Yes. Hooked on Unca Cece since the first SD book came out in the early 80’s. Signed on to these here Message Boards in '08 after lurking for a very long time.
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I followed a link from somewhere and liked the forums; why did you come here?
First saw the books and bought them. I flipped through the first one and saw “What’s the H in Jesus H Christ stand for?” and Cecil’s answer that it stood for “Harold, as in Our Lord Harold be thy name.” With that, I became a Straight Doper for life.
Nope. Got directed here from Snopes.
No
I followed a link to a thread on here, from another message board…
I started reading the column in the Baltimore City Paper in the late 70s and bought a couple of the books when they came out. When I moved to Ohio in 2000, I did a web search to see if there was a local paper that carried the column, and found the web site. I began reading the site pretty regularly, and eventually followed a thread-spotting link to the board. I lurked for a few years before joining.
Yup. I used to pass the time at work by reading through the archives online (I’m pretty sure I’d read them all, at some point), and then one day, I happened to notice a link to the message boards.
Now I’m here all day every day, and hardly ever read the column (don’t tell Cecil!).
Yes - I’d been reading SD books for years before the internet was even a household word.
From the City Paper to the books to alt.fan.cecil-adams to this.
Yes. Some column or other drew me here in 2001, and I joined at that time. Then, I didn’t post anything for something like two years, and then suddenly I got hooked, and here I am. Ten years of my life.
Yip. Got directed to the column from Snopes.
I said yes, but it’s not quite so. I *found *this site because I’d read the books, but the message board sucked me on its own volition – it was the posters that made me join, not The Master.
I came here when someone linked to Blinkie’s Ask a thread. At the time I’d never heard of Cecil. My life was terribly deprived at that point.
Nope I was a message board junkie when the board was on AOL. When it moved I didn’t know so I missed out on the first year or so but then I saw a link somewhere. Maybe it was Snopes.
Yes, I used to read the column in the New York Press.
It was AOL circa 1997, when they displayed “Cecil’s Brain.” I guess I have a weakness for cerebral cartography. Hooked ever since.
I voted no - because while I’d known of them and loved them for years, I never got into the message board thing.
Until someone forwarded Scylla’s The Horror of Blimps to me.
Scared the hell out of my husband - he came running into the room to find out why I was wheezing so loudly he could hear me 2 rooms away. He thought I was dying… and I was, but of laughter :).
Some site on the internet, I think it was Snopes, lead me to the archive of the Dope columns. So then I started to read them, read almost all the ones that were interesting to me and then I got bored.
Then I thought, “What’s this message board thingy?” and I read it for quite awhile before something interested me enough to comment on.
Yes. It was the “why does a shower curtain billow?” debacle with different answers and about three revisits. Once some geek went all out and modeled it with atmospheric simulation software I was intrigued by a mention of it on Slashdot and followed it to Cecil’s writeup about it. From there I read a few columns, and some threadspotting, then joined when someone posted a “what would your porn name be(first pet, mother’s maiden name)” thread and I couldn’t resist.
Enjoy,
Romeo Grandstaff
I stumbled upon the straight dope from a google search. I got addicted and started reading the articles daily. One day I noticed the forums button and started browsing.
The tongue-in-cheek, nothing is too sacred to denounce or make fun of attitude lured me and the thought-provoking and insightful commentaries while maintaining the biting wit has kept me reading almost daily.