Quote:
Originally Posted by TOTV Specialist
What would you consider to be important or helpful for people considering moving to the Villagers to know? Any do's or don'ts?
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Remember that regarding this forum: most posters are regulars, know each other either from the forum or personally offline. There are inside jokes, and many of them often post to be amusing and clever even when a new forum member is asking what they believe to be a serious question.
Many of these members seem to be dismissive. And perhaps they are, sometimes. But they aren't intending to be. I've met some of the most lovely, genuinely NICE people here in my visit these past few days, and I'm pretty sure that at least a couple of them are semi-regular posters here.
I think some of them might have been in a financial position that they could afford to be glib about their approach to retirement. And maybe they don't have the same perspective of some of us, who are retired primarily because we're in specialized fields that can hire cheaper, younger, for a longer period of time (and therefore we're sort of forced into retirement before we're eligible for social security or medicare). Some of us have pretty serious concerns, because we simply can't afford to be glib, and we can't afford to make a $250,000 mistake with the rest of our lives.
But these folks here on this Talkofthevillages forum are the real deal, for all their teasing and inside jokes and sugarplum fairy sweetness. And StepfordWifisms. They want us all to love their community as much as they do, and will do whatever they can to make us feel welcome. Even the ones that we think "don't really get us."
tl;dr: the residents of The Villages really ARE as lovely as the ads say they are. They need to remember though, that loveliness doesn't always translate on a text-based forum, and when a newcomer who doesn't live in TV yet is asking a serious question, they're looking for a serious answer - not a thread filled with jokes.