# Ever go back an read your earliest SDMB threads? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 1, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560 "2012-05-01T21:11:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/21 "2012-05-03T20:09:52Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > I’ve done it. I was an idiot back then. > > Of course, I’m an idiot now so I’m not sure how well I should trust the opinion of an idiot. I always read your old posts in an early LHotP Laura Ingalls voice. Just an FYI. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/22 "2012-05-03T21:09:36Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > I always read your old posts in an early LHotP Laura Ingalls voice. > > Just an FYI. Oh yeah? Check the records. I did some stuff. There was one time, I was on a hill covered with flowers and there was a beautiful girl with pigtails… ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/23 "2012-05-04T02:52:22Z")
Sometimes. I’ve spent a third of my life here. Looking back on things that I said or cared about or whatever back then is kind of painful, but kind of funny. Right now, I’m dealing with a somewhat-awkward situation with a kid who is the same age I was when I started. I’m treading very carefully because it’s such a weird, imbalanced relationship. I think she wants to be treated as a peer (I would have), but she’s not. She’s a kid. Our boundaries have to be different. I have to understand her level of emotional maturity and not expect it to be the same as mine (chick has a LOT of feelings…). So I’ve been going back and looking at how it was with me at that age in order to better understand how she might be thinking. I do understand a bit better now why people still, to this day, sometimes make comments about how I’m just a kid or whatever, even though I’m a grown-ass adult now (well, sort of. I bet in another few years, I’ll look back and shake my head at how young and stupid I was. Really, I hope I do.) ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/24 "2012-05-05T02:11:20Z")
Yes I did. And I am embarassed by the fact that, due to my fast typing behavior, I never cared much about grammar.:smack: Dopers have corrected my grammar and punctuation at least couple of times. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/25 "2012-05-05T02:56:21Z")
> [@SurrenderDorothy](#): > > Sometimes. I’ve spent a third of my life here. Looking back on things that I said or cared about or whatever back then is kind of painful, but kind of funny. I too have spent a third of my life here. I was barely 22 when I joined, 33 now. I have checked old posts, but there isn’t a lot to check out and embarrass me because I was mostly a lurker back then. Two-thirds of my posts have been in the last couple of years. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/26 "2012-05-05T03:18:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Have you ever gone back and read some of your earliest threads? Only when someone revives then and they pop up on my email. Generally when I see something pop up on my email I’ll click the link, if I have time, and go see what the thread is…and that sometimes brings up really old threads I (or my dad, since this was originally his account) participated in. > [@](#): > > It helps if they were more than 5 years ago or so. For some of us with terrible memories, a couple years will do. Yeah, it can be interesting when one pops up. I hardly remember a lot of them, and it can be a bit disconcerting to see some of my old positions. Some of them are definitely cringe-worthy. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/27 "2012-05-05T03:43:07Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=62742](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=62742) > [@Ed Zotti](#): > > Satan has been banned. I regret having to do this; he has been a prolific poster who has made positive contributions to the SDMB. But I have had it with his continual flinging of insults **and attempts to demonize posters with whom he disagrees**. HA! I occasionally read my old OPs, and they are still pure gold. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/28 "2012-05-05T04:11:10Z")
I have several times before. I have this persistent idea that I was once much different than I am now. Nope, I have always been exactly the same base on what I have read in earlier thread going back over a decade. I get the same vibe from my saved Kindergarten drawings. A really spooky thing has happened more than a few times. I have Googled the answer to a question and been referred back to a thread here. I look at the answer and think it is perfect for what I need and then realize I wrote it many years ago They say time travel isn’t possible. Not true, my past self sets me up quite well sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/29 "2012-05-05T04:21:52Z")
Thirteen years later and I’m still waiting for an answer to the first question I posted here. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/30 "2012-05-05T04:24:26Z")
It’s 42. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/31 "2012-05-05T06:19:22Z")
Every time I think of an old thread I want to revisit, it has fallen into the SDMB void so I rarely make the effort any longer. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/32 "2012-05-05T07:46:28Z")
> [@XT](#): > > It’s 42. No, I already knew that. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/33 "2012-05-05T07:51:37Z")
Wait, what was the question? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/34 "2012-05-05T11:42:48Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > I thought Muffin was a guy. I am. Muffin is a nickname my parents gave me when I was a tot. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/35 "2012-05-05T13:18:53Z")
Speaking of your old threads being revived and your having to notice them, it’s been over a year, more than 750 posts, since I flipped the switch that “subscribes” me automatically to threads I respond to, so that the little flag shows up beside such threads. These days, if a thread shows up when I look at “New Posts” and doesn’t have the flag, I know it’s older than whenever it was I made that change. Therefore I _have_ to check out what I must have said to be getting that thread on my list. Usually it’s trivial and borderline irrelevant, but every once in a while I said something memorable – at least to me. 🙂 But I have developed a little hobby of looking back at older threads for fun stuff. I’ve even started some threads on such trivia. Perhaps you may have seen some of them. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/36 "2012-05-05T14:53:16Z")
When I’ve gone back and looked at some of my older posts, I sometimes don’t recognize them as my own. I’ve been here a lot longer than I thought! I have a similar feeling with my older blog posts, too. I’m starting to think that I have a second personality who only comes out when I write. Wait, is she writing _this_? How will I ever know? ---
**Author:** ![bmasters1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/37 "2012-05-05T14:55:42Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > HA! > I occasionally read my old OPs, and they are still pure gold. Likewise! I always enjoy looking at some of the threads I started. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/38 "2012-05-05T14:59:30Z")
I’ve gone back and reviewed my [top and bottom five most successful OPs](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=629699), maybe that’s sort of related. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/39 "2012-05-05T15:08:58Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > I’ve gone back and reviewed my [top and bottom five most successful OPs](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=629699), maybe that’s sort of related. Yeah! [That’s the sort of thing](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14413182&postcount=15) I was thinking of upthread! (My 0-replies threads are a bit of a sore spot for me. 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560/40 "2012-05-05T16:24:56Z")
> [@indian](#): > > Yes I did. > > And I am embarassed by the fact that, due to my fast typing behavior, I never cared much about grammar.:smack: > > Dopers have corrected my grammar and punctuation at least couple of times. You mean “Dopers have corrected my grammar and punctuation at least **a** couple of times.” 😉 Regards, Shodan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-go-back-an-read-your-earliest-sdmb-threads/620560.md?page=3)