This has been a bad week.
We get a string of terrible supreme court decisions, then Justice Kennedy retiring and now this.
I’m not sure I can take any more.
I will definitely miss the article. I hope it gets resurrected some how, in some similar form.
“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” ~George Carlin
I first found the columns in 2000. I was watching a show on TV and it gave some info that I thought was complete B.S. so I went digging online and found one of Cecil’s columns. I read through a lot of the other columns online and was pretty much instantly hooked. I own all of the books now (plus a T-shirt and a coffee mug). It took me a while to warm up to the message board side of things, but I eventually joined the SDMB and I have been here ever since.
It was the columns that brought me here, and I am really going to miss them.
I just wanted to say a public thank you to Ed for everything that you have done here. It is all very much appreciated.
If a new book does come out, I pretty much have to get it. I can’t have one book missing from my set. 
My first exposure to The Straight Dope was when Cecil’s poem about Schrodinger’s Cat was reprinted in Physics Today. That had to be maybe 1987? I was a grad student at U of Illinois.
Oh, man, I am not taking this well…
Between this and Harlan Ellison dying, I am in a deep funk.
I know the article says the board is staying, but, like, the board is ACTUALLY staying right?
It’s kinda sad just how much I need this board to stay alive for my own sanity.
We mods were given a bit of advance notice about the columns going away, which we had to keep secret (that kinda sucked). At that time we were told that the board is staying, and as far as I am aware, that’s still the plan.
It is. The site still generates some revenue. The mods, Jah bless 'em, do their thing for free, and the hosting costs are modest. I make no promises; my association with TSD will end simultaneously with Cecil’s. But there is no imminent portent of doom.
Thank you for entertaining the public for such a long time with wit and intelligence.
Seconded. We could use more wit and reason.
I’ll miss them. My introduction was the first book, which I spotted in a Waldenbooks in Forest Hills, NY while browsing the cartoon collections, maybe around 1992 or so. As soon as I read “What does that H in Jesus H Christ stand for” and he started the answer with “Harold, as in 'Our Father, Harold be thy name,” I was hooked.
If a new paper Straight Dope book were to be released, you better believe I’ll buy it.
Wait.
The Powers That Be are retaining the rights to the concept “The Straight Dope®”, but if TSD manages to resurface as some other format, you and Unca Cece won’t be part of it???
Are you still going to be administrating here? 
Good night, Mr. Adams, whoever you are. 
I can’t say what lies ahead for Cecil; as he says, that hasn’t been decided. My role as administrator will end July 1.
Ruh roh…
I don’t come around to the forums as much as I used to, but still enjoyed my weekly email with Cecil’s musing and wisdom.
Thanks for the ride Ed. Whatever the future brings, may it be bright.
You talk real purdy, Mr. Adams. I’ve been hip to the dope since at least '79. May be earlier, but I had access to the LA Reader then. Back in college we had a Straight Dope kind of column in one of the college rags. But it was about real dope. They had chem majors at the school running tests on street drugs and posting the results. Don’t eat the brown acid. I’ve been here since I got a computer that connected to the internet. Sad to see the column end. Newspapers, what are you going to do? That’s why I’m retired.
I have learned volumes from the SDMB. It’s been my go to for 18 years when I don’t know who to ask. I KNOW that in my 12,000 posts that I have helped out a few that also did not know where to turn.
When I have a little time to burn, I come here and learn by accident reading questions I never thought to ask. Or happen to have the answer on how to use a left handed foot operated high altitude chromsky. In the snow.
I happened upon here seeing the thread - ‘Was Math Discovered or Invented’ the question intrigued me, and I’ve been here ever since.
Just to clear things up, there is some confusion I think. Will the SDMB continue?
Happy trails Cecil, you have enlightened more than you know.
Thank you, Ed, and thank you Cecil, for everything. The columns and the board have meant so much to me.
So is Cecil going to make one last post on the SDMB??