Let's get together for another poll!

[ChrisGreaves]

By "face-to-face" I mean that you were able to shake hands,or hug, or similar. I suppose that hands-on-the-glass in a gaol visit would count too.
You might have met in passing at an airport or train station, you might have shared a coffee or a meal, you might have spent several hours strolling together through town.
And by "member" I mean a person who has contributed at least once to Eileen's Lounge - not the spouse, partner, parent or offspring.
Cheers
Chris

[HansV]

If I include Woody's Lounge, I've met at least 21 of them.

[Doc.AElstein]

I expect the real contact relative to member numbers could be quite high here compared to many forums… this will give the place a bad Corona infection risk rating …

[ChrisGreaves]

If I include Woody's Lounge, I've met at least 21 of them.

Hmmm. I thought of including Woody's, but that would open a whole new can of worms , because this topic sits on Eileen's Lounge, and so is very well defined.
If we include another technical forum such as Woody's, then we ought to include too the AmiPro Online Users Group and then I would claim that I met members of the Dallas-based Blue Wave BBS some 20+ years ago, and in 1996 or thereabouts members of the Terrace Standard BBS, and then who hasn't met members of CRS, and then we start wandering around newsgroups, and before too long someone once got technical support by email from ...

If you have voted, you don't need to disable your vote provided that you have met at least one contributing member of Eileen's Lounge.

Thanks
Chris

[HansV]

If I count Eileen's Lounge members only, the number is 18.

[stuck]

My tally is two. Nearly three but the timing didn't work out so the closest we got was exchanging text messages from different parts of London.

The second person I met with was a pre-arranged 'event', a simple meet in a coffee shop. The first meeting was unplanned yet it lasted a lot longer than either of us anticipated. Despite that, we're still talking to each other.

Ken

[ChrisGreaves]

I expect the real contact relative to member numbers could be quite high here compared to many forums… this will give the place a bad Corona infection risk rating …

Well, Doc, you know how much I hate to disagree in (or on) a public forum , but ...
... I would argue that Loungers, for all their meetings are much more likely to maintain electronic relationships than people were say, 30 years ago, when some of us trooped down to the Much Binding-in-the-Marsh PC Users Group every Wednesday night 6pm-6:30pm and then off to the pub afterwards.

That is, in addressing "Eileens Lounge" I am speaking of people who are committed to non-contact communication which makes face-to-face meetings all the more unusual.

Makes Sense?

Cheers
Chris

[Argus]

If I include Woody's Lounge, I've met at least 21 of them.

As I've thought for some time, meeting just one and you are then only one handshake away from the rest.

[ChrisGreaves]

My tally is two. Nearly three but the timing didn't work out ...

I hope that Hans knows all about this! Tell me about it!

... The first meeting was unplanned ...

Hi Ken, would you care to share, in general terms, how you met and recognized a lounger who (I assume) you had not previously met face-to-face?
I think that I might have met Pickering-Bob in Toronto, even met him in a training class, and not ever thought that he might be "Grand Duke" or some such alias on Eileen's Lounge.

Cheers
Chris

[stuck]

In the case of the unplanned meeting, it was very late one night that the suggestion to meet came about and it was even later when I got off the train at the relevant station. It was easy to pick out the Lounger on the platform, he was the only person not heading for the exit but obviously looking for someone!

The planned meeting was arranged because we both knew we'd be in the same city on the same date so we met at a fixed point at a fixed time. It wasn't hard to figure out that the person I was looking for was the guy, stood still, looking at everyone that seemed to be heading his direction.

Ken

[Jay Freedman]

Chris, does sending four members of my family to meet you in Toronto count? No, I guess not...

[StuartR]

I have met quite a few. I very nearly met Claude once, when I had a 5 hour layover in Sydney airport, but he wasn't feeling well so we cancelled.

[BobArch2]

Had a very pleasant lunch with the poll-taker at Jack Astor's Bar & Grill a few years back!

[HansV]

I have met quite a few. I very nearly met Claude once, when I had a 5 hour layover in Sydney airport, but he wasn't feeling well so we cancelled.

We both met Claude in London in 2012!

[StuartR]

Oh yes, so we did. I had forgotten that one! Thank you for the reminder.

[PaulB]

I had the pleasure of meeting Chris for lunch when he visited Ottawa a few years ago. Chris, the waitress at the Chances 'R' restaurant still asks after you after all these years, you charmer, you.

[ChrisGreaves]

In the case of the unplanned meeting, it was very late one night that the suggestion to meet came about ... The planned meeting was arranged because we both knew we'd be in the same city on the same date so we met at a fixed point at a fixed time.

Thanks Ken.
In a sense then the meeting was planned in that you had agreed to meet, albeit at relatively short notice.

I had visions of two strangers waiting to cross a busy London street, one turning to the other and saying "Excuse me old chap, but would you happen to be stuck?" or similar, and then the truth spilling out over the sidewalk footpath.

Cheers
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

Chris, does sending four members of my family to meet you in Toronto count? No, I guess not...

Jay!!!!!
This comment sent my mind into a faster-than-usual spin.

YES!
I now have a vague image of meeting four folk in Toronto, but I cannot place the year or the place.
Prior to 2012 I lived on the border of Etobicoke and Mississauga, so we might have met up at The Montreal Deli.
2012 on-wards I existed in the downtown core, so we would have met perhaps at the Eaton Chelsea.

Now in fairness to me, over the years I did meet various family members or colleagues who were dropping by, but to be perfectly honest (as if I ever lied!), I do not file those meetings away; they are more like very enjoyable or serendipitous flashes of life in an otherwise humdrum world.

Now to your fair question: I did specify "not the spouse, partner, parent or offspring.", but had I remembered your family I would have added a codicil, and then I could have answered "Yes"

Cheers
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

I have met quite a few. I very nearly met Claude once, when I had a 5 hour layover in Sydney airport, but he wasn't feeling well so we cancelled.

Ah! Hello Stuart.
You and I came close to meeting in the period 1978-80 when I was based in London. Our paths must have come so close to crossing⁽¹⁾ over that 36-month period, but sadly, we did not meet, and had we met, we would not then have been qualified as members of Eileen's Lounge.
⁽¹⁾Unless you spent the entire period in Dagenham; I know for a fact that I never ventured that far East while sober.
Cheers
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

Had a very pleasant lunch with the poll-taker at Jack Astor's Bar & Grill a few years back!

That may be, Bob, but I really went there to explore the exquisite beauty of Rural Canada.
And what charming young ladies they were.
I can picture them yet.
Were you, by any chance, the fellow about my age who sat across the table from me and kept trying to obstruct my view of the youngsters?
If so, I would like you to know that after all these years, I am close to forgiving you for that.
Cheers
Chris