Being relatively new I was feeling my way around the fora. I enjoy GQ, GD, CS, IMHO, MPSIMS, and of course the BBQP. But the subjects at BBQP are concentrated around rape and race, which are far from my mind. At CS they keep talking about one-hit wonders when I can’t even name one. I have difficulty with more than ten sentences to a post so I’m no good at GD.
I think SD is all about General Questions.
Perfectly fine. I was all about GQ for the first year I was here and only slowly explored other forums and didn’t post much till I got the feel of the place. This is advice commonly given to new members - lurk for a while - get a feel for a forum - learn to read the room.
When I first started here I pretty much stayed in GQ and rarely ventured out into other forums. After 17 years here I still focus more on GQ than other forums.
When I became a mod, they put me in GQ because it seemed like a natural fit.
There’s nothing wrong with other forums, but different people have different likes. Most people probably have a favorite forum, whether it is GQ or one of the other forums, and quite a few don’t venture out much from their favorite.
Good advice for any internet forum. “Read before posting” was a common phrase even back in the Usenet days.
The BBQ Pit is probably the most difficult forum to get a feel for. At first glance it looks like a complete free-for-all, but it’s not. You are allowed to post a lot of things in the Pit that you can’t post anywhere else here, but the Pit does have some rules.
No big deal, but you just posted in ATMB about how you’re gonna stick to GQ–a thread that probably would be more at home in MPSIMS. 
I read most forums every day (though seldom post), and have followed the many “the board isn’t what it used to be” threads.
General Questions is the heart-and-soul of The Dope. It is what got me here - in a round-about way via first the Urban Legends UseNet group, then the column in a local alternative newspaper. Both focused on facts and debunking.
Ultimately, GQ is what will save the SDMB (if saved she will be). There are many places on the Web to discuss movies or music or one’s annoying neighbor; there are damn few where you can ask about Atlas rocket pressurization, or flight controls on a 727, or admissibility of evidence at trial, and get answers from people who are in the field, and often within a couple of hours.
GQ makes us unique. We should cherish it.
Yes, yes.
This site should have stuck with GQ, and GQ only, like it was in the very beginning.
Exactly as all the old '99 timers have been saying.
But, you wouldn’t know anything about that because you are so new.
There’s no need for all this nastiness talk about there being too much misogyny on this board.
Bah, people shouldn’t concern themselves with such things.
The pursuit of knowledge is all that is important.
Everything else, especially misogyny, is trivial blither-blather.
To the OP: I sometimes get in that mood. I find, though, that GQ, Cafe Society, the Game Room, and Thread Games are usually okay. And MPSIMS and IMHO can be fine if you’re careful. I just completely stay out of GD, Elections, and the Pit when I’m in that mood.
Plus having fewer rules just means that customs are more important. It’s important to figure out what will get you thought of as an asshole even there, rather than just go in and assume that you can say anything without reprisal.
There’s always Star Trek and Game of Thrones.
As a relatively new guest, Sloe Moe doesn’t have access to the hidden forums.
ETA: access? Heck, it’s highly likely he’s totally unaware of them.
The spoilers forum is the best!
We of the cabal never speak of the Illuminati forum. (All references must be in writing, to confuse the sheeples.)
The core of this message board is GQ and Comments on Cecil’s Columns. All else is peripheral. GD is there since some reasonable questions don’t have factual answers. The Pit is there so that personal attacks can be banned from GQ et al: the Pit is a safety valve. Cafe Society exists to protect the sanity of the GQ mods, since fictional questions aren’t especially factual. It’s been a mixed success, in terms of sanity I mean. IMHO is GD-lite. Like Frankenstein’s monster though, these shambling creations subsequently took a terrifying life of their own.
And MPSIMS exists because, anywhere where people congregate online, there will always be a need for some place to share pictures of their pet kitties.