Mike Lenehan got it slightly wrong. Owen Slade’s Need to Know was a not from a Phoenix, AZ paper, but the Boston Phoenix. (Or possibly its predecessor Boston After Dark, or perhaps the old Cambridge paper called simply the Phoenix - one of those, and I understand how Mike got it confused - there’s a phoenix in there somewhere.)
I started in 07, bur I think I lurked for a couple of years before that. Even though I got to the SDMB through a column, I haven’t read more than one or two in the last 6 or 7 years (not counting threads about a column). Its demise per se doesn’t affect me, although I can’t imagine this “end” not having an effect on the SDMB. For me it’s always the MB what counted.
And, pleeeeeeeease, can we drop even the pretense of C. Adams being a real person and not a literary/copyright artifact?
I’m hoping for a Facebook Livestream so we can all watch him step out of a steamy shower to reveal that he is in fact Bobby Ewing, and this was all a dream.
I started reading The Straight Dope in hte '90s in on of Raligh’s free papers. I have a sad.
Good luck on the farm ,Ed. Maybe you can play with all my pets that went there.
Ed, my old acquaintance, I can’t blame you. Forty years is a long time for a demanding part time job. When writing my SDSAB columns I was lucky that I was poorly supervised at work. The pressure of doing it on the down-low for that long must have been a burden, and at home? Now that you will have time for it give your lovely wife my best. Nothing personal, but I liked her better. 
This. Happy to add my voice as a definite purchaser of multiple copies of a new book.
HOWEVER, what will this do to the SDSAB? Will there be room on the site for new content?
Blog?
Adding another voice of thanks!
Everything ends. Everything dies.
But I add my voice to all who are saying thanks. You made a difference in a lot of people’s lives.
Ditto,
This was a great place to learn the road honest thinking…while maintaining civility…with the smartest board–bar none…in an otherwise bleak cacophony of national discourse.
Hat tip to Ed, the staff and all the members of the board for making this the greatest toy the Internet could ever have.
El Regardos,
user-hostile
Well, heck.
A random thought passed through my mind about twenty minutes ago: “You know what site I haven’t visited in a while? Let’s see if it’s still here, and if I still have an account.” Turns out I do, and I find this. What are the odds?
Thanks for all the knowledge-bombs through the years.
The column sends new users to the MB. Without the column will the MB just wither away (even faster)?
Are y’all taking applications for the new Chief Moderator position yet? … shedding season’s over so I’d be a great fit … I bark softly but carry a BIG stink … qualities this board is in desperate need of …
First I was sad that you guys were stopping the production of what became the gateway drug to the SDMB, I’d been reading the column since the mid-80’s. Then I read this.
I don’t have any direct evidence, but if I was going to say what made this place the place where I’m a member and I post, of all the places on the internet - it would be that it had Ed guiding it. You run a nice message board.
Damn, I’ve just realized you’ve been entertaining and informing me in some form for decades. Here’s to hoping your successor can at least approach your abilities! Thank you!
It seems that everything I could have said was said already. I lurked for many years before joining, and it’s part of my daily routine. It’s an amazing thing to have a spot of sanity on the internet. Well, a kind of sanity.
Ed, I wish you luck in the next phase of your life. Thank you.
Meh. I think it’s gotten pretty silly over time, but harmless enough. I’ve been following Cecil / “Cecil” since 1983 - he/she/they is part of our history.
Another HUGE thank you to Ed.
Ed:
Many, many moons ago, back when I first started posting here, you wrote me a PM about something I wrote on the board regarding getting rid of mice in my kitchen (it was about 16 years ago or so) and your mirth at something I had written. I saved that message - it was something that really made me feel like I belonged here amongst such austere company. Frankly, it made my freakin’ day, and a whole bunch of days thereafter. 
Thanks to all of you for all of the good times, the good laughs, and the good knowledge - you will be sorely missed here in my world.
M2U
A MUCH bigger coffee mug.
And if your name was Ed Zotti, a very common first name combined with a unusual last name where all your life you had to go last- wouldn’t you want to reverse it? Go first finally? Have a common last name and a unusual first name?