Now down to the last eight hours of the Cecil/Ed era. I have to say I’m not optimistic about the Board’s long-term future without the cachet of Cecil and the advocacy of Ed behind it, but I was wrong about the Internet since the 1980s, and I’ve never caught up.
Thanks for everything, Ed, good luck, and don’t be a stranger here.
P.S. Any word on who our new wienie-in-chief will be?
I got a copy of the Triumph of the Straight Dope signed by Ed Zotti with thanks from Cecil.
Won a Halloween Pumpking carving contest on here.
I got a copy of Little Ed’s book, signed by him, for judging that contest!
It’s the end of an era, which for me began in the 70’s when I first discovered The Straight Dope in Baltimore’s alternative newspaper, the City Squeeze. 
Which is less than an hour away.
How sad.
Bottom
Soooo…Who’s in charge around here?
Looking for the Bull Goose Loony, are you?
Will you or Cecil ever post here again, or is this more of an “I’m free! I’m free!” moment for you?
Al Haig.
And how many of us here got that reference, do you think?
Considering the median age here, I would say…far too many.
Yep.
The only way my age helped me get the reference is that I was alive when the event happened so it gives me some context to place it in to more easily remember it. It wasn’t until the late 90s that I remember hearing about the claim of being in charge. I’m sure I’d heard it before but I was too young in the 80s to remember why it was important.
I was going to reply something like “But that’s only if Cecil took a round to the chest.” but … doesn’t feel right.
Well, we’ll miss you. Or maybe we’ll be lucky enough to still see you in some way? Hope so.
But we wouldn’t be SDMBers if we didn’t point out the grammar error in that column:
should be “provided you remained civil”. 
Well, I certainly did, but then I’m old.
Sadly, it didn’t even occur to me that some might not
As Al Haig has been dead for eight years, he’s in charge of zombie threads.
I don’t log in very often these days, but I still swing by and read the SDMB a few times a week.
I found this place in the mid 90s - I used to read the column and Snopes at work in my spare time, and would occasionally read threadspotting links. I eventually branched out on my own from the links, and found the rest of the board.
I’ve only met one doper in person, but I’ve enjoyed a handful of off board conversations with others.
Ed - thanks for everything you’ve helped create and maintain here! Best of luck in the future.