I used to read the Straight Dope column in the Austin Chronicle free newspaper back in the 80s and early 90s. After I left Austin in the mid-90s I somehow found the website running the column. I read the columns on the website weekly. Eventually I clicked on the “Message Boards” link. I lurked on the boards for a year or more, before finally having a question that seemed important enough to join so I could ask it. That was December 2003.
Irony is I check the board nearly every day. I can’t remember the last time I read a column.
I think @Mangetout, @TriPolar, and @Gfactor are still active from that original very short thread.