I remember the day where it was common to quote “the perfect master”, and while I do see that occasionally, very occasionally, well seldomly, perhaps rarely, um let’s make that very rarely, well almost never to be honest. Has this board, which is us, outgrown our god (Cecil Adams).
Is there any relevance to it’s roots anymore? Is it time where we leave this god behind on a planet as we journey onwards? Does anyone read CA’s columns anymore?
And for many newcomers are you even aware of what a Cecil Adams is?
I think with Google’s improved algorithms, the GQ forum is almost* obsolete. That is of course unless you are looking for more than a clinical answer to the question you want answered and would like to have an actual discussion of said question.
The internets has out grown its infancy, and by default its paternal masters as well.
O ye young pup, of little faith. Do not tempt fate lest you be struck by a bolt of lightning and your mortal ashes be flushed down the nearest sewer pipe.
I read the columns at least twice a week – or I go back through the links to read them. Always the new Friday entries; very often the recycled archival offerings (though I’ve also recognized some of them as 3rd or 4th repostings and even saw one, which was the impetus for my joining (so I could respond to it), that was updated with newer information (including some of the stuff I posted).
So I don’t think I’ve outgrown this place yet.
In fact, as a ReFFugee from another board (which was an oFFshoot of another board) I’m very much liking this venue.
Sure, Google can find the answer to most anything. What it cannot easily find are answers of the depth and quality that we find on this board of Cecil’s. Ask a question on this board and you’re likely to find it answered by some of the savviest folk on the net. You just don’t get that by googling, unless of course you want to sift thousands of answers until you find a good one. This board is still needed and will be for a long time.
I still go to the home page and read the column, especially the new ones but even the older ones I’ll re-read after years. I still see them come up for discussion in that forum as well, which sometimes gives an interesting take on one of his older (or newer) columns. Of course, I don’t think that the writer today is the same over the years, but I still find it informative, and I think it’s still a part of this board.
I doubt if I would recognize Cecil if he were standing in front of me in line at the grocery store, but consider this: Black Sabbath didn’t think they needed Ozzy anymore. Hawkwind didn’t think they needed Lemmy anymore. Who were the big winners after those decisions, huh?
Ask a question on this board and you’ll likely be answered by one (or more) of the same 40 people who answer every question on this board. Or 99% of the questions.
I don’t think that Cecil’s columns are the bulk of the value in the Straight Dope, but they are the nucleus of the value. You can ask any member here why they’re on this message board. For some of them (possibly even most), they’ll say it’s because they get good discussion, or because they like the people here, or whatever. But that’s all, ultimately, circular. Why is that good discussion, and those people, here? Well, many of them are here because of other people, and so on. But this chain has a finite number of steps, and in the end, what it comes down to is that everyone here is here, on this particular site, because of Cecil Adams, whether directly or indirectly.
