Fun Threads from your first month at SDMB

In My Humble Opinion
1

There’s already an effort going to list The truly great threads in SDMB history and there’s also some exploration of some truly dreadful threads embedded in Anyone recall this classified ad from the Times?

But in the process of trying to find some specific comments I had made early in my SDMB career, I noticed that in my first month here (June 18, 2003 - July 18, 2003) there were some really fun (to me anyway) things going on.

I didn’t want to add these to the Great Threads thread for fear of being too presumptuous of their value, but if any of you think they’re worthy for such recognition, please do so yourself.

Another thing: if you think the interest would be here today for continuation of the topic(s) in one or more of these Oldies, please start a new thread and reference the old one as a kickoff.

These may provide some giggles to spark up your day/night:

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Dates shown are start dates for the threads. End dates are within my first month and are the basis for the order I’m showing them.

HIJACK This Thread! – 06-25-2003, 09:17 AM

Actors and Actresses Who Have “Played Themselves”? – 06-11-2003, 08:30 PM

The most uninspiring quotes ever? – 06-27-2003, 02:28 AM

Improve on or add to these gems – 07-03-2003, 02:49 PM

useless fact-athon!! – 07-05-2003, 01:51 AM

Most elaborate movie stunt ever? – 07-05-2003, 09:20 AM

Funniest moment in film – 06-27-2003, 03:56 PM

I am The Hijacker! what are you? – 07-03-2003, 12:59 PM

Movies with no sense of Geography – 07-11-2003, 09:16 PM

Favorite Colloquialisms – 07-14-2003, 02:32 AM

Dipshit who thinks he’s being articulate. – 06-27-2003, 10:45 AM

100 Greatest Movie Deaths – add your favorite! (SPOILERS) – 07-06-2003, 12:37 AM

hijack this thread (I know, not original) – 07-16-2003, 03:12 AM

Just a few silly questions about YOU – 07-13-2003, 09:44 AM

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These next three are outside my first month’s time frame, but they may be equally fun:

Earmarks Of A Video That Should Not Be Rented – 07-06-2003, 03:35 PM Master Wang-Ka

Funniest thing posted in SDMB – 08-31-2003, 01:49 PM

Really Stupid Threads – 10-05-2003, 08:28 PM

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I do hope you can find as many entertaining threads from your first month here, and that you’ll share your finds in this thread.

Have a blast!

2

I know that once I start searching I will get caught up in reading them all and then discover that I didn’t get any work done, again. So I will search later, but this is a really fun idea! I do recall the first thread I ever read, it was the one about whether or not Superman could rip his own head off. I had started regularly visiting the SD front page and read a lot of the articles. I didn’t know what “Threadspotting” meant so never clicked the links, but that one intrigued me. I remember thinking that Dopers must be some of the strangest/most intelligent/craziest/funniest people on the internet.

3

Since I didn’t proofread all those threads before posting the links, I wanted to make up for a bad link in one of them.

The one that reads “Improve on or add to these gems – 07-03-2003, 02:49 PM” made reference to a list like the one at How to Write Good.

Sorry for the oversight.

4

Just a few: How the Hell do you forget the shape of a PRETZEL???, Positions in My New World Government!, The BBQ Pit Virgin Registry. None of them any great shakes, but I was young and timid then.

Still, doing an ancient search yielded some insights. It was interesting to see how many old topics have been recycled over and over since then (Sock-Shoe (2x) or Sock-Sock, Shoe-Shoe, Celebrities You’ve Met, What Food do You Miss?) and the variety of posters who have vanished–or been banned–since then. Plus, plenty of post-padding threads back then (which always helped for a newbie).

5

I don’t think I started a thread here until I was a few months into my time here. When I did, it was in the wrong forum. I did post a lot of useless crap in MPSIMS during my first year here. Mostly post padding threads, which were allowed back then.

6

Way back in the 1999 dawn of the forums here, I started a thread about whether or not glass was a liquid. It got heated enough that eventually Cecil posted in it since it was partially based on an old SD thread wherein Cecil asserts that glass is a liquid.

“Glass as a liquid” is now on the list of topics you shouldn’t ask about in GQ and I’ve never had Cecil post in another thread of mine. I peaked pretty early.

7

Although nobody has asked, as such, how to get around the 5-minute search limitations, the method I have been using to collect the link data on several threads at once (for one post that is) is to rely on a Notepad file for temporary storage and then copy/paste 1) the URL, 2) The thread title, and 3) the starting date and time from the first post’s headline into the Notepad file and then go on to another thread.

In the case of this specific thread, to get my first month’s threads (that I had posted in) to show up,

I used the Search -> Advanced Search ->

Search by User Name
– User Name: <my username>
– **Find Posts by User **

Find Threads Started by User

– Exact name

Search Options

Find Threads with

– At Least At Most <0> Replies

Find Posts from

– ** Any Date **

Your Last Visit
Yesterday
2 Days Ago
3 Days Ago
4 Days Ago
5 Days Ago
6 Days Ago
A Week Ago
2 Weeks Ago
A Month Ago
6 Weeks Ago
2 Months Ago
3 Months Ago
4 Months Ago
5 Months Ago
6 Months Ago
A Year Ago
2 Years Ago
3 Years Ago
4 Years Ago
5 Years Ago
6 Years Ago
7 Years Ago
8 Years Ago
9 Years Ago and Newer and Older

Sort Results by

Relevancy
Title
Number of Replies
Number of Views
Thread Start Date

– ** Last Posting Date **

User Name
Forum

in Descending Order

– **in Ascending Order **

Show Results as

– **Threads **

Posts

Search in Forum(s)

– ** Search All Open Forums **

Search Subscribed Forums
Main
About This Message Board
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Comments on Staff Reports
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These options gave me what I was wanting to see, but in your own case the other options I have shown for reference might work even better.

You can keep going back and forth to the returned listing, copying URL, Title, and First Post Date/Time into your Notepad (or other) file until you have what you need for your post.

To ease posting the collected data as links, use the little blue globe-looking icon right under the white smiley face above the posting window.

If these steps aren’t clear to you, or if you have an even easier set of steps, please say so.

This thread could become a real reference base for lots of fun reading by others.