# I need a new message board a lot like the Straight Dope **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 24, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285 "2009-02-24T22:32:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/101 "2009-02-27T01:45:16Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > you can get probated or banned… if you use too much AOL-speak. What’s wrong with that? As far as I know my wife is the only person on earth who still uses AOL apart from people who still have only dial-up connectivity. Once in a while I do need to go to their website and I can’t believe what a ridiculously slow pop-up laden and quickie-news-byte larded experience it is. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/102 "2009-02-27T01:50:23Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > What’s wrong with that? As far as I know my wife is the only person on earth who still uses AOL My understanding of his post was that he was saying it’s a good thing . . . so agreeing with you. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/103 "2009-02-27T03:02:15Z")
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#): > > My understanding of his post was that he was saying it’s a good thing . . . so agreeing with you. Yes, this is correct. > [@Aquila\_Be](#): > > Is this a case of denial? I couldn’t find anything that came close to resembling a joke in that SA/Stormfront style thread. [See for yourself](http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3042155&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=230#post355089347). > > Please tell me if you succeed. Does the fact that I know half the people on that page, and know they’d never express opinions like that, and also know that they’re frequent fakeposters, help you out at all? ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/104 "2009-02-27T03:22:37Z")
Well, at least you didn’t link to one of my fakeposts and tell me I’m serious. Actually, that would have been funny. ---
**Author:** ![Aquila\_Be](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Aquila\_Be](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquila_Be)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/105 "2009-02-27T03:47:19Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > Yes, this is correct. > > Does the fact that I know half the people on that page, and know they’d never express opinions like that, and also know that they’re frequent fakeposters, help you out at all? So, about 240 pages times about 30 posts per page = maybe 7000 fakeposts with 80% fakeposting like they’re on Stormfront? That’s a lot of time, energy and pretend rage for that cohort to express while typing up opinions they don’t believe in. So you know half the people there and you’re sure they don’t hold the opinions expressed? Okay. I can’t and won’t argue with that. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/106 "2009-02-27T04:25:04Z")
I agree that it sounds pretty weird if that type of thing isn’t your cup of tea. One now-legendary fakeposter had everyone fooled with literally hundreds of pages of insane opinions over the course of something like two years before he finally admitted that he’d been a troll the whole time. Of course, to go _that_ far, you might have to be a little unbalanced in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/107 "2009-02-27T05:09:33Z")
I’m always amazed at how few general message boards there seem to be on the net - considering how many people there are in the world. There’s this one, SA (which is too flashy for me) and U75 (which I also post on) but after that - nothing. Weird. Problem with U75 tho is a lot of threads just degenerate into intra-left bitching or personal vendettas. Threads don’t hold their focus on the main issue as much as they do here. Can get frustrating. But there’s good people there as here so I suppose it all works somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/108 "2009-02-27T05:28:55Z")
…\*\* this \*\* place has a "formula. Flawed as it may be, that works for us, and that you won’t **find** at another place. That’s why I’m pushing for a “summit”, so that all you kids can put something together that **works**. It could be a kind of _VATICAN IV_😉 Good Night, and I hope things will look better in the morning! 🙂 Quasi ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/109 "2009-02-27T11:30:31Z")
> [@Aquila\_Be](#): > > Just by way of explanation, if you see kindergarten terms like “gently caress” or “poo poo” on SA it means you’re not logged as a paid up, registered user. Or that people are actually typing them in. ---
**Author:** ![Aquila\_Be](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Aquila\_Be](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquila_Be)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/110 "2009-02-27T11:57:02Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Or that people are actually typing them in. No. They are not. “Lowtax” who owns and operates that filthy, stupid site, SomethingAwful, has set things up so that if an SA user types “fuck” in a post a non registered or non logged in lurker will see: “gently caress” and if the SA user types in: “shit” it will be automatically be changed to appear as “poo poo” for the non logged in lurker only. Those are just a couple of examples. There are three or four other words and word combinations which don’t spring readily to mind. I’m now strictly a passive member of SA (under a different username) who joined before I made a proper assessment - I can’t be bothered to ban myself - I just occasionally check out discussions in D&D (only) on science - except threads started by OOCC - and finance/economics. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/111 "2009-02-27T12:28:14Z")
I’m also thinking [metafilter](http://www.metafilter.com/). I’ve lurked there for a fair while. Intelligent, funny posters. Superbly moderated. I would miss the political/ religious/ social breadth that you get here, though. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/112 "2009-02-27T13:00:26Z")
> [@Aquila\_Be](#): > > except threads started by OOCC. To be fair, everyone hates that dude. Also, from time to time, a newly-registered user will type “gently caress” because he had been lurking for a while before signing up, and thought that those words were some kind of trend because everyone seemed to be using them. That’s always good for a laugh. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/113 "2009-02-27T13:03:54Z")
> [@Aquila\_Be](#): > > “Lowtax” who owns and operates that filthy, stupid site, SomethingAwful,. How come everyone who hates SA _really_ hates SA? ---
**Author:** ![Aquila\_Be](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Aquila\_Be](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquila_Be)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/114 "2009-02-27T13:17:47Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > How come everyone who hates SA _really_ hates SA? Actually, I don’t really have any particular feelings of “hate” or anything else towards SA. After a month or two I felt a bit disappointed at blowing $10 plus $5 for an avatar (which no one will ever see again). I agree that SA was not really my cup of tea. I still occasionally look in on the topics I mentioned previously, plus philosophy discussions, which I didn’t mention before. Of course, I occasionally look at stuff in helldump or LF just for giggles. That psycho Cefte is gold. But ordinarily, no. What the hell. Each to his or her own. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/115 "2009-02-27T15:25:45Z")
> [@BJMoose](#): > > Interesting. For the past ten days the mods there have been discussion an “insult rule.” > > A thousand times more interesting: the mod discussion is taking place _in the open_. With Member input, no less… ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/116 "2009-02-27T19:28:27Z")
> [@SoulFrost](#): > > You could try [TalkRational](http://www.talkrational.org). There are a few Dopers, former and current, who post there (but I won’t out them here.) Is this an offshoot of what is now [FRDB](http://www.freeratio.org/index.php) and used to be IIDB? A quick glance at the users online showed most of the same people. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/117 "2009-02-27T19:46:02Z")
No place else comes close, because of the nature of the board and how people find it. We are a group of people who want…The Straight Dope. This makes us naturally less retarded than your typical message board denizen, because idiocy and ignorance are what we came here to rid ourselves of. Our membership has come to be what it is through an organic process, vs… The Well, which is also made up of bright people who don’t cotton to bullshit, except they are so busy congratulating themselves on how cool and intelligent they are, it takes all the fun out of it. I still don’t get why dialing down the vitriol is such a dealbreaker, but whatever… ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/118 "2009-02-27T19:53:30Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > No place else comes close, because of the nature of the board and how people find it. We are a group of people who want…The Straight Dope. This makes us naturally less retarded than your typical message board denizen, because idiocy and ignorance are what we came here to rid ourselves of. Our membership has come to be what it is through an organic process, vs… > > The Well, which is also made up of bright people who don’t cotton to bullshit, except they are so busy congratulating themselves on how cool and intelligent they are, it takes all the fun out of it. > > I still don’t get why dialing down the vitriol is such a dealbreaker, but whatever… I find your first paragraph and second paragraph a bit ironic. Just saying. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/119 "2009-03-01T05:24:21Z")
There are quite a few very good Dopers at [http://domebo.net/forum/](http://domebo.net/forum/) ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285/120 "2009-03-01T05:47:51Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > That has actually been set up already at [www.teemings.org](http://www.teemings.org), which, unfortunately, is somewhat flakey and is not opening this morning. So perhaps not the best alternative. 🙂 Sorry about that. My server is iffy, and Teemings is really meant as an emergency forum in case something happens suddenly to the SDMB. It’s not meant as a substitute, unless the worst case scenario happens. Even then, it would be up mostly until a SDMB replacement comes online. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-new-message-board-a-lot-like-the-straight-dope/487285.md?page=7)