Meatus.com stole all the threads and in their zeal stole the last remaining hamster from under Jerry’s nose. Jerry had to go all the way to Hong Kong on a Hungry Happy Hamster Hunt and steal him back under the pretext of being a door-to-door spam salesperson. Quite the Mission Impossible adventure I understand.
HAMPSTER IS BACK!!!
I only checked the boards 30-40 times a day. It was involuntary, so I shouldn’t be blamed. I hung out with Fathomites in the meantime.
Withdrawl? You could call it that.
You could also call it a Force 10 panic attack, but I’d rather you didn’t.
Withdrawals? Feeling twitchy and anxious? Checking the status every few MINUTES?
Nup. Not me. Dunno what you lot are talking about. 
Nah. Had a great place to go to down-under for MB relief.
'Sides, it also gave me a great chance to update websites.
Y’all weren’t gone long.
Yes, I actually had to do work, The Horror, The Horror.
I’m sorry, do you mean that there are other message boards?!
If the Straight Dope ever goes down again the same week I have to have dental work and my CD player dies, I’m going to kill myself.
Yeah - the DT’s, spiders crawling on the walls, the whole bit.
I needed a fix, y’know?
Actually, serious question: I almost feeling like I am soliciting for a mistress or something, but are there other message boards you Dopers would recommend if and when the SDMB - my one true love - can’t function properly?
Seriously - is there a message board worth occasionally frequenting similar to the SDMB - e.g., is knowledge focused so it tends to attract intelligent people with diverse backgrounds, is open to any and all topics, and tends to be self-policed in a well-mannered way? (sorry, don’t mean to imply that the SDMB mods don’t do TONS to police - you are great - I mean to imply that for the most part, posters are good folk who are true to the spirit of good MB behavior while at the same time pushing the edges of discussion about a diverse array of topics)
So - any suggestions for a backup?
I know, its weird.
No other message board has such interesting topics or posters who are “interesting”.
WordMan -
Try Opal’s board http://fff.fathom.org/forums/ FFF doesn’t have the same level of traffic yet, but it’s frequented by a significant number of current and past Dopers which means intelligent people with diverse backgrounds. Many of us visit both boards regularly.
I have found one similar message board: The Internet Infidels Discussion Forum . Not as good, mind you, but it’s a reasonable substitute when the SDMB goes down. I’m keeping it bookmarked for that reason.
I’ve been far too busy this week trying not to strangle folks who are getting on my last nerve. :mad: I declare. I don’t understand what is up with folks nowadays. Anyways, I am glad that the boards are up now so they can distract me before I take a 2-by-4 upside someone’s head.
How long did the big crash last? Just curious.
Yep. I am hooked.
pv
I’d had withdrawals too, but managed to hang on by watching the SDMB LJ community, and the UnaBoard.
Gee, are those claw marks on the ceiling mine? Yes, I checked to see if it was back up way too often. What with having started a rather depressing thread out in MPSIMS (I am doing better now) and being unemployed and bored, I missed the boards more than usual. I was even trying to remember the URL for the substitute board set up during the Winter Of Our Missed Content.
Hello. My name is CJ and I’m a Straight Dope Message Board-holic. Unfortunately, I don’t want to be cured.
CJ
As it happens, it’s been perfect weather here this week and I’ve been spending pretty much all of my spare time on my motorcycle - the one I crashed back in May that resulted in a broken ankle, all summer in front of the TV and PC and my discovery of SDMB in the first place.
I barely noticed that the board was out of service - I was in “quick surf” mode every night, just checking e-mail and listening to a little of BBC1 internet radio. I’ll admit that I missed having the SDMB there, but I had no withdrawl symptoms.
PLEASE, PLEASE DON’T LET IT DIE AGAIN - PLEASE, I NEED IT!!! (- oh, ahem, I didn’t mean that…)
While there are at least three errors in your description of the SDMB above, sadly, it is true that there are absolutely no other message boards worth visiting. None whatsoever.