# How do you post to the SDMB? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 4, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624 "2021-06-04T16:13:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2021, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624/42 "2021-06-06T15:35:17Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > Technically, I’m on a laptop, but it’s sitting on a desk, attached to an external display, using an external mouse. I am using the laptop keyboard, though! But it feels pretty indistinguishable from a desktop setup. Sorta me. My only PC is a Surface. So technically a tablet with a detachable keyboard w integral trackpad. Sometimes, like now, I’m in an easy chair and it’s on my lap with its keyboard snapped on. Other times it’s in its docking station on my desk connected to an external full sized keyboard, external mouse and a large second monitor. My 'Doping is probably 50/50 between those two but I’m trying to wean myself off doing it at the desk. Life’s too short to spend it sitting in an office, even if you’re just recreating in there. I read some on my phone when stuck in a waiting rooms, etc. I will occasionally compose a 2 or 3 sentence post from the phone. But gritting my teeth in frustration the whole time. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2021, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624/43 "2021-06-06T15:40:17Z")
I can’t figure it out either. Could some one explain it to me? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2021, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624/44 "2021-06-06T15:46:19Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Could some one explain it to me? Explain what? How to post on a phone? I find it pretty straightforward. It probably helps that i mostly swipe, rather than pecking the letters. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2021, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624/45 "2021-06-06T16:12:16Z")
Yeah, and to my point, I always dictate my posts, making corrections when done. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2021, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624/46 "2021-06-06T16:14:47Z")
> [@digs](#): > > That’s impressive! > > When I read one of those, I’ll imagine you standing on a busy street corner, jostled by pedestrians, hunched over your phone for a long time. As you mutter “Oh, and another good point…” Lol! If the OP requires charts and stuff, I use a desktop. But for those that are just words, or words with linked pictures, those are always my phone. For example, I banged out [The Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gestalt/938324) while sitting in a restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2021, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624/47 "2021-06-06T17:13:14Z")
Oh, no, you’re not going to trick me into clicking on that, not after you referred to “some of my large, 1000+ word OP’s”. I have to play soccer in three hours, can’t get bogged down! Seriously, I love the mental image of Dopers sitting in a restaurant (or a neighborhood coffee joint, or a dive bar), banging out their replies or a fun OP. Guess I’d pictured most of y’all hunched over a keyboard in a darkened “computer room”. But being out and about is cooler (I’m always on a laptop, but right now I’m on a lawn chair, gazing out at a park on a lake). ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624/48 "2021-06-06T17:58:20Z")
95% tablet, 5% phone. I haven’t had a desktop in at least a decade (although with my docking station, it is essentially a desktop in my office). But since it is my work laptop, I prefer not to use it for internet postings. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2021, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624/49 "2021-06-06T18:21:17Z")
90% desktop, 10% tablet. I tend to be excessively wordy, and hate listening to the sound of my own voice if I’m using a speech-to-text option. I do read frequently on my LTE tablet during the work day, or at night on my kindle, and if it’s a short reply, or I have inspiration I feel I’ll forget, I’ll use those… but it’s pretty rare. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2021, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624/50 "2021-06-06T19:38:39Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Guess I’d pictured most of y’all hunched over a keyboard in a darkened “computer room”. But being out and about is cooler (I’m always on a laptop, but right now I’m on a lawn chair, gazing out at a park on a lake). Most of my posts are done from a coffeehouse, bar or on public transportation ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2021, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624/51 "2021-06-07T00:29:18Z")
I used a laptop for a desktop for a while, with a separate monitor and keyboard setup. The idea was that, if I needed to, I could take the laptop with me. But the proliferation of phones and tablets meant I basically never took it with me. Heck, the screen wound up either breaking or having an internal connection problem, and I never bothered fixing it. So, when the time came that I could finally upgrade, I decided it wasn’t worth it to get a laptop. I could get a much better computer, and I would be able to upgrade it over time. I find that a phone is sufficient for the type of stuff I actually do when not in my recliner/computer chair. And, yes, that includes both reading and posting here at times. The resulting posts are less edited—not only the occasional missed autocorrections or dropped words but also I’m less likely to go back and rewrite or add things in-place for clarity, let alone edit down quotes. But I’m not sure they’re all that much shorter. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2021, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624/52 "2021-06-07T02:30:25Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Seriously, I love the mental image of Dopers sitting in a restaurant (or a neighborhood coffee joint, or a dive bar), banging out their replies or a fun OP. At the moment I’m on my back porch late at night enjoying the tropical breeze, pretty clouds, and stars with my tablet on my lap and a fine bourbon (Basil Hayden’s) to hand. I’m often posting from restaurants or hotel rooms all around the western hemisphere. And sometimes from my desk in my office at home. But not in the dark; that’s for looozers!!1!. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2021, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624/53 "2021-06-07T03:19:08Z")
Of course, for OP’s and other long posts, I’ll commonly write them in a basic text editor, not in browser. (Posted in the drive thru @ Wendy’s) ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2021, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624/54 "2021-06-07T14:45:45Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Me, too, but i have to admit that I’m intrigued to see how many posters use desktops. I would never have guessed that. On _this_ board? Yeah, I’d believe that. Probably also hard wired and running Windows 98. I probably read the board maybe 75% on my iPhone and 25% on my desktop. Replies are maybe 50/50, it just depends on where I am sitting. If I am at my desk or in the living room/outside. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2021, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624/55 "2021-06-07T17:26:22Z")
I commonly post with my phone but from time to time with either my desktop or laptop. However for whatever reason since SDMB changed the website, I have to use either the desktop or laptop to start a thread. It won’t work with my phone for whatever reason. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624/56 "2021-06-16T01:15:16Z")
I don’t have a phone I can read/post with. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-post-to-the-sdmb/943624.md?page=2)