Specifically, how did you find The Straight Dope? I grew up in Chicago and found it in The Chicago Reader, a “alternative” weekly publication. I loved the irreverence and intelligence, the wisdom and the wise-ass. This followed by me finding the site online. I rambled through the archives. Then (cue the John Williams trumpet fanfare) I discovered the SDMB! Agnostics, apostates and atheists! Liberals and conservatives! Left-wing, right-wing, no-wing and flightless waterfowl! Geniuses and morons! Everyone had an opinion and was more than happy to pound you over the head with it! As long as you weren’t too great an ass you were pretty much accepted. [Louis Armstrong]What a wonderful world [/Louis Armstrong]. After lurking for a short time, I took the plunge and joined the teeming millions. I was now hooked on Dope.
Who or what was your pusher? Was there a gateway board that got you into the hard stuff? And was there a particular experience that finally pushed you over the edge into being a Dope addict or was it just a gradual thing?
I worked an overnight shift and found the site on bored.com.
Turn left at Greenland.
I found him on the SDMB! :d&r: 
Read the books. Although I can’t remember how I came upon the books. I think I read an article or two in The Village Voice.
Watched the TV show. Read the archives all over again when the site went from AOL to the web, then read the boards, then signed up (7 years ago yesterday. whoa.)
There wasn’t any one thing that had me hooked on the boards, other than just loving the books and articles and stuff. Although I did become a big fan of the BBQ Pit and GQ. And it is a great group of people like you said.
DC City Paper. I’ve been reading the column since the '80’s.
A roommate of mine was wondering why worms come out when it rains. So I Googled it and it gave me this article. I have been hooked ever since.
I picked up a copy of the L. A. Reader in college. Loved the snark, long before that was even a word.
Then came across the first book. Bought that. And the next one. And the next one. And so on, and so on.
One of the last books mentioned that the Dope was now available on this new thing called the “Internet”. Many wasted hours at work ensued, and continue to.
I ran across an article about Cecil Adams and The Straight Dope in an issue from Discover in the early 80’s. Soon after that, I found the Straight Dope series in a bookstore, and I was hooked.
Me too.
The Dope was mentioned in one of the forums on Snopes, and I came over to check it out. That was a good day in my life. I’m glad I discovered this place.
Similar experience. I was looking for the origin of the expression “I haven’t seen you in a coon’s age” and landed at a column by the Exalted One. (Shit! Is that the correct appellation? Please don’t cancel my membership if I’ve screwed up!)
Long ago, this message board was on AOL, and so was I. One day, a link to SDMB was on the Welcome screen of AOL. The hook was set, and I’ve been here ever since.
Was reading a stock related BB and someone hurled some abuse at someone else for mispelling Murmar Ghadafii, basically saying ‘it’s spelt Gadafi numbnuts’
I was pretty sure there were multiple western interpretations of his name so set out to put both parties straight, a quick google search and following a few links turned up the Straight Dope answer
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_264b.html
I read that article then went browsing the site, forgot about the original reason I was looking for the info and continued to lurk here for a year or so.
The same, though back in 2001. I’ve not spent any measurable amount of time on Snopes (or any other message board) since.
I found the Straight Dope via Bored.com one particularly slow day, lurked for several years, and finally decided to join up in March of this year (cue ominous music)… 
looks lovingly at Jayjay
I tracked down a long-lost cousin, struck up an ICQ friendship with him (back when all the cool kids used ICQ), and he was the one who got me onto the Dope.
I’d read all the books. When I finally found the internet, I decided to google it. I kept reading the weekly column, then one day noticed the message board. Shazam!
This was probably early '90s. I was up in the mountains in Montana in a cabin with my family. It rained cats and dogs all weekend, so instead of splashing in the lake, we were stuck in the cabin. After 6,000 games of gin rummy, we each wandered off to do our own thing. I found an old copy of Cecil’s first book on a book shelf in the basement. I started paging through it, and I was hooked. When I got home, I ordered all the rest of his books from the local Waldenbooks which, naturally, had never heard of him.
In 1999, when I first got an Internet connection – late to the game, as always – one of the first things I did was Google the Straight Dope, to see if I could read current columns on line, since no newspaper in 1000 miles of me carried it. That led me to the site and to the Boards and – viola! Proud '99er, and happy to be back after a year’s Board sabbatical. 
When I was in middle school or so, I was an Imponderables junkie. One of the books made reference to Cecil Adams of “The Straight Dope,” and a few years ago, while I was thumbing through the book, it occurred to me to google ’ “Cecil Adams” “Straight Dope” '. I think I was a junior or senior in high school. Within two months I’d read every archived column, and I started reading the boards.