I think this thread makes a good point though. It has become all a bit wierd on here lately with almost ever thread getting diverted into jokes aimed at posters and maybe the meetups have been responsible for this a bit as people have got to know each other more personally.

I'm not saying meetups are a bad idea as such but maybe we should try to keep the personal chat to PM's and also encourage new posters a bit more.

In days gone by, 9 posters meant uberdebate on this forum, however, since our move to this new site, like City from Maine Road, participation has dropped significantly in the evening hours.

I can well remember stupity at gone 2am with SB (okay, the good lady was in a totally different time zone then) and the evening session was generally the most active of the day.  Now, it feels like that we post what we can to avoid our contractual obligations to our employers during office hours and hope that by the time we log on at the beginning of our next shift, someone has been on when we've not been arsed.

I hold my hands up.  Before they shipped our IT to Sri Lanka, my company used to block me from the old forum.  Since our recent buy-out and the forum's move to a new hosting site, I have been able to log back on and ruin lives without so much as an inquisitive call from the IT service desk enquiring as to why my keyboard had recently typed a rather offensive swear word.

Has familiarity bred contempt?  Have the meet-ups meant that many of us now have other ways of communicating with each other?  Has the mystique of being a poster on here been diluted by meeting each other?  I've been contributing for nearly three years now and have never been to a meet.  You can argue it's because I'm a lazy bastard, however, I have met Rik P on several occasions as we share a mutual friend.  Or is it because over time, I have grown to respect and develop soft spots for various posters because they know they can come on here and be themselves, rather than be their 'normal' selves when meeting new people?

That's going to be tested at the end of next month if our planned Golf-And-Booze weekend goes ahead in Exeter at the end of March.  I'm equally excited and nervous about it but felt it was about time I insulted folk face to face rather than hiding behind this monitor.

What say you folks?  Has it been case of evolution rather than revolution, or is it simply that you all have much more fulfiling lives than having to log on here after dark to get your kicks like this sad old twat?