Hello. It’s in the Manifesto. We got the first five words. Only 19,995 to go!
Personally, I think he was an indicator species. Kind of like the snail darter. Or maybe kind of like a snail. Or maybe just a slug.
Sincerely,
Lazlo Toth
Voting for Richard Nixon
Since 1952
Membership is down and moderation is totally off the rails (how can the Reader not be embarrassed at this point?). Would someone who understands how Google ads work care to estimate whether the revenue stream per month is under or over $100?
Can you honestly say that the boards are trending toward excellence?
Not that it has to be this way. To fix it you’d have to market it seriously, milk it for opportunities (merchandise, whatever), and fire the current administration.
Ain’t gonna happen. A quiet, tearful death in one year before reups. That’s my prediction.
Because other than Aeschines, he was the only poster holding this whole house of cards together. See what happens when you miss a meeting or two? We’ve known this for a long time now. You’re slipping.
As to the mentions of him creating a sock to post his screed, I was thinking the same thing. However it would be almost immediately deleted so that wouldn’t be enough. I’d WAG there’s a betting chance our inboxes will soon contain his testament to superior intelligence.
It’s obvious isn’t it? drmark was Cecil, the Master Himself’s alter ego. Personally, I thought the inflated ego was a dead giveaway. Cecil, annoyed by being treated as a minor deity around here, created an alter ego so he could post as much as he liked without everyone defending him automatically. Now that he’s been banned, he’s going to get angry, and refuse to do another column until the boards have been shut down.
Man, I’d have liked to see him at an IRS audit.
IRS: DrMark, it says here you’ve listed $21,832.04 in deductions but not what these deductions are.
DM: Educate yourself! Figure out what my deductions are and then we’ll debate them. I’m not doing your job for you.
IRS: No, no you’re not. In fact, we’ve got some government subsidized housing for you. Complete with a nice orange jump suit…
Well, damn, I’m unblocking my email. I don’t want to miss that.
Likewise. TV is so boring these days.
Now I’m curious. Is insanity a valid defense in a tax case? Maybe I should put this in GQ.
Fuck! As far as I know, this makes me the craziest clinical psychologist on the boards.
Okay, here goes: Living in Pittsburgh, I happen know several people who met Mr. Rogers, on various occasions, walking through Schenley Park…
Indeed. Why just the other day a moderator came to my house and shot me in the foot. And that wasn’t a warning. That was just a courtesy call to remind me to resubscribe. :eek:
Well, I’ve already asked two people and they thought the board was excellent
I’ve got it. Straight Dope Cheese.
Whatever Nostradamus. Now make with the NBA championship picks. Daddy needs to gamble.
I was actually thinking:
Straight Dope Fire Extinguishers… Fighting Ignition since 1973, or
Straight Dope Depends Undergarments… Fighting Incontinence since 1973.
SnakeSpirit-I remember him being annoying, and being banned, but I don’t remember the exact reason…
Aeschines, nice to see you’re still at it.
It’s his 4 million letter Opus Manifesto of Truth and Anti-ignorance man!
It was our way out. The path to peace, the light and a perfect cheese sandwich.
Now look what you jack boot mods have done.
WE’RE ALL DOOOOOOMED!
D O O M E D !
So no “ascension to heaven” for us? 
**Tuba **has the warnings posted now. He was literally asking for it. They gave him lots of rope. Par example–Link.
So, out with it, then. Was he masturbating like a motherfuck?
Oh, yeah, drmark2000. Clearly posting just to get a rise out of people, then remind everyone what a Big Giant Brain he had. Banning perfectly justified, IMO.
I don’t think this board is going anywhere and I’m not sure if it would make any difference if it did.
There are other doper boards, livejournal, and dopefests. People have each others email and have been to each others weddings. There are WoW Guilds and City of Heroes supergroups. If the board collapsed, there would still be dopers - and dopers would still stay in contact. For a bunch of people that don’t know each others real names - its a community. We’ll find each other - at least the dopers that are important to each of us.
And being a doper is a state of mind. Its finding kindred spirits - and some not so kindred ones. I know dopers who have never heard of The Straight Dope, but think that typing real words in real sentences to be important, use logic and critical thinking, have that wry sense of humor that is so common here, are creative and kind.
Sorry in advance for this hijack, but can I get a piece of that action?
'Cause you are wrong on most every statement. Easy money!
Okay, it’s not a perfect board. There’s some things that do need to be fixed, mostly of a technical nature, and they’ll be gotten to as they can be. But even so, not as dire as you make them out to be.
Numbers are growing a bit, actually, membership and otherwise. What is pretty steady here – and always has been – is the number of people that check in versus the ones that check out. Since our earliest days it’s been right about 30% turnover a year on both sides, regardless of our size, the proportions are the same. People come, they sign up, they stay for a while, they get other interests, they leave. It’s the way of it. It’s been fascinating to watch over the years as this has been pretty much steady through EVERYTHING, including all our technical troubles and upgrades, being free/charging subscription fees, no ads/ads, and the occasional flamewar of one kind or another. Good stuff and bad stuff comes and goes and the site keeps keeping on.
If this happens regardless of all the other factors that determine success or failure on a site, then there must be something else that keeps people signing up and involved. I’m convinced it’s the community itself that’s the true draw here; these people are our strength and our beauty. Cecil might bring people in, but it’s all of you that keep 'em in the tent.
There’s more better stuff coming 'round the bend, too. Can’t give you details yet but I’m telling you right now it’s going to be an interesting year and well worth sticking around for.
The demise of this site has been predicted since about the second day we started. We’re still here. While I can’t predict we’ll be here forever – that’s not my call to make – I do feel very positive about this place.
Aeschines, it’s too bad that you choose to champion people who go out of their way to make the message board experience miserable for others. But hey, if you wanna sing “My heroes have always been assholes,” go right on with yourself.
TubaDiva
Returning you to your regularly scheduled outrage
I want a piece of the action, too. I’ll offer 10 to 1 odds. Put your money where your mouth is, Aeschines.
Tuba, don’t you think logic is wasted on posters like Aeschines?
silenus, I suspect you might not want money from where his mouth is.
Jim
