So I was over at this thread (because, well, I started it) and it occured to me - not everyone got here the same way I did, and I’m interested in knowing how you guys found this place.
I followed a link from the jokeaday.com website. I didn’t know about Cecil Adams until I got here, and I’d never before been to a message board.
It sure does seem like I’m starting an awful lot of threads lately. I’m hope it’s not annoying…
Via Wordorigins ezboard. I wish I had found this board years ago, it’s informative, entertaining and therapeutic. Thanks SDMB.
Firstly, Straight Dope books that used to be around in second-hand shops in Auckland in the 80’s. Loved the Master’s work. Then stumbled upon the main site while looking for Dave Barry stuff in 2000. After a while, decided to give the messageboard a shot.
From www.bored.com
I’d never seen or heard of Straight Dope before that.
The Opera web browser comes with a default set of bookmarks. I was bored one day and decided to check a few of 'em out.
I Googled for information on what “colitas” were, from The Eagles’ “Hotel California”. One of the links took me to Cecil’s article. At last, I found out what they were! I’d never heard of Cecil or The Straight Dope before. I read the whole archive, then I discovered the message board. I’d never been to one of those, either. I lurked for awhile and got a feel for the place, and started posting. I agree with the recent thread on how nice it is here as compared to other boards, which, if they’re as described, I don’t even need to investigate. There are a lot of smart, funny people here.
Same for me.
I picked up the first SD book browsing in a bookstore, and was hooked. Started hanging out in the AOL chat and was hooked. Moved over here, lurked for many, many years, and finally registered.
I love urban legends. I was googling – well, I forget which urban legend I was looking for. It doesn’t matter. I fell into the Straight Dope, the archives of which I perused daily for quite some time. After I sent the link for Cecil’s site to my friend who shall remain screen-nameless, my friend wrote back saying, "Haven’t you tried their message board?? It’s awesome!! " And the rest is history. 60 posts or whatever later, I’m still a newbie, but damn, I LOVE this board!
One day I typed “I need something interesting to read” into Google. That led me to the Teeming Millions home page. On that home page was a message about the SDMB being down and what a horrible thing it was not to be able to access it.
So I decided I needed to find out what the heck the SDMB was. I’m sure glad I did, I’ve had hours or fun reading this board.
My FIL gave me one of the books ages ago.
Then, when I got to a job with reliable Internet access, I decided to search for Straight Dope.
I think I read all the old columns over the space of a week’s lunch hours. Then, I peeked in to the message board, and got sucked into the vortex. 
I think I was trying to find the scientific study about whether to walk or run in therain to keep dry. I think I found the boards immediately.
withaK got me hooked on the boards.
Went to friend’s house. Saw one of the Cecil books. Wonderful! Noted website addy. Came here.
I found out about SD on bored.com. Before then I had no clue about it.
I have been reading and lurking since the Old AOL days.
Aol had a blurb on the main page. Been here ever since.
I was playing some trivia and googled for information about the poison in Daddy Longlegs. It sent me to one of Cecil’s articles. After a few weeks of browsing the archives I made my way over to the boards.
Well flamingbananas, Lobsang, and wei… i got from www.bored.com also!
I used to check Cecil’s article every day, then i noticed Threadspotting and started reading that too… then i found the link to register and here i am!
One day, I was bored and on the internet. What’d I do? I typed in bored.com and it surprised me that a site was there. The Straight Dope link piqued my interest for whatever reason, and I went through Cecil’s archives for a while. One day I realized I had a question that the message board might have an answer for. Thus began the addiction.
I blame my sociology teacher for my SDMB addiction. I love this bored. Somehow in class one day we were talking about poverty and he brought this message board up. That night I registered and was hooked.