# I am curious \[what is the purpose of this site\] **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 12, 2020, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467 "2020-11-12T22:49:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467/21 "2020-11-13T14:42:42Z")
So will you not be sticking around? ☹ What exactly is a “professional political site”? ---
**Author:** ![superwombat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superwombat/32/16616_2.png) [@superwombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superwombat)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467/22 "2020-11-13T15:17:08Z")
This is a professional _everything_ site. We have so many highly knowledgeable people here, spanning many areas of expertise, from the fairly basic McJob to Rocket Surgery. You can ask for information about high level calculus and then find a recommendation on an Instant Pot, then have a deep-dive argument about Tolkien minutiae. The possibilities are endless, and the amount of collected knowledge archived here is amazing. It’s also nice that there’s a low signal-to-noise ratio. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467/23 "2020-11-13T15:23:01Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > So will you not be sticking around? ☹ Don’t be sad. The new comer was probably looking for pure bias. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467/24 "2020-11-13T15:33:06Z")
> [@Notonthisforum](#): > > What is the purpose of this site? > > Who runs it? > > In the company bio, it states just that, “company”. I we told you, we’d have to kill you. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467/25 "2020-11-13T15:57:50Z")
> [@Notonthisforum](#): > > I thought this was a professional political site. Thank you for your time and responses. Have a great day. At least he didn’t think this was a recreational drug site. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467/26 "2020-11-13T16:01:27Z")
I hear yall got some of that Straight Dope here! Shoot some my way, will ya? ---
**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:** [November 13, 2020, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467/27 "2020-11-13T16:01:53Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > At least he didn’t think this was a recreational drug site Or a _professional_ drug site. ---
**Author:** ![Notonthisforum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Notonthisforum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Notonthisforum)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467/28 "2020-11-13T16:25:33Z")
Quite interesting indeed. Lol ---
**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:** [November 13, 2020, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467/29 "2020-11-13T16:28:59Z")
We got yer straight dopes, gay dopes, bi dopes, trans dopes, every flavor of dope you can imagine. ---
**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:** [November 13, 2020, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467/30 "2020-11-13T17:24:08Z")
Ref our motto at the far bottom left of every page, we even have a few total dopesticks. 😬 ---
**Author:** ![mjmlabs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mjmlabs/32/69_2.png) [@mjmlabs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjmlabs)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467/31 "2020-11-14T05:34:06Z")
> [@superwombat](#): > > It’s also nice that there’s a low signal-to-noise ratio. ISWYDT ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467/32 "2020-11-14T06:05:51Z")
> [@Notonthisforum](#): > > I thought this was a professional political site. One of the best things about this site is that it has a wide breadth of experts from all kinds of disciplines, and politics is one of them. We have doctors and scientists and lawyers and engineers and chefs and everything in between who can often answer a simple query with a raft of accurate facts and advice. One of my favourite things to see here, and I’ve seen it many times, is when a simple query like “who is this person in this picture?” can turn into a long thread of people researching and spitballing possible answers, and then maybe months later, someone will post “Hi, I’m that guy in the photo’s daughter. If you have any questions for him, just ask, I’ll pass them on!” or “I work at the magazine that printed this photo, I can check our records for you if you like!” or “I live just down the street from where this photo was taken, I think he still lives there. I’ll leave a note in his mailbox and see if he might come online to chat!” or something cool like that. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467/33 "2020-11-14T06:05:56Z")
I think that Notonthisforum thinks that nobody would keep posting to a message board for a couple of decades unless they wanted only to read and reply to the posts of other people who agree with them politically (or philosophically or religiously or artistically or whatever). That’s not true of the SDMB. In fact, political discussions are only a small part of the board. In fact, discussions about matters of opinion are not really the best part of the board. So, for instance, if you have a vague memory of some movie or TV show (and you don’t remember which it was) that you saw many years ago which you post a confusing description of, we can sometimes pick your description apart. We can then show you that you’ve mushed together the stories of three movies and three TV shows into one plotline. That doesn’t mean that any artistic judgments we make are perfect. If you post your political or religious or philosophical manifesto, we won’t show that it’s completely wrong, but we can sometimes tear it apart and show you what each piece of it says, where that idea came from, and why the parts of the manifesto aren’t consistent with each other. We’re brilliant at factual statements, but we don’t have huge overall philosophical or religious or political or artistic notions. That’s just fine with me. ---
**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:** [November 14, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467/34 "2020-11-14T20:19:38Z")
Yes, the breadth of knowledge, expertise, political acumen here are mind-bogglingly broad. As are the wide range of interests… it’s perfect for someone who’s open-minded but fascinated by well, everything. Being ADHD helps. Then you can jump from a discussion of [Current shows where characters are wearing masks](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-shows-where-characters-are-wearing-masks/925335) to [Lying bastards at UPS think I’m stupid](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lying-bastards-at-ups-think-im-stupid/925395/27) to [WasTannenburg the Bloodiest Battle in History?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wastannenburg-the-bloodiest-battle-in-history/925539) and then [How can I MacGyver my new leaf blower?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-macgyver-my-new-leaf-blower/925556) Now excuse me, I have to catch up on each of those threads instead of fixing the bathroom plumbing. (Come to think of it, flee! Or you’ll never get your toilet replaced!) ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467/35 "2020-11-16T04:50:09Z")
This site has people from all over the world chatting about one thing or another. Sometimes arguing, sometimes viciously. Somehow it picked up a number of interesting personalities, many of whom are very well-educated and accomplished, and you see a variety of informed perspectives. Also sometimes bad puns and poop jokes just because. You also get the occasional person who is completely detached from reality and then things get really fun. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467/36 "2020-11-17T19:19:06Z")
Work avoidance? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-curious-what-is-the-purpose-of-this-site/925467.md?page=1)