# How often do you read the alt-weekly newspaper column "The Straight Dope?" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 19, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304 "2007-10-19T15:50:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/21 "2007-10-20T04:15:39Z")
Every day online. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/22 "2007-10-20T05:19:09Z")
When I found this place I scanned the archives reading everything of interest. Now I have the front page bookmarked so that I can see what columns are posted. I read whatever I find interesting. Since we are on the subject, are the columns that appear online the same as the ones that appear in print? Do I miss anything if I don’t have access to newspapers? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/23 "2007-10-20T07:11:35Z")
Wait…there’s a column?! ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/24 "2007-10-20T18:15:28Z")
After I found the first Straight Dope book in a store in about 1990, I looked for a local paper that carried the column but couldn’t find one. A few years later, I did find a paper in Salt Lake that carried it, and for the next couple of years I read the column frequently, but not every week. I simply couldn’t be arsed to go out and snag a copy of the rag it was printed in every week. When the Dope went online in about 1996, with rare exceptions I was always on the site at least once a week, and usually every day. So it was easy to read the columns as they were posted. That continues to the current. I doubt I’ve missed more than one or two columns since then, and it’s very possible I haven’t missed any. Granted, depending on the subject some of them just get a fast skim, but I think I’ve at least seen them. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/25 "2007-10-20T22:33:36Z")
Every new column, & sometimes the classics. I also have all the books. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/26 "2007-10-21T11:53:20Z")
For many years, I read it in the Montreal Mirror (a free paper devoted mainly to music and movie reviews and ads). Then it was dropped without explanation and I stopped bothering to pick up the paper. When I got a DSL connection (before that I hardly ever used the web, although I have been using email since 1984) I searched for, and found, the STD site and have been reading the weakly columns regularly since. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/27 "2007-10-21T13:02:10Z")
I read it on paper every time I read the local paper in which it’s carried, _Isthmus_. I pick up a paper every week but don’t always read it. I don’t think I’ve read a column online, unless someone’s happened to link to it in a thread, in several years. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/28 "2007-10-21T23:44:05Z")
Don’t have it locally, but I read it online each week. It’s a shame my local alternative paper, “The Pitch”, doesn’t carry it, as it would be right up their alley. I sent them a couple of mails requesting they get it…maybe if more KC-area Dopers did, it would start appearing there. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/29 "2007-10-22T02:58:17Z")
I used to read it weekly when I lived in San Francisco ('89-'94) and Seattle ('96-'98). ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/30 "2007-10-22T06:50:47Z")
[QUOTE=Una Persson] Don’t have it locally, but I read it online each week. It’s a shame my local alternative paper, “The Pitch”, doesn’t carry it, as it would be right up their alley. I sent them a couple of mails requesting they get it…maybe if more KC-area Dopers did, it would start appearing there. [/QUOTE] Aren’t you Cecil’s henchman? (Or henchwoman, I guess) ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/31 "2007-10-22T14:02:19Z")
It’s not available in print here; I’d never heard of it until I stumbled upon the site. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/32 "2007-10-22T14:23:56Z")
Again, it’s not available in print over here. Online I read it every other week or so. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/33 "2007-10-22T17:16:45Z")
[QUOTE=bbs2k] Aren’t you Cecil’s henchman? (Or henchwoman, I guess) [/QUOTE] Yes, but in trying to convince a paper to carry the column, you need a lot of voices. Papers need to know that something they run will encourage folks to pick it up every week and see the adverts. I mean, it’s not like I can threaten to kill folks for not carrying the column, as much as that might be distracting on otherwise grey and dull days. And look at that, post number 10,000. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/34 "2007-10-22T17:21:45Z")
Post party! ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/35 "2007-10-22T17:24:30Z")
I’d say I read about three or four of the official columns each year, all online. I’m just more interested in the boards than the columns. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/36 "2007-10-22T17:34:58Z")
[QUOTE=bbs2k] Post party! [/QUOTE] Dear Goddess, no, I don’t need another target painted on me. ---
**Author:** ![Euryphaessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Euryphaessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euryphaessa)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/37 "2007-10-23T00:38:26Z")
I used to read it almost every day online, but I have the SDMB bookmarked now so it takes me to the forums every time I start to type “straight”. I usually check back once a week or so to look at the Threadspotting and Weird Earl’s, but I only read the columns that sound interesting. I’ve never seen it in print. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/38 "2007-10-23T11:00:54Z")
I read it most weeks, but sometimes have to go back and catch up. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/39 "2007-10-23T11:28:00Z")
[QUOTE=Yumblie] Strange. I actually have the [straightdope.com](http://straightdope.com) front page bookmarked, so each day I’ll read the column if it’s interesting, and then go off to the forums. It looks like I’m fairly unique in this ritual though! [/QUOTE] That’s how I have it as well. I always go to the front page, take a quick look and see if there’s something interesting then come to the boards. Every so often I will pick up the City Paper here in DC. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304/40 "2007-10-23T11:37:24Z")
I read the columns online fairly frequently. I have email notification set up and I usually get around to reading all of them (Cecil’s and Mailbag) at least every couple weeks. I can’t recall the last column that bored me, in fact. I think I’ve only seen the print column twice in my life: Once when I was in Las Vegas and once when I was in Boston. Both those trips were years ago now. Montana simply doesn’t have any paper that carries it to my knowledge, not that I’ve looked very hard to find one, and I don’t leave the state often at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-read-the-alt-weekly-newspaper-column-the-straight-dope/423304.md?page=3)