# For the old Geezers of the Dope **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 22, 2017, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549 "2017-10-22T15:48:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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 23, 2017, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/61 "2017-10-23T04:19:16Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > October 2000, but I was lurking since the early days. I came upon this site from a reference to an internal IBM forum that preceded the Web - can any ex-IBMer’s help me out with the name? I cannot. But I did do contract work for IBM in the early 1990s, and I remember discovering the IBM forums. As I recall, there were multiple forums, catering to a variety of technical questions, and also to interests, hobbies, and tastes. I don’t recall a single one such as you describe, though given how many there were, I’m sure the Straight Dope newspaper column was mentioned at least once. No reason why the Straight Dope AOL site and subsequent WWW website would not be mentioned on IBM forums in later years. I see some folks are speaking about lurking before joining. I did that too, lurking for about a year before joining. Heck, I should have joined sooner, so I could be a 99er too. Oh well, at least my user number is only four digits. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/62 "2017-10-23T04:22:07Z")
I had been reading the column in the _New York Press_ for years, started lurking here in '99, and finally joined in 2000. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/63 "2017-10-23T05:15:15Z")
Offa ma lawn, OP. (I think I joined within a week of the board starting up.) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/64 "2017-10-23T05:23:10Z")
1. But the Dope is a newbie. I came here when the Dope was mentioned as a good place in talk.origins, and I was on Usenet back when there was only one, low volume, alt.sex newsgroup. But I was a part of the very first message board in the world, to the best of my knowledge, PAD on PLATO, where the introduction of quoting was a big deal. That was 1974-1975. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/65 "2017-10-23T05:41:22Z")
Joined in Aug 2000 under another names, took 18 months off and re-joined under the current handle ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/66 "2017-10-23T06:36:04Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > We’re old, but interested. Are you slutty? We like sexy females, and some of us like sexy men. And some like both. We’re an open-minded bunch. **Dropzone** , you NEED TO STOP with these type of comments…they have been very regular coming from you lately and you have been talked to already about it. This is a warning for you. Knock it off. Stop saying inappropriate things on these boards to and about female members…both TO other female posters and ABOUT females, in general. You just can’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/67 "2017-10-23T08:25:27Z")
Another March of '99’er. I was a Doper on the AOL message boards and jumped over here the first day it was open. Number 47, I think. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/68 "2017-10-23T09:39:29Z")
I’ve been here since 2002, according to what the Dope tells me in my user profile. But I seem to remember being here a couple years earlier than that. Not that it matters much, 'cause I ain’t on anybody’s list of memorable posters. Some of the long-timers here really should list it on their resumes, with pride. (But at least I ain’t never been given a warning by the mods, so I guess I’ve accomplished something in my life ) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/69 "2017-10-23T10:12:12Z")
> [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](#): > > I joined Feb 29, 2000. Not a day that comes around often. > [@Gatopescado](#): > > Exactly once in fact. Once every four hundred years. You want a calendar date nobody will ever see again? [February 30](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_30#Swedish_calendar), seen for the first and last time in 1712. Technically I’m a geezer - joined on March 29, 1999 (about three weeks after **KCB615** up there). Had been reading Cecil in the Washington DC _City Paper_ for years before that, and joined up when he started announcing the Boards in his column. Burned out around 2005 and have shown up now and again since then, particularly when work is slow and I’m bored out of my skull. So there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/70 "2017-10-23T12:47:59Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > **Dropzone** , you NEED TO STOP with these type of comments…they have been very regular coming from you lately and you have been talked to already about it. This is a warning for you. Knock it off. Stop saying inappropriate things on these boards to and about female members…both TO other female posters and ABOUT females, in general. You just can’t do that. 'Kay. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/71 "2017-10-23T12:56:21Z")
Joined 9 short years ago…and for some strange reason still don’t feel entirely welcome. Go figure. Maybe in another decade I’ll feel like I “fit in” ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/72 "2017-10-23T13:02:22Z")
I am so old I forgot what I came here to post about. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/73 "2017-10-23T13:27:49Z")
I joined February 28th, 2001, after reading the column since high school. So I guess there are a few lawns I can stand on.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/74 "2017-10-23T13:37:57Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I was a part of the very first message board in the world, to the best of my knowledge, PAD on PLATO, where the introduction of quoting was a big deal. That was 1974-1975. I was a latecomer to PLATO, having arrived there in 1979. Spent a lot of time debating about Candidate RayGun and discussing Tolkien. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/75 "2017-10-23T14:24:37Z")
I’m a 2000er, but was gone for a few years and then came back. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/76 "2017-10-23T14:30:30Z")
I registered in 07 but I read for several years before that. I also dropped in now and again to the old AOL Community Boards/Chats thing but back then I mostly hung out with the Civil War area watching Katie’s rock getting destroyed and making passes at Fannie; she knew my wife well so that was OK. 🙂 I don’t remember if I ever joined in but that would have been with my e-mail address (ArussFROG back then) rather than a screen-name. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/77 "2017-10-23T14:52:03Z")
Been here for a while. Had a Juno account, had an AOL account, did dial up BBS because I originally had an Amiga til '96 and the only way to get ‘online’ was through a service such as Genii where not only would I have had to pay by the minute of time logged in, but for long distance phone minutes as well. I only got a PC in '96 because I was wanting to go online, but to get the amiga online I would have had to get the program from online to get online … so I got a PC with everything loaded built for me by a friend. Been a doper since 04, but I lurked prior to that. Have like 16 000 or so posts. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/78 "2017-10-23T14:56:46Z")
For the purposes of this thread, I propose that _Geezer_ means having signed up for the SDMB back in the 20th century, i.e. before Jan 1, 2001. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/79 "2017-10-23T15:16:25Z")
Yo, if I can get the description under my name changed to “That Red Geezer”, I’m in. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549/80 "2017-10-23T17:19:09Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > Once every four hundred years. I think he was talking about the fact that the other poster mentioned the year, and there’s no way that particular date is coming around again, ever. Having said that, I’m not sure where you’re getting four hundred years from, even if you missed the year. Doesn’t Feb. 29 come around every _four_ years? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-old-geezers-of-the-dope/799549.md?page=5)