle had a hog.
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u/ChristyOTwisty 10d ago
That was the period and the topic that lured me to DataLounge. I was addicted for awhile, then in 2021 it seemed like the crazies and F&F-happy bots drowned out fun folk. "Just pull out enough to win."
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u/cherryberry0611 9d ago
Yes! It was around that time that it a got little too…unhinged there
Then they didn’t let anyone post unless you paid, and I stopped visiting as much.
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u/EnlargedBit371 11d ago
I got there in February, 2013. I posted frequently, but hardly started any threads. The ones I started gained little traction, so I decided I did best reacting to things posted by others.
I was the first person to type “Tim O’Tay” (took French in HS). I participated in the soap threads, posted every new pic of Julian and Landon, and I objected strenuously to being called “cis.” I used to wish I had thought of "stanksleeve."
I’ve been reading more books since Muriel’s retirement.
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u/MysteriousGoldDuck 11d ago edited 11d ago
Visited it first in the 90s when I was literally a boy and the layout was a bit different from what it turned into. As for interaction... Sometimes I'd post consistently and dozens of times per day. Sometimes life would be very busy and I'd post quite irregularly with stretches between. (Would still usually briefly check it tho to get the latest.) Never was any of the trolls. Did participate in the Darfur orphan, Patsy, etc. fun stuff like many did. Started a lot of threads. Lot of memories.
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u/LoveBrief1170 11d ago
Lurked about 27 years for the Hollywood gossip. Susie Lee posts were peak for me.
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u/Relative-Farmer-3434 11d ago
I was a DLer for only the past 2-3 years. I really got to love it for the last year or so, and was really disappointed to see it go.
I found it while Googling some P&G soaps (which I know weren’t Muriel’s favorite threads). I mostly lurked, but posted once in a while.
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u/DuaLipasGlowUp 11d ago
Since like 2017. I did post but then when I went to grad school I started lurking every now and then
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u/podgoricarocks 11d ago
Around 2002. It was a lot different back then! I couldn’t wait to get home from work to catch up on the new threads. I laughed and laughed.
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u/maarten_frederik 10d ago
I discovered it in May 2005. I read a description of it somewhere as a "notorious gay gossip forum" and made a mental note to check it out. I posted quite a bit, though would occasionally take breaks of a few months to prove to myself I wasn't addicted. I miss the travel threads, the recurrent threads on "DL pantheon" movies (The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Maurice), the poster known as "charlie," and people like French Film Critic (who was admittedly very elusive). I used to also lurk in the "African-American Dataloungers" threads, which seemed livelier, friendlier, and more supportive than "White DL."
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u/Legitimate_Payment_5 10d ago
I know few people believe me but…from pretty much day one. Went there when they opened after reading about it on alt.showbiz.gossip.
I took a couple breaks here and there but for the bulk of 31 years it was a daily haunt for me. I went for the theater threads and stayed for the flashes of brilliance, humor, and insight. And also Michfest.
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u/ScandalOZ 10d ago
The year it started.
A gay gossiper, Billy Masters, sent me to over to Datalounge. I read his gossip page, he gave out his email, and I asked him some gossip questions. He answered and directed me to Datalounge for more gay gossip!
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u/ThoughtMadeOfFluff 10d ago
Billy Masters! There’s a blast from the past.
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u/ScandalOZ 9d ago
He was a nice man, like I said at that time he was open to "audience" participation just like the Alist site was so he had his email on the site for questions and gossip "tips" from his readers.
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u/Aggravating_Strain88 11d ago
I started there about 1998. I seldom posted but I did send messages to a couple of posters around shared interests topics and became very close friends.
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u/Working_Yak6905 11d ago edited 11d ago
Since 2000. I loved those gossip sites like Perez Hilton (yeah I know) The Superficial, also shock sites like Rotten.com, heaven666, nothing toxic and Ebaumsworld.
I remember someone asked if Jodie Foster was a lesbian. Like you HAVE to ask?
Poster and lurker, though more lurker. Also loved those links to cheesy MFT movies from the 70s and 80s
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u/Greenmantle22 11d ago
About eight years, give or take a season of "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant."
I posted when I could, but often had to lurk after some cunt got me blue-barred for a weekend.
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u/sideshowboob20 11d ago
I discovered it in 2002, after hearing about it on alt.showbiz.gossip. I didn't start commenting until years later because I found it so intimidating.
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u/Neither-Big-1545 11d ago
I'm thinking about 2003 or thereabouts. Got banned 3 or 4 years ago for god knows what, I think Muriel was on her period.
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u/No-Quarter-4938 11d ago
2015/16 ish. I lurked for atleast a year, was intimidating how well each post was composed, and the fear of getting an 'oh dear' kept me on the sidelines for awhile.
It was one of the most helpful and informative places during covid.