Anthology of Individual Dopers

In My Humble Opinion
1

In honor of the SDMB Anthology thread started by SNenc, I’d like to start the Doper Anthology thread. I know there have been a few “How did you find the Dope?” threads, but I thought even more detail might be interesting. To wit:

What was the first thread to which you posted? Was it featured in threadspotting? Had you read many threads before your first post?

Can you remember the first time you posted to a given forum? The first time you meaningfully contributed to a Great Debate or helped answer a General Question?

What was the first thread you started? Did it flop?

Have you been involved in any Dopefests, Secret Santas, White Elephants, Book Swaps?

And when did you realize you were going to stick around?

SNenc’s very cool and inspiring thread can be found here:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=9826a8cf8e04874bf0b449cd8f56696&threadid=118749

2

I cant even remember what thread I posted to 5 minutes ago. Man I’m getting old. Anyways carry on.

3

I can’t answer a good many of your questions do to faulty memory (and it might be a blessing because I was pretty irrelevant when I first got here. Also a windbag, which hasn’t changed).

I can say with some confidence that I have never, ever contributed anything truly useful to GD or GQ.

The first thread I ever started (I think) was to request recommendations for good war movies. It was well-received in that it had lots of posts.

Not sure what my first Pit thread was, but the one that got the best response was my rant about Thomas Kinkaide.

4

Oh, I guess I can say my contribution to this board is the White Elephant (my idea, although I made others carry it out) and the bookswap (which I coordinated myself for once).

5

“What was the first thread to which you posted? Was it featured in threadspotting? Had you read many threads before your first post?”

Gatsby’s Seti@Home thread. It was in threadspotting. I had read quite a few threads before then (I’d lurked for several months).

“Can you remember the first time you posted to a given forum? The first time you meaningfully contributed to a Great Debate or helped answer a General Question?”

I can remember the first times I posted to the following forums:

GD
GQ
ATMB
The Pit
MPSIMS
IMHO
Comments

I think I might be the poster with the highest post count who has never posted in Cafe Society (that I can remember, anyway).

As for GQ and GD…I’d like to think I’ve contributed to a few in some meaningful way, but really the only ones I ever got involved in in GD were the JDT ones, and those were more pile-ons than anything.

“What was the first thread you started? Did it flop?”

“Why are toilets called johns?” Asked and answered many times before, but I dinnot know that at the time. It didn’t flop so much as it got very precise answers.

“Have you been involved in any Dopefests, Secret Santas, White Elephants, Book Swaps?”

More dopefests than I can remember in my 2 years of being a doper. Nothing of the other stuff.

“And when did you realize you were going to stick around?”

I didn’t, really. I just … kept on posting.

6

I suppose my most notable (but probably long forgotten) thread was one I posted in GD a couple years ago. It was entitled “Racist Scholarships.” and I complained about race-based qualifications for scholarships. It went over a couple pages and sidetracked into hiring and firing people on the job. All in all, a well thought out debate by people on both sides. I still look it up occasionally.

7

What was the first thread to which you posted? Was it featured in threadspotting? Had you read many threads before your first post?

Non-American English spelling of metre.

Can you remember the first time you posted to a given forum? The first time you meaningfully contributed to a Great Debate or helped answer a General Question?

Nope

What was the first thread you started? Did it flop?

I don’t remember my first thread, but I certainly remember this thread…

**Have you been involved in any Dopefests, Secret Santas, White Elephants, Book Swaps? **

1 White Elephant, 1 Secret Santa, and when Ginger of the North actually lived north, we had teeny-weeny dopefests once and a while. :slight_smile:

And when did you realize you were going to stick around?

HA! As if I’m sticking around! Oh. Right. Nevermind. :stuck_out_tongue:

8

My first ever post was in an IMHO thread called “Re-post your first post here!” A feeble attempt at wit, I suppose. :slight_smile: But Spiderwoman welcomed me!

I think I lurked for a couple months before posting. I have no recollection of how I discovered the SDMB in the first place.

My first thread was also in IMHO. I think it was called “Who likes to get jiggy wit’ it?” It was part-poll, part-confession of my embarrassing predilection to drunken dancing.

The first Pit thread I started was only a couple weeks ago: Stop misusing “schizophrenic”, please.

I don’t I’ve ever contributed meaningfully to a GD. I’ve answered a few GQ, but nothing note-worthy.

The SDMB was the first board I’ve EVER posted to. I’ve been on the Net for many years, but before the SDMB I never interacted with other people (besides with RL friends in email and IM). That says something about the value of this board.

9

I’m sorry, I probably should know this, but what is “threadspotting”?

10

Blue Curls, threadspotting can be found near the middle bottom-ish of the straightdope.com page. It is a link to a thread that some Doper found interesting/funny/weird enough to tell the mods about. They in turn found it some good adjective, and the Doper community was alerted in the form of the link.

I guess I should answer my own questions.

The first thread to which I posted was a threadspotted one; namely, “Ham Pancakes. Cowboys love 'em”. It was lost in the crash. I think I lurked for about 2 months before that initial post.

I have never posted in Great Debates and only in one thread in GQ. I am afraid of getting called out in the Pit, and I understand that posting in GD is the best way to go about that. Still, I do want to start an “Ask the Militant Feminist” thread, but I think I’d better not jump on that old bandwagon.

The first thread I started was, like this one, in response to another thread. First there was the “Figures in American History You Love” thread. Then there was my “Figures in American History You Hate” thread. We ended on a “Figures in American History You Both Love and Hate” thread, courtesy of yet another party. Sorry I can’t tell you who posted those threads; they were still more casualties of the crash. They went well, though.

I participated in the Book Swap arranged by Cranky. I never got my book because the person who sent it was nice enough to send it insured. I got the notice that the book was being held from my mother after the post office had sent it back. Sad. Even worse, I just sent mine two weeks ago, after finding it hadn’t been sent as I thought it had. D’oh.

I realized I was going to stick around when I got involved in saffostarr’s (now Racha’ar) Round Robin story. We got in trouble for it, but we still kept at it. That’s when I really knew it was a cool place.

All right, that’s enough out of me. Back to you!

11

bristlesage! I wondered why you went AWOL!

I can send ya a book.

12

What was the first thread to which you posted? Was it featured in threadspotting? Had you read many threads before your first post?

This GQ thread on Avowed Communism and Government Jobs was the first I ever posted to. (Yes, I had to look that up. My memory isn’t that great.) I don’t recall it being in threadspotting. I doubt that I had read more than 100 threads before posting to that one.

Can you remember the first time you posted to a given forum? The first time you meaningfully contributed to a Great Debate or helped answer a General Question?

This is obviously not by memory, but here are my firsts:
May 2001 - GQ, IMHO, MPSIMS
June 2001 - Pit, GD
September 2001 - Cafe Society
October 2001 - ATMB
I don’t recall posting to any other forums.

I didn’t think I’d ever meaningfully contributed to a GQ or a GD, but it turns out some of my early GQ responses may have been meaningful.

What was the first thread you started? Did it flop?

It was some GD thread. Got a whole 3 responses which pretty much said that they didn’t know. Esprix tried to console me, if I remember correctly.

Have you been involved in any Dopefests, Secret Santas, White Elephants, Book Swaps?

I’ve been to a few small Dopefests and a traveling mini-dope.

And when did you realize you were going to stick around?

I’m thinking September/October 2001.

13

There’s no way I could recall my first post or my first thread. The only first post in a forum I can positively recall is one in Great Debates, and only then because it was the very first debate topic to be posted in that forum. It’s long gone now - it was titled A credible threat? and asked whether the right to bear arms as observed in the U.S. allows the citizenry enough firepower to keep the government in check.

Meaningful answers?

I’d estimate that I’ve been to 25-30 DopeFests, in seven metropolitan areas in five states. That includes the first HouDope and the last HouDope (not that we’re not going to have’em any more - I’m just referring to the one I just got home from) and all the HouDopes in between.

I’ve done one Secret Santa, this past year, and received some nifty fossils - and managed to get my gift shipped out in time.

Still workin’ on it. :wink:

14

I don’t remember what my first post was or when I first posted to any of the various forums (though I posted to the Pit later than any of the others)

The first thread I started, I tried to use quotes in the thread title and I didn’t do it right so the title made no sense and the thread got quickly buried. For my 500th post, I revived the thread and got the coding fixed.

I didn’t lurk, I posted my first day on the site. I’ve handled quite a few GQs (mostly film-related) but I usually read more than post in GD (whatever I have to say is usually already said better by someone else)

I’ve never been to a Dopefest (I’d really like to but it’s a little complicated) but I participated in a Secret Santa. Never head from my Santee but I know someone sent me something but there was a problem with the address and it got inadvertently sent back to sender. Always felt a little bad about that. :frowning:

I went AWOL for 3 months (doubt anyone noticed) but no other board compares to this so here I am, for good, fwiw. :slight_smile:

15

**What was the first thread to which you posted? Was it featured in threadspotting? Had you read many threads before your first post?

I lurked for a few days before registering. See, my old message board had become so incredibly boring. (No talking about yourself, no polls, no MPSIMS-type stuff, no more flamewars, etc.) Finally, I joined. My first thread was the “Meet scott evil” thread. Very narcissistic and vain, but there you are.

And I doubt any thread I ever post will be featured in Threadspotting, since they all seem to deal with either my sex life, or are Pit rants. :wink:

Can you remember the first time you posted to a given forum? The first time you meaningfully contributed to a Great Debate or helped answer a General Question?

The first GD I started was “For God’s sake, they the guy take his boyfriend to the prom!” re: Marc Hall. The thread inadvertently started a flamewar in the Pit. I’ve recently answered GQs about burning .avi files onto DVD (since I work in video). (It’s not as simple as you’d think.)

What was the first thread you started? Did it flop?

Answered above: “The meet scott evil thread.” Didn’t flop at all.
I also made it clear in that thread that I was gay.

My first Cafe Society thread was asking to identify a 70s song.

My first (I think) IMHO thread was for advice on whether I should give up seeing two guys casually because I was at the time going through a rough time. This, too, sparked a flamewar (started by someone else, in my defense) in the Pit.

My first Pit thread I originally posted in MPSIMS but it was moved to the Pit. I was thoroughly flamed.

Have you been involved in any Dopefests, Secret Santas, White Elephants, Book Swaps?

Never been to a Dopefest, as I’ve only been around a few months. There might be a Montreal/QueerDope this summer, but I’ll only go depending on when it’s scheduled.

And when did you realize you were going to stick around?

Right away. I have a boring job, and frequently stay late in order to do my hours so that I can leave early on Fridays. As soon as my manager leaves, I stop pretending to work, and come on the boards.

  • s.e.
16

What was the first thread to which you posted? Was it featured in threadspotting? Had you read many threads before your first post?

Hmm… the first thread to which I posted was Please explain this license plate to me. (thank you, search engine!) I haven’t read Threadspotting yet (but plan to soon), so I have no idea if it was featured or not. I’m not sure that I read that many threads before my first post; maybe less than 30. (I lurked for a bit before registering)

Can you remember the first time you posted to a given forum? The first time you meaningfully contributed to a Great Debate or helped answer a General Question?

The forums I post to are ATMB, GQ, Cafe Society (very rarely), IMHO, MPSIMS, and the Pit. Thanks to the search engine, I can tell you exactly when I first posted to all these forums.

ATMB: Mar. 22 (They’ve calculated our posting ratios!)
GQ: Mar. 16 (not sure if I helped, though; see the “license plate” thread linked above)
Cafe Society: Mar. 17 (way earlier than I originally thought; in mid-May would have been my guess) (What’s up with Wendy Carlos?)
IMHO: Mar. 16 (What do you collect?)
MPSIMS: Mar. 19 (see “first thread I started,” linked above :D)
the Pit: Mar. 17 (Expensive restaurants)

As for GD, I’ve never contributed there yet, and very occasionally lurk there. I’m not sure I know much about the issues being presented therein, and I wouldn’t be able to coherently debate them, anyways.

I’m not sure if I helped answer a GQ; I know I’ve posted a couple of them there, though, if that counts. :smiley: Seriously though, I’m not sure if I helped answer a question, or just provided miscellaneous information that could be very easily discounted.

What was the first thread you started? Did it flop?

The first thread I started was this explanation of “Aiya!”. (again, thanks to the search engine) I don’t know if it flopped, as I got some replies thanking me for the explanation, and some replies adding more information. I can only hope my typing and previewing skills have gotten better since then! (as well as my knowing which smileys to use, and when to use them)

Have you been involved in any Dopefests, Secret Santas, White Elephants, Book Swaps?

Nope. However, I do hope to participate in a DopeFest sometime. I just don’t know when. :slight_smile:

And when did you realize you were going to stick around?

Oh, probably around early April. I liked the community here, and the fact that the board could be an outlet for expressing my feelings.

F_X

(Now I really should go to bed; took long enough to compose this post, what with the searching, the board being down, and everything else)

17

Oops… in my MPSIMS explanation, I meant “see the thread linked below.” That does it: I really should go to bed.

F_X

18

What was the first thread to which you posted? Was it featured in threadspotting? Had you read many threads before your first post?

don’t remember. I know I was around for a few weeks at least before posting. I wanted to respond to a GQ but my registration didn’t go through right.

Can you remember the first time you posted to a given forum? The first time you meaningfully contributed to a Great Debate or helped answer a General Question?

No, I don’t remember when I first posted. I did start up my best topic in GD about motorcycles last year and it got to two pages. That might have been one of my first there. I have answered some GQs just most others beat me to it.

What was the first thread you started? Did it flop?

Don’t know. But a good amount of my threads have flopped. I know I’ve got at least 7-8 that have no replies.

Have you been involved in any Dopefests, Secret Santas, White Elephants, Book Swaps?

yep, all of em.

And when did you realize you were going to stick around?

Didn’t, I just haven’t gone away yet.

19

My first thread was “Very Vaguely Creepy.” I believe it was Threadspotted. I had never read the forums before and honestly did not expect to stick around.

I do not remember the first time I posted to any specific forum, nor do I remember the first thread I started; however, it almost definitely flopped.

I have not been involved in any Dopefests or the like unless my and Gunslinger’s visits count, which they may since we met here on the boards (in Very Vaguely Creepy, actually).

I realized I was going to stick around at about the time that I realized this Gunslinger character was pretty swell.