# How many here remember the original MPSIMS thread on AOL? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 7, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387 "2010-10-07T17:49:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/1 "2010-10-07T17:49:32Z")
How many of you remember how MPSIMS started? Did you post to the thread? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/2 "2010-10-08T00:48:04Z")
I remember when it was something “I found the most amazing Titanic wallpaper”, and I believe that I posted to it a couple of times when it was changed to MPSIMS. I still haven’t seen Titanic, by the way, so I don’t need Titanic wallpaper. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/3 "2010-10-08T03:27:29Z")
\ It’s like the 70’s, man. If you remember it, you weren’t really there. \ All I can remember with any certainty is the giant brain and the pushpins. Other than that, we’re talking about what, 12-13 years ago? I have trouble remembering last _week_. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/4 "2010-10-08T03:34:53Z")
I wasn’t here yet. I arrived shortly after the move to the REAL world wide web. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/5 "2010-10-08T04:34:39Z")
Sure, I remember. MPSIMS and Ruda Duda, too. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/6 "2010-10-08T04:36:19Z")
I remember the thread, but nothing specific about it. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/7 "2010-10-08T08:07:10Z")
i remember when IMHO was short changed as ‘MIPSIMS II’ does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Spacegirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Spacegirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spacegirl)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/8 "2010-10-08T23:29:56Z")
I remember! And I also remember “Who is Mr. Ruda Duda?” ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/9 "2010-10-09T00:09:40Z")
Not that it applies to **Opal’s** OP in this thread, but the oldest thread still extant on the current SDMB which refers to MPSIMS is a Pitting of **Opal**. Ironic. I think the poster who referred to MPSIMS was **tomndebb**. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16635&postcount=67](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16635&postcount=67) ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/10 "2010-10-09T00:37:46Z")
So how did MPSIMS start? Who coined the phrase? Enlighten us, **Opal**! ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/11 "2010-10-09T01:42:24Z")
Okay. So MPSIMS started when some teenaged girl decided that she’d start an OP on the SDMB (which at the time was basically just GQ and nothing else–the social outlet was in chat), about this great Titanic desktop wallpaper she’d found. A guy whose name was something involving JohnGalt responded by saying "Oh, wow, that’s great! Maybe we should change this from the SDMB to “Mundane, Pointless Stuff I Must Share.” And people started sharing Mundane, Pointless Stuff, to the point where we created a separate thread with that name. And thus MPSIMS was born. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/12 "2010-10-09T02:56:07Z")
Oh, I totally remember it, and the mockery the OP was subjected to–and I suppose, since MPSIMS still exists, still is subjected to in an odd way. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/13 "2010-10-09T05:29:54Z")
Many peoples ask me if I remember the original MPSIMS thread… ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/14 "2010-10-09T05:50:25Z")
I only remember chat. I never actually posted on a message board. I didn’t know it existed. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/15 "2010-10-09T06:08:31Z")
> [@](#): > > So MPSIMS started when some teenaged girl decided that she’d start an OP on the SDMB (which at the time was basically just GQ and nothing else–the social outlet was in chat), about this great Titanic desktop wallpaper she’d found. There were two forums, one was Comment on Cecil’s Columns and one was General Questions . And that was the way that Cecil liked it. I do wish that we had something like the Brain in this incarnation of the SDMB. When I learned that AOL was going to the unlimited browsing for one flat fee, I knew that I wanted it, partly because I knew that the Straight Dope was on AOL at the time. So I found the SD area on AOL, and found the message boards and chat, but first I spent a while lurking on the message boards before I started posting. I also spent a LOT of time reading the old columns in the Brain. AOL has, or at least had, keywords which the users could type in as a sort of search of AOL…and the keyword for the Straight Dope was “Dope”. Sometimes, people were in search of drugs when they typed this keyword in. This could be quite annoying in either the boards or in chat. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/16 "2010-10-09T13:01:22Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > I only remember chat. I never actually posted on a message board. I didn’t know it existed. I remember the chat, too. I also remember that when you searched for questions Cecil has answered, you’d get hits from the official chats as well. It was annoying. I definitely remember the thread, though I’m not sure if I remember the Titanic Wallpaper one that launched it. ---
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/17 "2010-10-10T02:00:54Z")
Hi Opal! ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/18 "2010-10-10T03:43:42Z")
Sittin in the rafters with batgrrl just a watchin… Boo Hiss !!! ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/19 "2010-10-10T04:28:58Z")
I do, but didn’t post. I laughed, though. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-here-remember-the-original-mpsims-thread-on-aol/556387/20 "2010-10-13T11:34:36Z")
Hazy as to if I posted on that thread, but I remember the SD on AOL, with the keyword search. God, that AOL newsreader sucked. And I remember AOLers seemed to compulsively C&P the OP on every single response.