Over here, Loach said:
I said I thought the number of SDMB folks who joined because of the books is a fraction of those who discovered it the old-fashioned way: via the Internet.
Let’s see who’s right!
ETA: Lest anyone is wondering, I found it via Bored.com when I was working for what turned out to be a Lou Perlman scam.
I found it from a link in the old AOL days, years before actually becoming a member.
I read the newspaper column first, and had at least one of the books. But I don’t recall any more how I first got here. It could have been through a link elsewhere, or through a search engine. Not Google, though. I first heard about Google here.
One of those “interesting time wasters” lists online.
Depends on what you mean by “finding” the message board. I enjoyed the books when I was 17, in 1987, then enjoyed the column when I lived in Chicago for the subsequent four years, and sporadically thereafter. I discovered the web version of the column around 1999 or 2000, discovered the message board around 2003 or 2004, lurked for a year or so, then joined up.
So, I chose “books,” because I think that’s what you’re getting at – but your question would literally be answered with something like “realized at some point what a message board was, and noticed the web column linked to one.”
Alta Vista it ain’t! 
Since I’d been reading the Dope in the D.C. City Paper when I could get it, but didn’t go into the inner 'burbs enough to get the City Paper as often as I’d like, I did a search for it in April of 1999. Can’t remember which search engine I used; it wasn’t Google because I hadn’t heard of it yet.
Once I located the Straight Dope online, I saw the link to the SDMB, clicked, joined.
Good point. I guess it would be whatever brought you to the web version of the column.
I found this place totally by mistake.
I was searching for another board that I had remembered visiting and was trying to find THAT one. This was one of the first ones I clicked on thinking it was that one (because it had the same layout/color scheme/etc).
It wasn’t.
I did eventually find the right boards.
(It was this one)
I answered, “Some other way”. I’ve been here for almost 11 years, and can’t remember exactly how I ended up here. I have a very vague recollection of being pointed here by a fellow member of some e-mail discussion list I was part of in 2003.
I voted google but upon further probing of the recesses of my brain I have a vague memory of a library book involving… brain teasers? Where a kid keeps trying to stump his grandpa or vice versa? One of the teasers was something about a WWI medal and how it wouldn’t be printed as WWI if it was authentic.
I do remember reading the main online column for about 5 years or so before dipping my toes into the message boards and even then there was a couple years of lurking before joining. Jeeze all of this was at least a decade ago when the internet was in its infancy so the book sounds more and more plausible…
Same. Minus the working for a scam part.
I first learned of the Straight Dope through the books: A buddy of mine in high school had one of them. I discovered the site through random-surfing links on generic personal web pages, and spent some time reading through old columns. I discovered the boards when I went to comment on a Mailbag column about poison ivy. And I realized that this was the sort of place where I could feel at home when I found the thread about Galileo, a hammer, and a feather.
Like many of my fellow 99ers, it was on AOL.
When you logged on, a home page would pop up with various, well, stuff, kinda like the front page of Yahoo.com. The daily (weekly?) SD column had a spot on that page and this article caught my attention. Been here ever since.
I was another member on the AOL Straight Dope forum. I was familiar with the Straight Dope before that from the books.
Avid reader of the books as a kid (whole house was), then found the column.
Vaguely recall being frustrated that I couldn’t find it online or something, or could find a static page or something be couldn’t access much on it. I had Internet access in the 90s through college, so no AOL subscription. Anyone remember what the page looked like before the SDMB launched? Was there a basic public page or something that linked to AOL? Anyone remember how it worked?
I found alt.cecil somethingorother briefly, but was never a fan of Usenet. (Whoa, what’s going on?! I just looked at Redirecting to Google Groups an it looks active!)
I found the Boards shortly after they launched in 99, lurked for several months and then finally joined to ask a question.
Google for me. It was a post by Dio discussing the bible. I’m still here. I miss him.
I’m going with “Some other way”. I had never heard of the newspaper column until I moved to the Albuquerque area in 1999. The local alternative newspaper, the Alibi, carried the column. I read it every week and soon became a fan of Cecil (and of course Slug, with his wonderful illustrations).
Around the same time, I started to really get into the music of Bela Fleck & The Flecktones. I found their website and then their messageboard. I signed up (that’s where I got my user name- Bumbershoot is a Flecktones tune) and really enjoyed interacting with like-minded people.
I also found snopes.com while researching (I believe the modern term is googling) various subjects. Eventually I noticed the link to their messageboard. I hung out there for a while and one day I decided to see if The Straight Dope had a website and a messageboard.
It turns out there was indeed a Straight Dope Message Board. I was hooked in no time. I lurked for a while before signing up. Now I’m here every day and I don’t know what I would do without my SDMB fix. Somewhat convoluted, but that’s how I ended up here.
Turn left at Greenland.