There seems to be quite a few Aussie readers of the SDMB. How did you all find out about it? What about our friends in Europe and other distant lands?
We dont get the Chicago Reader here, of course, so did you read Cecil Adams books or stumble across the web site?
I hope this doesnt sound like a marketing survey, I am genuinely interested.
btw I mail ordered some SD books and picked up the rest travelling in the US.
Find out about California? 
I stumbled across www.thestraightdope.com while reading up on something or another. Over the period of a few months, I read ALL the columns available there (strangely, I hardly ever read the new ones now).
I didn’t follow the link from the homepage to the SDMB though. I followed a link posted at another board to get here. I think.
Never seen the books, personally.
I was bored at work one day and typed this in. Straight Dope was one of the websites near the top (I tried them all). I read all the articles and then I joined the MB. The rest, as they say, is history.
Funny story time, gather 'round kids. I recommended this site to a friend. I said “Just remember straightdope.com”. She got back to work after our lunch and typed into her work computer… gaydude.com. Got quite a shock too!
I found out about it in an appropriately stoopid way.
My father had often said that he wondered how flies land upside-down on the ceiling. Do they fly up close with their wings nearly touching, then flip over, and run along on their feet, or do they come in lower, and hit the ceiling at the top of a controlled stall?
So I googled “how flies land ceiling” or somesuch, and Google rewarded me with a Cecil column. This was my discovery of the SD homepage, and I returned to it from time to time, but it took me a couple of years to check out the message board. When I found it, I liked what I saw, and didn’t lurk.
www.straightdope.com is one of the built in bookmarks for the Opera browser. Yet another reason why I love it.
Triple J (radio station) had a weekly segment where they had a guy come on and talk about interesting websites. Mentioned the Straight Dope and Cecil, so I checked it out.
Followed a link off www.inktank.com. Read all the columns and spent a few months sporadically lurking before I signed up to the boards.
A google search on a unusual term (long since forgotten) that appeared in a Cecil column
I think I come in under the “other distant lands” category. 
I’ve loved the Straight Dope books since the 1980s. Actually stumbled across the homepage while looking up stuff to do with Dave Barry on Yahoo. Soon as I realised that – yes, Virginia, there still is an Unca Cecil – I bookmarked it, and kept coming back regularly to read. About 6 months later I got up th’ gumption to nosey into the messageboard. Joined up soon after.
I’m less distant than Ice Wolf (or the Aussies). Can’t remember which order these happened, but…
[ul][li]Mentioned to me by a coworker who has an American wife[/li]Saw it in a magazine article called “Best of the Web”, or similar[/ul]
I too came via Google, after having a question about the rate of expansion of the universe. Of course, most of the sites google suggested were of a scientific bent (and thus unintelligable for me) but there was ONE that I clicked on, and here I am, still. 
I’d never heard of Cecil before, nor have I ever met anyone since who doesn’t raise a quizzical and dubious eyebrow when I mention the name Straight Dope.
Should have mentioned that I am a British Doper, like everton.
Someone posted a link to SDMB in a reply on the About.com Urban Legends and Folklore messageboard - the rest is history.
Thanks all for your replies. I like Ice Wolf’s story - reading the books since the 80’s.
I think I found the SD via a link from the Aust Skeptics web site about 2 years ago, bought the books (perfect for the toilet library) and joined SDMB about a year afterward.
I came via snopes.
Any chance of you joining us for Santadope on 30 November antechinus?
Another Googler - an acquaintance and I were arguing over whether a duck’s quack echoed. Why do you have to disprove every single bloody item in those forwardlore “fact” lists for some people?
Ich bin ein Googler.
Wetter if you run or if you walk, I think.
I lurked for a while and then joined when someone asked for tips on giving up smoking.
I found out through Fark.com
(Aussie checking in)
I think I’ve said it a few times - I came here via Snopes on the day that Wally’s passing was announced over there.
This is the ironic part - I found Snopes because I was trying to find out something about the Moon landing Hoax believers, and thought it would be an ‘Urban Legend’. I never actually found much of interest about that subject on Snopes, but found lots here (including links to Bad Astronomer, and BA himself, and when you’ve found that, the sky’s the limit, if you’ll excuse the terrible pun :eek: )