# Does the culture of the SDMB drive morons away by itself? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 5, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395 "2006-10-05T16:17:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/1 "2006-10-05T16:17:07Z")
Read virtually any message board on the Internet, then come here. As probably all of you know, you’ll notice a stark difference. Few people here say “LOL.” Even fewer here type “u” instead of “you.” Hardly anyone writes in all lowercase. Those things are quite prevalent on every other message board I’ve ever seen. So, are we driving them away by Pitting and laughing at them, or do they catch on quickly to the tone of the board, realize that it’s not for them, and slink away? I considered posting this in ATMB, but since I’m soliciting opinions, I put it here. Mods, feel free to move it if you feel that it’s appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/2 "2006-10-05T16:20:57Z")
no u ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/3 "2006-10-05T16:24:09Z")
D0||‘7 //0rr’/, //3’r3 $71LL |-|3r3. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/4 "2006-10-05T16:26:28Z")
When I see threads entitled “Help me use a chainsaw correctly”, I dearly hope so. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/5 "2006-10-05T16:27:12Z")
Evidently not, I’m still here. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/6 "2006-10-05T16:28:04Z")
1: Birds of a feather flock together: Most pursuers of knowledge have done their fair share of reading and are therefore aware how one best conveys information in text. 2: The membership fee. The people who are here WANT to be here and are capable and willing to cough up the dough. Most untelligent members of the interweb don’t even have a creditcard. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/7 "2006-10-05T16:29:16Z")
[QUOTE=KlondikeGeoff] Evidently not, I’m still here. [/QUOTE] As am I… ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/8 "2006-10-05T16:39:02Z")
[QUOTE=simster] As am I… [/QUOTE] The SDMB can be unkind to the willfully ignorant. My defense is that it’s not willful; I just can’t help it. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/9 "2006-10-05T16:40:17Z")
[QUOTE=Jayrot] D0||‘7 //0rr’/, //3’r3 $71LL |-|3r3. [/QUOTE] Excuse me a moment, I need to go retrieve my brain. It crawled out through my ear again… I have to agree with **MostlyClueless** ’s first point though. One of the other boards I visit regularly is a hobbiest board that gets a lot of questions from people who are new to it. The regulars all type in proper english, and many of the base-level questions get asked in some form of chat-speak. ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/10 "2006-10-05T16:50:20Z")
[QUOTE=MostlyClueless] 1: Birds of a feather flock together: Most pursuers of knowledge have done their fair share of reading and are therefore aware how one best conveys information in text. 2: The membership fee. The people who are here WANT to be here and are capable and willing to cough up the dough. Most untelligent members of the interweb don’t even have a creditcard. [/QUOTE] All boards have different styles. You don’t see LOL here, but I have yet to see another board where people sign their posts like a letter. Probably the strangest thing I’ve ever seen on a forum. Not nearly as annoying as the glitter signatures on some boards though. A membership fee isn’t that uncommon. Lots of forums on Ezboard require that you have a Gold membership ($12 a year) to post in some sections to keep the bandwith down and the cost lower. Not so bad because you can use it at several boards but not really enough to pay for the board. So they still require donations to keep going. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/11 "2006-10-05T16:54:47Z")
This is the only board I pay to enter, all the rest are carrots by comparison LOL ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/12 "2006-10-05T16:55:21Z")
I’m sure the fees and ridicule help drive away the total doorknobs, but ultimately, I think this place would get boring for someone who wasn’t at least a little educated, cultured and/or introspective. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/13 "2006-10-05T17:02:01Z")
Perhaps the look of the board helps as well: few graphics, no avatars, no posting of photos by users, no huge sigs. It’s mostly text, using complete words. If you’re used to boards with all those things we don’t have, the SDMB probably looks very boring at first glance. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/14 "2006-10-05T17:14:17Z")
There wasn’t much LOL-ing going on here even before the board went pay, so I don’t think the membership fees have anything to do with it. I think it’s mostly just the tone of the board. If you LOL and l33t speak the regular crowd here isn’t going to be impressed with it, so if you’re that type of person you’ll naturally want to find someplace where your behavior is more welcome. Similarly, if LOL and l33t gets on your nerves (like it does mine) then you won’t last long on a board where that sort of behavior is common either. People congregate in similar groups. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/15 "2006-10-05T17:14:34Z")
I realize the irony that it takes a non-moron to point this out, but the topic begs the question: _does_ the culture of the Straight Dope drive away morons at all? Some people can appear very intelligent, in their field of expertise, when their ideas are presented pleasingly. The culture here _definitely_ encourages the use of real English communication, and that might assist. Also, some people may not be as stupid as they appear to be on other message boards. Also, we may still have some morons here in disguise — lurking, lurking, always lurking, haunting the newspaper-strewn back alleys of the board with the ghosts of hamsters gone by, plotting their muttering revenge upon the world, which one day will fall like a mighty oak, ha ha ha! Ahem. Yeah, so maybe it does. Who can say? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/16 "2006-10-05T17:15:29Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] This is the only board I pay to enter, all the rest are carrots by comparison LOL [/QUOTE] So what vegetable is this place? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/17 "2006-10-05T17:17:29Z")
I suspect the moderation helps too. The “morons” are often the ones with no regard for board rules. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/18 "2006-10-05T17:24:03Z")
[QUOTE=Duckster] So what vegetable is this place? [/QUOTE] Carrots=Rubbish English slang 😃 ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/19 "2006-10-05T17:25:09Z")
[QUOTE=Duckster] So what vegetable is this place? [/QUOTE] Sorry forgot to add this place is Asparagus with melted butter, lots of melted butter ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395/20 "2006-10-05T17:27:16Z")
I think we just get a higher class of moron here, non of those riffraff morons but morons of the very highest quality. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-culture-of-the-sdmb-drive-morons-away-by-itself/375395.md?page=2)