# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/21 "2010-10-13T07:12:20Z")
I was listening to a hidden track on the Robbie Williams album “Escapology” that opened with the line “Is the Richard Gere gerbil story true?” Not being from the USA (and probably born a bit too late as well) I didn’t know what that was referring to, so I googled “Richard Gere gerbil”. :eek: The Wikipedia entry on Gerbil stuffing had a link to [this awesome Cecil column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/478/is-it-true-what-they-say-about-gerbils), which made me read pretty much every column in the list. One day I checked out the forums, and not even 5 years later, I signed up. Thank you, Uncle Cecil! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/22 "2010-10-13T07:12:36Z")
From Snopes to the Snopes messageboard to someone quoting Cecil as a source to me wanting to ask Cecil a question about something he said, but not wanting to only have a month long posting career, to me lurking until I heard about going free to post, to subscribing with one month left in order to try to be the first free-to-post Guest. ETA: So option 1. Also, I got to Snopes from googling about Mr. Ed being a zebra. ---
**Author:** ![Leah\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/57b2e6/32.png) [@Leah\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leah_M)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/23 "2010-10-13T07:42:48Z")
A friend linked me to Cecil’s columns, years ago, when one was relevant to a topic we were discussing (I don’t recall which one). I lurked for ages, and still mostly lurk. I like to read, and it keeps me amused at work during downtime. ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/24 "2010-10-13T08:03:11Z")
> [@PKLemming](#): > > 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. This. A friend sent the blimp thread and a few others by **Master Wangka** (sp?) and I was hooked. I wonder if there is a single doper who is responsible for more people joining than **Scylla**. IIRC in previous threads similar to this one several others have reported that the blimp thread was their way in. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/25 "2010-10-13T08:09:07Z")
Looking for an answer to “wetter if you walk or run in the rain” I found Cecil’s answer and discovered the boards. I didn’t join until someone asked about advice giving up smoking. Since I had managed it effortlessly thanks to a book, I decided I had to share the tip. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/26 "2010-10-13T09:00:52Z")
I was on the old AOL site/message board, and I moved here when the SDMB went to the web. That was about five years before I switched from dialup. I found the Straight Dope in the first place after seeing the TV show on A&E. Dadgummit. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/27 "2010-10-13T09:05:57Z")
Bloody **yojimbo** fucked me up by banging on about it for months. Then sending me a GQ I could answer. That was it… ---
**Author:** ![Terra1041](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Terra1041](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terra1041)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/28 "2010-10-13T09:08:05Z")
I knew about the column back when I found some Straight Dope books around 2001. Then, when I found the Web site online, I recognized its name from the column and books. I started visiting the boards regularly around 2005 or so, but I didn’t join for years later. ---
**Author:** ![SevenOfTeemingMillions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@SevenOfTeemingMillions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SevenOfTeemingMillions)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/29 "2010-10-13T09:13:15Z")
I was googling a purportedly-true haunting and found an article in [straightdope.com](http://straightdope.com) debunking it. I then started reading the other archived articles. That occupied me for a few months. I would then regularly check the site for new articles. One day when there was no new article, I decided to check out the threadspotting link and a whole new world was discovered by yours truly. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/30 "2010-10-13T10:54:27Z")
A link to a Scylla post [on waterboarding](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=448717) was posted at a different forum. Followed the link and here I am. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/31 "2010-10-13T12:59:27Z")
I ticked “A friend” and “Other” because a friend referred me to the online archive of Cecil’s columns, and I found the boards from there… ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/32 "2010-10-13T13:04:51Z")
I had read the books and even seen the TV show, but it didn’t occur to me to look online… At the time, I was a vegetarian and used to read a site called Vegan Porn, which had a link that led me here. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/33 "2010-10-13T13:12:14Z")
I got here after reading a reference to Cecil Adams and _The Straight Dope_ on a Terry Pratchett fansite ([www.lspace.org](http://www.lspace.org)). ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/34 "2010-10-13T14:40:39Z")
I had a friend who used to know a lot of trivia one day I asked him where he got it all from, it was about Heinz 57 and he admitted to using the Straightdope columns and told me about the board. A couple of months later I had an internship and was bored so I decided to look up some trivia. I think I signed up near the end of the summer of '04 but then I went back to school and mainly lurked on and off until I got a full time office job in '07 by that point I forgot whether or not I signed up so I (re)joined under my current name. ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/35 "2010-10-13T15:28:23Z")
Picked up the first book ages ago, and enjoyed it. So I subscribed to alt.fan.cecil-adams. Then I got a job, left school, and stopped following usenet so closely. Years later, wondered if this new WWW thing might have something akin to the old usenet group, and googled, probably using AltaVista, to find the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/36 "2010-10-13T15:30:33Z")
I got the first book for Christmas way back when as a wee tot. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/37 "2010-10-13T15:36:27Z")
Yay! I’m the first person to mention [The Straight Dope](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398574/fullcredits) TV show, which was on the A&E network and starred comedian Mark Lukas, back in the late '90s. That show led me to the website, where I lurked a couple years before joining. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/38 "2010-10-13T15:38:16Z")
> [@Panurge](#): > > I wonder if there is a single doper who is responsible for more people joining than **Scylla**. IIRC in previous threads similar to this one several others have reported that the blimp thread was their way in. I wasn’t lead here by him, but my obsession with tracking down and reading every one of **Sampiro** ’s threads about his family was what kept me coming back 🙂 I heard about the SDMB first on a “tell me your funny sites to read” thread of the day on [Shakesville](http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/), last November or December, read through the archives for a while, then signed up in January this year. FWIW, the particular thread recommended was **Qadgop the Mercotan** ’s one about urethra stuffers! ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/39 "2010-10-13T15:38:33Z")
A friend told me about the books way back in the late 80s. That was before I had even heard of the Internet, if it even existed. I had just started using email, for heaven’s sake. From the books I found a local paper that carried the column. Eventually I found this website. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941/40 "2010-10-13T15:40:01Z")
I also found the books before the print column or the Board. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-sdmb/556941.md?page=3)