# How did you find SDMB? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 13, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941 "2010-10-13T00:24:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/1 "2010-10-13T00:24:47Z")
I know a lot of people have been here since this was, what I guess was something similar to a Yahoo group at AOL. But what I’m really interested in is how you found this place - whether at AOL or later (however I have included an option for AOL as one answer since I have no idea how that system worked). I found the site through [big-boards.com](http://big-boards.com). I was looking for a general discussion site that was reasonably active and had intelligent posters. It’s nice to go to special interest sites if you’re particularly passionate about specific hobbies or issues, but a place that does it all is exceedingly rare. I figured all the smart kids had to be hanging out someplace and I’m very happy to have found at least one of your haunts. Maybe in a couple more months you’ll teach me the secret handshake? Pretty please!!! ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/2 "2010-10-13T00:33:14Z")
I’m a Charter Member but I found it post AOL. Originally I found Cecil’s Straight Dope column at [www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com). I checked it for a new column everyday. I’m not positive how I got from there to the message boards, but I think that at some point I clicked on the “Comment on This Answer” link that’s at the bottom of each article. I liked what I found, and signed up. ETA: IIRC, my first X posts were lost in the infamous “winter of missed content”. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/3 "2010-10-13T00:54:43Z")
There was no poll at the top when I posted. I’ll have to look at it and see if anything fits. ETA: Found it via Cecil’s column. ---
**Author:** ![Juggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/juggler/32/3194_2.png) [@Juggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juggler)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/4 "2010-10-13T01:02:01Z")
Ten years ago I was bored so I typed in [www.bored.com](http://replay.waybackmachine.org/19991013061550/http://bored.com/)[waybackmachine link] as was the style of the time. Looked at the cool animated gifs and clicked the link to The Straight Dope. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/5 "2010-10-13T01:05:47Z")
I’m another [bored.com](http://bored.com) person. I worked a few months at a night job with nothing to do but play around online. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/6 "2010-10-13T01:07:48Z")
I found it through the books, which I’m surprised is not an option. Read the first couple of books and when I dialed-up, er, logged on next, typed in “Straight Dope” at yahoo and voila! ---
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/7 "2010-10-13T01:12:45Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I found it through the books, which I’m surprised is not an option. Read the first couple of books and when I dialed-up, er, logged on next, typed in “Straight Dope” at yahoo and voila! Books? Ummm, {sheepishly} what books? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/8 "2010-10-13T01:16:40Z")
> [@dzero](#): > > > [@JohnT](#): > > > > I found it through the books, which I’m surprised is not an option. Read the first couple of books and when I dialed-up, er, logged on next, typed in “Straight Dope” at yahoo and voila! > > Books? Ummm, {sheepishly} what books? [Some of Cecil’s columns have been compiled into book form.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Straight_Dope#Books) > [@Wikipedia](#): > > To date, Adams has published five collections of his columns, and his “assistant” Ed Zotti has published a children’s collection in the Adams style, Know It All. I was googling something (I can’t remember what) and the subject of my search had been covered in a Straight Dope article. I read those for nearly a year before discovering that there was a forum, which I joined as soon as I found. . ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/9 "2010-10-13T01:18:25Z")
> [@dzero](#): > > > [@JohnT](#): > > > > I found it through the books, which I’m surprised is not an option. Read the first couple of books and when I dialed-up, er, logged on next, typed in “Straight Dope” at yahoo and voila! > > Books? Ummm, {sheepishly} what books? [http://chicago.straightdope.com/TSDbookadarchive.htm](http://chicago.straightdope.com/TSDbookadarchive.htm) ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/10 "2010-10-13T01:18:43Z")
I read several mentions of this place on the Snopes forum, so I surfed over to check it out. ---
**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 13, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/11 "2010-10-13T01:21:45Z")
my first email / internet access was through AOHell [but I got better…] and I followed a link to one of Cecil’s columns, and stayed. I didn’t actually join until after 2000. I remember I joined then lapsed then rejoined. ---
**Author:** ![PKLemming](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PKLemming](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PKLemming)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/12 "2010-10-13T01:33:41Z")
A link to this thread: [The horror of blimps](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=160851) led me here, some time in 2003. …and 7 years later I make my first post. Going for my 2nd post some time in 2017, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/13 "2010-10-13T01:47:04Z")
I read the books. Sorry to be so…antiquated. I think **Lemming** and I should really meet. We joined within 30 days of each other and… wow. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/14 "2010-10-13T02:48:52Z")
My husband, **Suburban Plankton** sent me a link to this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=138905). ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/15 "2010-10-13T03:18:02Z")
**DavidB** posted a link on Snopes to a thread here where he and **Liberal** (or **Libertarian** as he was then) were arguing about the “That’d be the butt, Bob” episode of the Newlywed Game. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/16 "2010-10-13T03:22:31Z")
I’ve been here so long, I can’t even remember. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/17 "2010-10-13T03:53:02Z")
AOL had a “Random Page” Roulette wheel. The rest is history. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/18 "2010-10-13T04:01:13Z")
Since I have an interest in useless knowledge, Hub bought me the first book for Christmas in 1999. I loved it and it had a reference to the AOL boards. Neither of us had ever heard of The Straight Dope. I tried to find it on AOL and couldn’t, then discovered it had moved to the real internet. I lurked for a loooong time because I wanted a witty username. One never came to me and ultimately I had a thread that I HAD TO POST IN so I finally registered as **Ruby**. The rest, as they say, is history. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/19 "2010-10-13T04:14:45Z")
Another one here who found it via the books. ---
**Author:** ![VanillaGorilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@VanillaGorilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VanillaGorilla)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/20 "2010-10-13T06:06:39Z")
Pretty sure I found it using Stumble Upon. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941.md?page=2)