BriarRosie
<font color=blue>Creator of Tag Fairy Haiku:<br>Cl
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2002
- Messages
- 11,164
there are groups or what some call 'cliques', but not sure i would 'label' them that way, i like the 'active participants' as a better term, i mean labels aren't usually nice anyhow, regardless of what they are. "cliques" sounds so evil high school cheerleader-esque.
there are folks that have been on here a lot, met in person and really bonded, so yes, they share inside jokes and really know each other. that can make others feel left out from time to time. but like Kevin said- speak up, ask about the history of the inside joke- insert yourself, find your own special circle of friends and create your own inside jokes.
i don't consider myself part of the active participant group. doesn't hurt my feelings, i don't feel left out. i simply know i don't have the time to get to know everyone i would like to and can't spend as much time here as I would like too (If i could, i'd be on here all day!)- and that's because of me. between work, my son and everything else that demands my time, unfortunately, making friends here falls down the list a bit, however much i might hate that. i do have a lot of friends here though and you can always find a good laugh and definitely SUPPORT. even from those i've never met in person and that is a pretty amazing gift (thanks DIS!)
i did the podcast cruise last year and met wonderful folks here, even with the limited time i had (needed to be helping my mom around the ship a lot). i wish i could cruise with you guys again, but family once again won that battle for December. i know i will miss out on the cruise and will hate it, and be envious of all the new memories developed and new inside jokes, but at the same time, maybe i'll pop up in flattie form or something or be able to run into a few before the cruise!plus, i get to experience it all in the eyes of all of the DISers, which is a lot of fun in itself.
groups of people that share common interests, opinions, insights or heck, just live near each other from the DIS are bound to bond and become close. there's nothing wrong with that. it's fabulous! and i guess it is human nature for some people to feel 'left out' or threatened by that. i say, that's unfortunate, but they can change that themselves.
It's funny that you should mention "active participant" groups. I didn't go on the podcast cruise last year, but I did attend DIS-A-Palooza. So I met a lot of the same podcast cruise people.
But then, I've met OTHER affinity groups at WDW within the DIS (or planning to.) Let me explain...
Last October, a bunch of us foodies from the Restaurants board helped another DISer celebrate her 40th birthday. She had even taken a parody of Homer Simpson (designed by a friend) eating Spaceship Earth and turned it into buttons we wore at the festival. Cast members and guests all loved the buttons. We're planning on doing a meet at this year's festival on 10/10/10.
This July, a group of gals who played VMK (who posted frequently on the VMK forum) are planning to meet up at WDW for a girls' trip.
And in December, I booked a cruise specifically because I've heard so much about how fun the first podcast cruise was. I will be there with 700 of my closest friends.
So for me, it's not just the Unplugged "cool kids". I enjoy meeting the "cool kids" from everywhere on the DIS. If that makes any sense. I feel like such a "friend hopper". There should be a FastPass for me.
