I’ve tried doing a search for the word “archives” but the response seems to be too much for my computer to handle.
I would search the archives to see if this question has been asked before, but…
There are archives of past Straight Dope columns (including Staff Reports), which can be searched here. (You can also find that page by going to the main Straight Dope homepage and clicking on the “Search Archive” link.)
That’s completely separate from the Straight Dope Message Board (SDMB), where people can comment on Cecil’s latest column (or comment on a column that was written in 1974 that they just found by searching the archives, of course), comment on one of our Staff Reports, or join in the discussions in any of our SDMB forums.
There are no “archives” as such of SDMB threads. Old threads are still out there, they’re just pushed off the bottom of the page by the newer ones, as it were. You can adjust how far back you look for threads in any forum by selecting from the options at the bottom of each forum display page, or you can use the SDMB’s Search function. We ask that you not do anything to really redline the “Search” function, as it tends to overtax our antiquated server–if you know the thread you’re looking for was in the last month, don’t search for threads from “any date”; if you know it was in “Cafe Society”, don’t search for “all open forums”–but the “Search” function can be very useful if, for example, you’re looking for threads answering a specific question in General Questions.