# A note from Cecil Adams about The Straight Dope
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [June 28, 2018, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891 "2018-06-28T03:20:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 11
### Author:  [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/201 "2018-07-04T12:51:37Z")
So do you have any information you can share on the secession plan? I guess we don’t ever have to know the name of any new admin but it’d be nice to know there was one.
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/202 "2018-07-04T14:00:05Z")
> [@Delicious](#):
>
> I want a coffee cup too…and a pony.
I have no place to keep a pony.
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> **Moderator Note**
>
> Let’s have no more discussion of Giraffeboards in this thread, please. We’re getting into long-standing issues which will only derail this thread.
Fuck you. A week ago I’d be more polite but the grownups are talking here about serious things.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/203 "2018-07-04T14:52:43Z")
**Moderator Warning**
I don’t give out many warnings in ATMB, but this will do it.
> [@dropzone](#):
>
> Fuck you. A week ago I’d be more polite but the grownups are talking here about serious things.
This is an official warning for being a jerk, inappropriate language in ATMB, and failure to follow moderator instructions.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/204 "2018-07-04T15:45:00Z")
> [@Ed\_Zotti](#):
>
> Just checking in as a civilian. There’s no reason to think the SDMB is going away any time soon. Last time I checked, there was ample revenue to cover the costs, and the mods remain on the job. Whether message boards in general are a long-term good bet I don’t profess to know. People think baseball’s on the way out too, but I spent a pleasant evening at Wrigley the other day (Cubs won), and my thought was: this hasn’t come to the end of the road yet.
Good to know, thanks.
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### Author:  [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/205 "2018-07-04T16:17:20Z")
Increased revenue would make the SDMB more secure against closure, right?
Paying members bring in revenue. We need more paying members.
I propose, for those who want the SDMB to survive (I’m one), let’s embark on a _member_-raising drive. Post a sticky note in each of the fora, like:
**Want To Keep the SDMB Alive & Well?**
1. If you are a guest and enjoy the SDMB, it’s time to pony up and become a paid member.
2. Recruit new members! Got a friend, co-worker or family member who would make a good SDMB member? Sure you do, you just haven’t thought about telling them about these boards before. Now is the time to do so. First 50 new recruits get a stuffed squid or a plate of calamari.
If, say, 25% of guests converted to paying members and 25% of members could enlist at least one new member each, I bet the SDMB would be on very secure footing. Bonus: as long as you don’t enlist your dopey, conspiracy-theory, tin-foil hat friends, the infusion of new blood would re-invigorate the SDMB to new heights.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/206 "2018-07-04T16:32:52Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#):
>
> Increased revenue would make the SDMB more secure against closure, right?
>
> Paying members bring in revenue. We need more paying members.
>
> I propose, for those who want the SDMB to survive (I’m one), let’s embark on a _member_-raising drive. Post a sticky note in each of the fora, like:
>
> **Want To Keep the SDMB Alive & Well?**
> 1. If you are a guest and enjoy the SDMB, it’s time to pony up and become a paid member.
> 2. Recruit new members! Got a friend, co-worker or family member who would make a good SDMB member? Sure you do, you just haven’t thought about telling them about these boards before. Now is the time to do so. First 50 new recruits get a stuffed squid or a plate of calamari.
>
> If, say, 25% of guests converted to paying members and 25% of members could enlist at least one new member each, I bet the SDMB would be on very secure footing. Bonus: as long as you don’t enlist your dopey, conspiracy-theory, tin-foil hat friends, the infusion of new blood would re-invigorate the SDMB to new heights.
You’re listed as a Guest. Why haven’t you paid?
---
### Author:  [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/207 "2018-07-04T16:41:20Z")
> [@hajario](#):
>
> You’re listed as a Guest. Why haven’t you paid?
I was a paid member for years. I lost my job 6 months ago (lost my career forever, actually), filed chapter 7, lost my house to foreclosure and I have 2 special-needs teenage daughters to raise as a single parent. But, rest assure, if I ever get in the black again, I’ll pay for membership.
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### Author:  [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/208 "2018-07-04T16:58:57Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#):
>
> I was a paid member for years. I lost my job 6 months ago (lost my career forever, actually), filed chapter 7, lost my house to foreclosure and I have 2 special-needs teenage daughters to raise as a single parent. But, rest assure, if I ever get in the black again, I’ll pay for membership.
Wow, I am sorry for your losses.
I was a paid member for awhile but renewals where hit and miss. I am not great with doing things that can be put off without major consequences. So I lost my charter member status.
I also believe I have read here that ads can be potentially more profitable than memberships. Memberships was an option for people who dislike ads, and don’t want their computer taken over by misbehaving verts.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/209 "2018-07-04T17:20:26Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#):
>
> I was a paid member for years. I lost my job 6 months ago (lost my career forever, actually), filed chapter 7, lost my house to foreclosure and I have 2 special-needs teenage daughters to raise as a single parent. But, rest assure, if I ever get in the black again, I’ll pay for membership.
Ouch. Fair enough. I’m sorry for all of that.
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### Author:  [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/210 "2018-07-04T17:46:12Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#):
>
> I was a paid member for years. I lost my job 6 months ago (lost my career forever, actually), filed chapter 7, lost my house to foreclosure and I have 2 special-needs teenage daughters to raise as a single parent. But, rest assure, if I ever get in the black again, I’ll pay for membership.
Dang that’s a harsh patch. Please stick around.
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### Author:  [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/211 "2018-07-04T18:21:03Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#):
>
> If, say, 25% of guests converted to paying members and 25% of members could enlist at least one new member each, I bet the SDMB would be on very secure footing. Bonus: as long as you don’t enlist your dopey, conspiracy-theory, tin-foil hat friends, the infusion of new blood would re-invigorate the SDMB to new heights.
This isn’t a reasonable goal, imho. They could probably raise a lot more money through straight up donations and CafePress type sales (or adding a few SDMB type stuff in their own store (yeah I know you got a warehouse full of unsold SD books). In the past, I always saw donations poo-poohed by TPTB on the seeminglessly baseless claim that a for-profit can’t do that.
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### Author:  [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/212 "2018-07-04T18:26:34Z")
> [@hajario](#):
>
> Ouch. Fair enough. I’m sorry for all of that.
No problem, **hajario** , I would have questioned it, too. Thank you, \*\*Mikemike2 \*\*and **Cartooniverse** for your words. I _do_ plan to stick around, provided there’s something to stick around to.
The SDMB is my sole diversion. My guess is that it’s a cathartic diversion for many of us and _none_ of us wants to see it go under.
Here’s another idea for recruiting new members: go to forums that target eggheads in various fields and post something like, “you should check out the SDMB … it’s right up your alley, etc.” A few years ago, I recruited an egghead from a high-brow physics newsgroup to join the SDMB, so I know it can be done.
Even lowly Craigslist has dedicated “Discussion Forums” on topics like “Cosmos”, “Science”, “Writing”, “Music”, “Politics”, “Legal” and more. Post on your local Craigslist in these forums and try to get some to check out the SDMB. I’d love to see more intellectually gifted people like **Stranger on a Train** join the SDMB. It’s quite stimulating to discuss topics with people who know what the hell they’re talking about.
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/213 "2018-07-04T18:37:24Z")
I find it interesting that the SD was kept by the Sun Times: they could have spinned it off to the new owners of the Reader. I speculate that they their thinking was, “Meh, it doesn’t do any harm at present. And maybe we can sell the Cecil character to Hollywood at some point.” Sort of like the purchases and sales of Marvel in the late 1980s/early 1990s based on conjecture regarding CGI. Ok, the sums are off by many orders of magnitude: please interpret the analogy loosely.
Why TPTB never re-branded the Straight Dope is unclear to me, though the fact they couldn’t trademark Cecil Adams presumably played a role.
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/214 "2018-07-04T18:44:01Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#):
>
> Here’s another idea for recruiting new members: go to forums that target eggheads in various fields and post something like, “you should check out the SDMB … it’s right up your alley, etc.” A few years ago, I recruited an egghead from a high-brow physics newsgroup to join the SDMB, so I know it can be done.
At some point, this deserves its own thread, as well as mod discussion. There are 2 issues.
1. We don’t necessarily want to actively recruit yo-yos or even the general public. (Which is why recruiting in a narrow forum is better than recruiting on twitter).
2. We probably would want to figure out some sort of introduction to this board’s culture. Specifically, GD permits a fair amount of rough language, though direct personal attacks are forbidden. That’s something that often trips up newbies.
I once thought about inviting 2 twitter experts on voting systems to debate their POVs in GD. But I got tripped up on some of the practicalities.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/215 "2018-07-04T19:41:31Z")
Feels sort of like when the Roman Empire fell. And afterward, we’ll become like the Holy Roman Empire, neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/216 "2018-07-04T20:29:57Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#):
>
> At some point, this deserves its own thread, as well as mod discussion. There are 2 issues.
>
> 1. We don’t necessarily want to actively recruit yo-yos or even the general public. (Which is why recruiting in a narrow forum is better than recruiting on twitter).
>
> 2. We probably would want to figure out some sort of introduction to this board’s culture. Specifically, GD permits a fair amount of rough language, though direct personal attacks are forbidden. That’s something that often trips up newbies.
> I once thought about inviting 2 twitter experts on voting systems to debate their POVs in GD. But I got tripped up on some of the practicalities.
Let them come. The general public comes in anyway, from things like doing searches on Google. And no matter how you recruit, some yoyos are going to slip through the cracks. And as for the board culture, the members will explain things to the newbies like we always do. They’ll either pick it up or they won’t, along with the forum rules, which are posted for people to read. It seems to me that we should be more inclusive, not exclusive.
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/217 "2018-07-04T21:35:52Z")
> [@cochrane](#):
>
> It seems to me that we should be more inclusive, not exclusive.
To be clear, I’m not for chasing anyone away. But recruiting might require some care. Or not. Deserves its own thread.
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/218 "2018-07-04T21:44:46Z")
If there’s going to be a movie, I’d like to play Cecil.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2018, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/219 "2018-07-04T22:22:56Z")
> [@susan](#):
>
> If there’s going to be a movie, I’d like to play Cecil.
That would depend on Danny DeVito not being available.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2018, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-note-from-cecil-adams-about-the-straight-dope/816891/220 "2018-07-05T00:06:21Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#):
>
> At some point, this deserves its own thread, as well as mod discussion. There are 2 issues.
>
> 1. We don’t necessarily want to actively recruit yo-yos or even the general public. (Which is why recruiting in a narrow forum is better than recruiting on twitter).
>
> 2. We probably would want to figure out some sort of introduction to this board’s culture. Specifically, GD permits a fair amount of rough language, though direct personal attacks are forbidden. That’s something that often trips up newbies.
> I once thought about inviting 2 twitter experts on voting systems to debate their POVs in GD. But I got tripped up on some of the practicalities.
This attitude is exactly one of the reasons this board is dying.
This place used to have a lot more members, and cover a larger range of ages – now it seems it’s mostly Gen X and Boomers. And a majority seem seriously resistant to change and letting anyone new in, because, “we don’t want THOSE people coming here.”
And so you end up with a board that grows stale, people drift away, and the place eventually dies off. The only way you’re gonna keep it going is by attracting new members. And people may not want to admit it, but the so-called “board culture” HAS changed over the years. Or at least the feel of it. I remember it being a lot friendlier and more welcoming. Now it’s very insular and cliquish.
I’d rather see the board change somewhat and survive than die off because people are too stuck up to risk letting new people in.
**Tibby** , that sucks and I hope things get better for you.
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