There was a link on Twinstuff.com, which led me right to here.
I was sucked into the world of Dope fiends as a young child when I read Know it All!, Ed Zotti’s Straight Dope-esque book for children old enough to be curious about bizarre things, but not quite ready for the cantankerousness that is Cecil Adams. I had read that book’s introduction, in which Zotti mentions Cecil Adams and the Straight Dope, but I never gave it much thought for several years, until I was in sort of a rut with reading material and decided to get these Dope books from the library. Later I went online and read the columns, bought Triumph when it came out, and sometime in the interim, I began reading the Threadspotting threads. (I think the first one was “Wally tries cybersex.” What a classic work of literature.) I later checked out the other threads on the boards and was content with my lurking status for several years, reading my way through such classic threads as the Jack Dean Tyler saga, feeling sad when Wally died :(, developing several board crushes, etc., but was still too lazy to register. Finally, my friend Xan told me I should, so I did, and here I am.
And here’s a question: Am I still a newbie now that I have a higher post count than Cecil?
One of Opera’s default bookmarks is the straight dope. I was bored, starting looking through the defaults, found the straight dope. The rest is history.
Actually I found the board during the downtime, so my first experience of the SDMB was at the temporary board. I didn’t bother registering there though.
As a kid, I was trivia/answer addict, so my parents gave me a copy of More of the Straight Dope for Christmas. I was hooked.
Shortly after getting back online after moving to Japan, I checked if there was a website, and there it was.
After casually lurking for a year or two, I became a member in 2000 and have been hooked ever since.
Flashback to the 1980s. I became a big fan of The Master picking up copies of The Straight Dope and More of the Straight Dope (I’d buy th’ rest, honest, but th’ exchange rate’s a tad punitive, still. Please forgive me.) Figured by the early 1990s that the articles were no longer being written. Felt extremely sad.
Two years ago, I get my very first Internet-capable computer (heh. Still payin’ it off. Don’t care.) I spend three months solid, just surfin’ and finding my way around. One day, thinks, “Hey! Wonder if Dave Barry articles are on-line?” On a Yahoo search page, I see a reference to The Straight Dope. “Nah,” says I, “it couldn’t be!” Of course, it was – but it took another three months or so for me to dip me toesies into the SDMB.
That day was definitely a “What th’ hell? Go for it!” day.
There was an article in a Reader’s Digest about Cecil and the Straight Dope. It interested me so much that I saved it. I found his first book about a year later. Still have the book and the article.
When my office got the Internet, I checked out about 1,372 theatre sites, then the Straight Dope. Besides ebay, it’s the only non-theatre site I visit.
I was searching on the web for verification of some UL (I don’t remember what it was, but I think it could’ve been the “science proves bumblebees cannot fly” one). I found Cecil’s page about that, and later on I started browsing the archives.
I had been using the SD archives for quite some time before joinig the Boards; I had used the “Ask Cecil” button to palm off the question how canal diggers move away the absolutely last dike, and I got an automatically generated reply recommending me to post the question on GQ.
For a long time, GQ was the only Board section I was using; later on, I added GD, IMHO and MPSIMS (I think in this order) to my hunting grounds.
I read about the Straight Dope in an online column about the author Terry Pratchett, who is a Straight Dope fan, and was recommending the books.
I then found the books on Amazon, I think, and in the books I read about the website.
Then I found the Message Boards, signed up when I was actually able to answer a question posted in GQ, and have been here ever since.
I stumbled across the SDMB while doing a Google search for something or other a year or so ago (around the time I registered). I already had the first Straight Dope book and liked it, so I figured I’d check out the message board. So here I am. Hi.
First found the site late 1999, but not the SDMB portion, just the articles. If I recall correctly, I think I was doing a search for Chicago Reader stuff, and this popped up. I was entertained by Cecil’s work and saw the link for the boards, but never went to it. I’m not much for online boards (post count can show that), so never even thought about it.
Last this summer, a friend send me a link to jinwicked’s site, after browsing there, I hit her links page, and saw SD and thought it sounded familiar, and came over. This time I hit Threadspotting, and I think it was the Happy Fun Squad, and the traveling, underwear wearing teddy bear that got me to go into to the boards (yes, I’m strange). I read for a few months, then finally registered when I realized that every now and then, I wanted to add my two cents.
But, I still don’t all that often 
I used to read crank.net to pass the time.
From crank.net, I discovered Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy site and the BABB there.
From the BABB, I discovered the Skeptic Friends Network (SFN)
Someone at SFN mentioned a troll common to both BABB and SFN who was posting here (SeeThruArt a.k.a. Piper, otherwise known as he-whose-name-shall-not-be-spoken)
I discovered SDMB. It was like a crackwhore given heroin. I was hooked.
I have since stopped posting on those other BBs as one board takes up too much of my time as it is 
A friend gave me the first book sometime in the mid-'80s. The column was nowhere to be found in these parts, but I’d enjoyed the book, so I scarfed up More… when I discovered it in a secondhand bookstore a few years later.
Some more years passed and I got on the 'net and found the main site. I knew from it that there was an AOL board, but I wasn’t on AOL. Nevertheless, I checked the site regularly as a new column was posted weekly, and thus became aware of this board almost as soon as it opened (~2nd week of March '99, IIRC).
I lurked for a few weeks and signed on. My old life is over.
I found a copy of The Straight Dope, in a local bookstore. Multiple copies were filed under Reference and Humor. I was intrigued.
I opened the book, & read a chapter.
Never looked back.
I first encountered the Straight Dope in 1983, in the column form. It was the classic “Does the male pig have a corkscrew shaped penis?” Read the books, and when I got a computer decided to find out if the SD was online. So I went looking and here I am.
Guinastasia brought me. Blame her. The Huntress of the Online Fora found me at a costuming message board, started emailing me, and casually said things like, (slight exaggeration) “Lissar, get you butt over to the Straight Dope or I’ll kill you.”
So here I am.
<---- blames musicguy 
I stumbled onto this column one time when I was Google-ing for the lyrics to Louie Louie by the Kingsmen.
After that, I took a while to read through the entire archive up to that point. I noticed Threadspotting shortly after, and I was hooked.
I lurked for probably three or so years before finally signing up.
And now, here I am!
Odd that I shoul see this.
Exactly two years ago this weekend The Sunday Night/Memorial Day morning, I was looking at some Beatles stuff and found one of Cecil’s columns on them. I read the boards for a few months, then lost intrest. About a year after that, I found them again and decided to join.
Years ago, I caught the briefly-lived show on A&E. They had a plug for the site on AOL back in those days, and it so happened that I had AOL at the time - so I got hooked on the columns then, and participated in the chat and boards sporadically. Then SD made the jump to the actual web, and I didn’t go along with it. I made a name on the boards, but never participated, though I read the column every couple of days.
Lo and behold that when I decided to join in, my name was still here! And here I am! Wow!