# How long do you think the SDMB will be around? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 14, 2019, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737 "2019-10-14T04:47:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/21 "2019-10-14T21:50:46Z")
I suspect whenever it dies, I’ll still be trying to post to it for about another two years. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/22 "2019-10-14T22:14:44Z")
10 ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/23 "2019-10-14T22:20:07Z")
I consider GQ to be the “core” forum on the SDMB, but every year it seems to become a little more irrelevant due to search engines such as Google. Once GQ dies, I am afraid the SDMB will just become a “hangout” forum. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/24 "2019-10-14T22:47:07Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I consider GQ to be the “core” forum on the SDMB, but every year it seems to become a little more irrelevant due to search engines such as Google. Once GQ dies, I am afraid the SDMB will just become a “hangout” forum. This is kind of the “core” issue too. We all remember when finding factual information on the internet was difficult to impossible. _Everything_ just wasn’t available yet. That brought in people looking for answers. Now _everything_, or nearly so, is available and easy to find. We still get new posters reviving the more, shall we say, esoteric topics, but that has declined. The other forums have taken up the slack to an extent. One of my favorite parts of the dope is the old content. I would hope that never goes away. I won’t ccount on that though. An good example of great old content is in this very thread. **Surrea** l notes that **ftg** predicted 15 years ago, that the board only had 6 months left. That’s good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/25 "2019-10-14T23:02:50Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Trump wins in 2020. SDMB implodes. Nah. Him winning re-election would be less of a surprise than in 2016, IMHO. If the SDMB didn’t implode then, it won’t implode in 2020. No idea as to the OP. I’m stunned it’s lasted as long as it has, and I can’t believe I’ve been posting on it for almost two decades. When it does goes, one thing is certain: I will be a much more productive citizen of the world, as I don’t have any other internet time sinks like this one. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/26 "2019-10-14T23:39:22Z")
Wild-ass guesses: - One year from now: 95% chance that these boards are still around - Five years from now: Maybe a 25% chance - Ten years from now: \<10% chance ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/27 "2019-10-15T00:37:49Z")
I spent a bit looking at some of the message boards I used to use. Even if they still exist, most of them haven’t had new posts except for spam in a few years. The common theme seems to be that the last remaining mod left and the board became unworkable. It’s not worth it to me to slog through endless Buy gold or Get Viagara Here posts to see if there’s anything decent. There is one board there is still fairly active but the age demographics are similar to the SDMB with so many posters 50 + and many far older than that. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/28 "2019-10-15T01:03:19Z")
A year ago, I would have guessed maybe two years at the rate we were losing members per month, based on active membership stats. I just know we’ve lost lots of active members over the years. Just a couple of years ago, it was still over 5,000. Not sure what it was ten years ago, but I’m sure it was many times that. I was seeing a loss of about 75 a month or so for about a two year span with the “What is going on” icon at lower left hand corner at the start of the message board screen. Some good news though, since about January of this year, I have yet to see it go below 3,200, it gets close to doing so after moderators clean out the socks, spam and such, then it shoots back up with some new members. It seems to have leveled off and staying steady now, so hopefully SD is going to still be around for some time. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/29 "2019-10-15T08:10:34Z")
I’d say about 10 years to be functionally extinct to me, to the point that it would not be a multi-daily stop for reliable conversation. Of course there’s the chance that TPTB would ruin it through a bad business decision or massive technical issue that requires more than a year’s ad revenue to fix but that’s impossible to guess at. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/30 "2019-10-15T09:55:34Z")
We’re getting a bit long in tooth, but there’s a core group of us who will be posting from our beds in the nursing home to whinge about politics. Others who are too busy to post often now will become much more involved again when they retire. I foresee it being formally and completely removed from the corporate hold. It’ll become a much smaller, more personal chat board, with the occasional race to answer an actual GQ that comes in. Kind of like the atmosphere of an old research library, where the denizens keep each other company as the interwebs take over answering the questions. I reckon it will last as long as I do, possibly longer. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/31 "2019-10-15T10:23:22Z")
I reckon it will be close to moribund when I make my ten thousandth post, which should be around this coming April or May, give or take. The Elections and BBQ Pit forums will still enjoy energy through the Nov 2020 elections and a few months beyond. Sad — I LOVE this place, spend too much time here, and still derive practical (even professional) benefits from it — but the writing does seem to be on the wall. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/32 "2019-10-15T11:26:21Z")
(By “moribund” I mean: 1. From then on, I’ll only check in occasionally — once a month or less, and post even less often, if ever — because there’s so little new content that interests me; 2. Only one moderator is left, for the whole board). ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/33 "2019-10-15T12:16:59Z")
18-24 months. Its been on a death spiral since circa 2015. Trump gave it a lease of life or it would have collapsed. So, yay Trump2020? 4 more years…for the Dope. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/34 "2019-10-15T16:49:24Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > 18-24 months. Its been on a death spiral since circa 2015. Trump gave it a lease of life or it would have collapsed. > So, yay Trump2020? 4 more years…for the Dope. Why do many of us still come here? For me, it’s because I can learn a great deal about sports, culture, and scientific/engineering topics from experts in the field. (Or those who sound like experts, which on the Internet is the same thing.) I try to help out in those areas where I feel I can. The constant injection of politics into everything is tiresome. Tiresome things get shunted to the back of the to do list. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/35 "2019-10-15T20:36:55Z")
I’m surprised this place is still going. I was a semi-regular (lurking more than posting) my first few years here but now I just check in maybe once year or so, sticking around for a month or two before drifting away again. Then one day I’ll think “I wonder if the SDMB is still around?” and repeat the process. I guess I keep coming back because this was the very first web-based message board (as opposed to Usenet newsgroups and dial-up bulletin boards) that I ever actively participated in. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/36 "2019-10-15T20:43:03Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > I suspect whenever it dies, I’ll still be trying to post to it for about another two years. You and me both. I’ve always been a bit slow on the uptake. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/37 "2019-10-15T21:32:16Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > 15 years ago you predicted that the board wouldn’t last another 6 months: > > [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=4672233&postcount=25](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=4672233&postcount=25) Well, the pay-to-post thing was far from permanent. Which was the context. That’s sort of important, you know. On the other hand, I am impressed by you being able to find this. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/38 "2019-10-16T21:47:26Z")
I’ll add that the Straight Dope _column_ web page should be around forever. I don’t see why it shouldn’t. Much like the essays of Montaigne are (I assume) available online somewhere in a neat package. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/39 "2019-10-16T23:35:13Z")
The rest of my life. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737/40 "2019-10-16T23:44:04Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > The rest of my life. That’s my feeling as well. I’ll almost certainly be posting, to the chagrin of many, until I shuffle off. At that point, I probably won’t care too much about the survival of the board, though intellectually I hope it continues kicking around for a while. My hope is that it will, eventually, change with the times and become more relevant to more people. But my fear is, as others have said, the standard 'doper is a bit long in the tooth, and we don’t really attract much new blood…and tend to scare off many who come here to post woo or bullshit. And yeah, I’m guilty as charged. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-think-the-sdmb-will-be-around/841737.md?page=3)