How did you find SDMB?

You’re an idiot because you didn’t include the option for those who were reading the column before the internet.

I continued to read only the print version long after AOL got involved, simply because I don’t like AOL.

Yeah, I did screw up on that one. I used to read his column in the New York Free Press when I worked in the city. I’m not sure why I didn’t make the connection. I seem to do that, or not do that as the case may be, quite a lot.

www.bored.com

Bought my first Cecil book in (I think) 1986. When my office decided to put a computer on my desk, with access to some newfangled thing called the “internet”, I tried typing “www.straightdope.com” into the url field of my netscape browser. Lurked for quite awhile, and finally signed up.

I turned left at Greenland.

I don’t recall exactly. I’d never heard of The Straight Dope or Cecil Adams, but somewhere (maybe a blog, or maybe an email from someone) I came across a link to the “What if The Lord of the Rings had been written by someone else?” thread.

I don’t remember the actual instance, but I read the City-Paper when I lived in Washington DC and liked Cecil’s column and bought a couple of his books. I can only assume that I googled Cecil when I moved back to the midwest and found this site.

…was googling for info on why G.O.B. businesses lie about “losing their lease”, which led me to a 10 year old SD thread which I promptly responded to in my newbieness.

I put “Column” and “Other”. I knew of the column, and had noticed the links to the forum on the straightdope.com page but never did anything about it.

Then someone forwarded the Horror of Blimps column. And I wanted to search for more by this author but back then, you had to register to search. The rest is history (or herstory, I guess) :).

I found it trite and derivative and completely unbelievable.

My first message boarding experience was at the snopes site. References to the SDMB led me over here.

I read the column in the '80s; I discovered the books in the '90s; I visited the AOL site and read some back columns; but it wasn’t until I searched for the answer to a question and found it on straightdope.com that I discovered there was a message board – in 2002! I feel like one of the slow kids. Playing.

I was referred here via a link on another site.

Back in 2002, I frequented FARK.com for links to interesting sites. They had a an entry to Cecil’s column authored by Dex and Eutychus on Who Wrote The Bible, a five part series. I followed the link from there for “Comments on this Answer”, and found the message board (though those threads are no longer available, perhaps lost in the winter of discontent, along with the majority of my early posts).

I was impressed that a message board could have a civilized and intelligent discussion about such a charged issue. I was hooked.

I posted and participated alot back in those early days. I have maintained my Charter Membership, lurked a good bit, but haven’t posted much in the last five years.

Back in 20 ought 6 when the tv show Heroes first started I did some searching to find out more about the show and after searching several forums I came across this place and people here were talking about in a much more intelligent way than the previous forums and I’ve been hanging around ever since.

I found a cool thread about people in retail dealing with crazy customers on Stumbleupon, and I figured this was a cool place, so I joined.

I too found it via the TV show. I think I waited a few months though before posting anything.