Happy 20th SDMB!
actually I discovered the dope because of a reprinted readers digest article about it the late 80s …… and then years later I discovered it again on aol
I never joined the aol mb and really avoided boards due to the stupid fighting ….in fact other than ones for a type a wrestling game I pla y a harvest moon game series one and gamefaqs ive never really joined very many boards and I even took a long break from here
My reaction is the same. I haven’t been here since the very beginning, but 90% of it, it seems (since 2001).
It really doesn’t feel like I’ve been posting on the dope for so long. I’m not sure if it was my very first post, but at least the first I remember was arguing with ** Libertarian ** , I think it’s the name he used at the time, (later became Liberal, and then disappeared) and being totally amazed that someone wouldn’t take as granted that public aid to developing countries was a good thing (I don’t remember if he was opposed to such public aid, only that he refused to consider it self-obvious), that’s how insulated I was (and I didn’t really expect I could meet a libertarian outside of a zoo, either).
It was a time when I was feeling that this board’s politically leaning was significantly to my right, while nowadays I feel it’s very long away to my left.
It was also a time when my age (36) seemed about average on this board. Unfortunately, my current age (53) still seems about average on this board, which I suspect is a problem.
I signed on in December of 1999, but the first time I encountered the Straight Dope was a column in the paper in Chicago: Is it true that male pigs have corkscrew shaped penises?
I have rarely laughed so hard. When I first got a computer I went looking and found the Dope. Remember when it used to shut down for one hour every day?
Happy Anniversary! I see a few people on this thread that joined before me; but not many. (TubaDiva, AHunter3, whitetho) It’s been a good ride. I guess I’ll stick around.
Like many, I came over from the AOL boards. I vistited the usenet group back in the day too. Good Times.
Yay ninety-niners! Having met the Dope on the Baltimore City Paper in the early 80s and a.f.c-a in the early/mid 90s and eventually having all the books (and even getting quoted in one), Cecil and the Teeming Millions have been sort of recurring characters through most of my adult life. It has been quite a ride with people and moments both pleasing and infuriating. Let’s see what more is to come…
I LOVE these guys! Thanks!
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
yep…BTW what happened to Jerry? the original it guy?
I was on the AOL board as well. Then I migrated to AFC-A for a while, because I didn’t like that on the web version, you had to click everything: I preferred to be able to use the keyboard and arrow keys to navigate.
And I don’t think anyone has mentioned that there was even a new Usenet group created for the AOL refugees called something like misc.straightdope. But IIRC it didn’t really catch on, so we went back to AFC-A. The guy I remember most from that time was George, HpstrDufuz. Anyone know what happened to him?
Retired, I think.
Jenny
I see him on Facebook occasionally. Life rolls on.
Jenny
Oh cool, tell him I said hi! (Or, wait, maybe he wouldn’t know who I am since I use a different SN.)
Too many memories to talk about all in one place. 