# How did you find the SDMB? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 31, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062 "2003-07-31T04:28:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LauraLittlePony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LauraLittlePony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LauraLittlePony)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/41 "2003-07-31T20:49:23Z")
I’m glad you said you found it through [bored.com](http://bored.com), because otherwise I would have been ashamed to admit that that’s how I found it, too. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/42 "2003-07-31T21:04:32Z")
[www.bored.com](http://www.bored.com) ---
**Author:** ![flood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@flood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flood)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/43 "2003-07-31T21:30:19Z")
I’m surprised that not as many found it off of [bored.com](http://bored.com). I would’ve thought that there would’ve been alot more people saying that that’s how they found SD. In any case, I remember the first column I ever read was the one about “What would happen if a billion Chinese jumped at once off of chairs”. Cecil’s smartass answer still continues to tickle me to this day.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![flood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@flood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flood)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/44 "2003-07-31T21:35:54Z")
I’m surprised that not as many found it off of [bored.com](http://bored.com). I would’ve thought that there would’ve been alot more people saying that that’s how they found SD. In any case, I remember the first column I ever read was the one about “What would happen if a billion Chinese jumped at once off of chairs”. Cecil’s smartass answer still continues to tickle me to this day.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/45 "2003-07-31T21:37:22Z")
It was pointed out to me by an acquiantance on another MB. He’s known around these parts as **Lightnin’**. I haven’t been to that other MB in months, but this one I’m sticking with. Because of the nature of the link, I found the SDMB first, and only discovered the larger SD later. ---
**Author:** ![mystycalchyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@mystycalchyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mystycalchyk)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/46 "2003-07-31T22:17:39Z")
Lurker here _waves_ I’m a member of several boards, and was linked to here from one of them. For the last several months I have thoroughly enjoyed intruding on your personal lives. [http://www.mystrealm.com/user/Tom\_Haynes/Lurking.gif](http://www.mystrealm.com/user/Tom_Haynes/Lurking.gif) :rolleyes: Yeah I feel a little like Dorothy of something after she lands in Oz _finger to cheek dimple_ Golly gee you are all so…interesting The story i was linked to? Why it was [The Horror of Blimps](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=160851&perpage=50&pagenumber=1), of course. _begins bowing and grovelling to the great Scylla_ :smack: can’t get my cute lil smileys to work for nuthin’ _sigh_ oh well, click it, I 'spose ---
**Author:** ![Draknek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@Draknek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draknek)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/47 "2003-07-31T22:42:06Z")
_delurks_ I was linked to the “If LotR had been written by someone else” thread way back in January. I moved to the rest of the board and realised how large a range of topics there was. Since then, I’ve been lurking on and off. ---
**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/48 "2003-07-31T22:45:10Z")
Another guy here that bounded over here via [Fark.com](http://Fark.com) ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/49 "2003-07-31T22:45:12Z")
I look in at a science fiction/fantasy forum,and someone mentioned a thread about The Lord of the Rings that was reaching epic proportions, and gave a link. So I had a look, lurked for a while and then registered. V ---
**Author:** ![PigArcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@PigArcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigArcher)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/50 "2003-07-31T23:19:28Z")
I used to read The Straight Dope in the L.A. Reader. After they changed ownership and became the L.A. New Times in the mid-nineties, they dropped it. Fast forward a few years: I was thinking about The Straight Dope one day, so I did a search, and voila! I only read the archives for a few months before checking out the message boards. I mostly lurk, but occasional participate. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/51 "2003-07-31T23:39:56Z")
Has anyone had this idea?.. Once this thread has turned up say, 10 commonly given answers to the OP (subject) question a Moderator start a Poll. a Proper poll (like the ones we get for voting for a new smiley) so instead of posting and saying ‘[bored.com](http://bored.com)’ you click and vote, and we get a nice bar chart. And the mods/admins get to look at the bar chart and decide who to throw petrol bo…er… _thank_. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Macphisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Ms\_Macphisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Macphisto)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/52 "2003-07-31T23:45:41Z")
My father emailed me a link to a column about cats eating their owners after they die (one of the family cats acts like it wants to kill him, so I guess he thought it was appropriate). Like so many others, I started exploring the archives and reading the daily columns. Eventually, a Threadspotting caught my eye, so I decided to check it out. From there, I made it to the rest of the boards where I lurked for some time before registering. This place is addictive! ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/53 "2003-07-31T23:48:07Z")
I’m a fan of my local talk radio station, and a mod on a fan site dedicated to the station. We had a poster who apparently disagreed with our banning him so much, he came _here_ and tried to incite SDMBers to come flame **us**. :rolleyes: Yeah, that didn’t work, but an admin there posted the link and we all dutifully trooped over here to watch a professional flaming happen. I liked it here, so I stayed. Whoooo I think this is the first original answer I’ve ever gotten to post here! ---
**Author:** ![Orange\_Skinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3be4f8/32.png) [@Orange\_Skinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orange_Skinner)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/54 "2003-08-01T04:41:53Z")
I found a link to some of Cecil’s old articles through [www.bored.com](http://www.bored.com) maybe three years ago, read almost all of them, but I never knew about the message board. Then a couple years ago, **Mudshark** and I became good friends, and he brought up the SDMB a lot in conversation and I eventually wound up checking it out for myself. Registered shortly after. ---
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/55 "2003-08-01T05:04:29Z")
I found the original SD book while in college. Read it cover to cover, and a few things stayed with me. Fast forward 15 (!) years. While having a few (ahem) beverages with a friend, I mention one of Cecil’s columns about being able to hypnotize a chicken with just your finger. My SD book is somewhere in a box, and I can’t find the column. I figure “Hey - that’s what the internet is for!”. I type in [straightdope.com](http://straightdope.com) and end up at the main page. I was ecstatic at finding exactly what I was looking for, and quickly convert said friend into a believer. It took me about four months to realize that there even _was_ a message board, and after lurking for a few months I finally registered. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/56 "2003-08-01T09:55:32Z")
Back on Memorial Day Weekend in 2000, I found Cecil’s columns, and the message board. By the next morning, I had read the entire **General Questions** forum. I read all the other forums regularly until December 2000 when I stopped going online for a while. Then in July 2001, I decided to caoe back and registered at the message board. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/57 "2003-08-01T17:03:33Z")
I heard something about this Cecil guy (at the time…he was just some Cecil guy to me), so I searched his name and found Straight Dope. I believe it was just before or just after it went from AOL only to it’s own Website. I think I found it using an AOL internal search just as a website was being established because they couldn’t work out anything with AOL anymore. I was reading some Great Debates after finding the message boards and someone was going back and forth about the OJ trial/verdict. Man, the guys were citing stuff, and backing up their arguements…people were conceding…and I thought, “Holy Crap! - ADULTS!” So I signed up and posted to the OJ thread and started one of my own that got several pages long. Now, I loathe Great Debates, wish for more conservatives on the boards and I am showing my age of 36 by wishing their were less yutes (youths) on the boards. I ain’t saying I’m totally rational, but I do feel this way time to time. I am proudest of an answer I gave in GQ about some girl who wanted to know why some people wandered around Yellowstone National Park yelling something or the other. I actually found an answer w/in minutes and backed it up and still don’t know how I did it. Neither does she. It was so obscure and regional I had no business being able to help her. Thats the kind of stuff that keeps me around. Also, since their is an internation flavor to the boards, I take an interest in all views from all over the world - Fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Polairis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@Polairis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polairis)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/58 "2003-08-01T21:57:48Z")
I went looking specifically _for_ message boards by searching some random engine. I scrolled down the list that came up and saw “Straight Dope.” I had never heard of it. Never knew there was a column. Never heard of Cecil Adams. Etc, etc, etc. I honestly thought it was probably some website about the legalization of pot (which is _really_ funny now). So I clicked on it. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/59 "2003-08-02T03:23:46Z")
I was getting bored with all the finger pointing and name calling at a different board, and asked another poster if he knew of any other message boards. He kindly steered me here. ---
**Author:** ![im2evil4u](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5ac83/32.png) [@im2evil4u](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/im2evil4u)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062/60 "2003-08-02T03:54:17Z")
I was flipping channels in a hotel room while on vacation in VA Beach, when I discovered the straight dope. Who was that bald guy anyway? He was a hottie. Back at home in NY, I watched it religiously until it was cancelled. Purchased the books, placed them in the bathroom next to my beloved Calvin and Hobbes books and read them and re-read them 400 times. I’m not quite sure how I found the cite, I think I just typed “straightdope” in my browser and I was on my way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-find-the-sdmb/192062.md?page=4)