# Is SDMB an SMS site? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 30, 2023, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048 "2023-01-30T11:53:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/1 "2023-01-30T11:53:39Z")
What say you? ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/2 "2023-01-30T11:56:44Z")
no ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/3 "2023-01-30T11:57:15Z")
Splain Me Stuff, yeah sure. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/4 "2023-01-30T12:00:06Z")
I thought SMS meant text messaging. It doesn’t work with text messages, so no. If it really stands for “splain me stuff”, then I guess so? I don’t see anywhere that says SMS is splain me stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/5 "2023-01-30T12:04:54Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > If it really stands for “splain me stuff”, then I guess so? I don’t see anywhere that says SMS is splain me stuff. Like a social media site? I don’t know. I got accused at work of having a SMS site on my comp screen. It was SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/6 "2023-01-30T12:05:16Z")
It also stands for Suspect My Spoofery. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/7 "2023-01-30T12:11:02Z")
So I texted back. “OK I won’t visit that site anymore. Oh wait, I’ve got a better idea! I quit.” ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/8 "2023-01-30T12:15:13Z")
Excellent ! ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/9 "2023-01-30T12:26:08Z")
So, a social media site site? I would say that it is social media, yes. A lot of companies don’t want people posting potentially inflammatory content to a chat room or social media account from the company’s IP address. ETA: SDMB isn’t blocked at work for me, but Facebook and Instagram are. Giraffe Board is also blocked, weirdly. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/10 "2023-01-30T12:26:26Z")
I consider it one of my social media sites, but i don’t know that there’s a clean definition. You aren’t allowed to have social media sites on your work computer? That’s what smart phones are for. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/11 "2023-01-30T12:34:42Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > So, a social media site site? > > I would say that it is social media, yes. A lot of companies don’t want people posting potentially inflammatory content to a chat room or social media account from the company’s IP address. Oh I wasn’t logged in to SDMB. I would never log in from the work computer. ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/12 "2023-01-30T14:24:25Z")
While SDMB may technically meet the broader definition of social media, I think the world is moving on from that interpretation. The best examples, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok have “push” delivery, in that their feeds are curated with recommended posts, suggested followers, integral sponsorship, and non-chronological sorting. Yes there’s ways around all of those, but that’s how the powers that be want you to use their services. There’s also the “you’re the product not the customer” aspect, but I think that’s a slightly different discussion. A BBS, blog, or chat room doesn’t have that same top level manipulation, as it were. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/13 "2023-01-30T14:44:01Z")
I thought SMS stood for short messaging service, i.e. the texting capability of a cell phone. Was sitting here trying to figure out what would make a site an SMS site. Maybe the ones that are text people to tell them there’s been an update on the threads they subscribed to? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/14 "2023-01-30T14:46:53Z")
I don’t often assign labels to the Dope, but yeah, I consider a message board/chat room to be a social media site. Maybe if one wanted to split hairs, one could specify it as a category of SMSs. Does the characterization depend (in part) on how it is used? Someone mentioned the “push” aspect of other sites, but I tend to use FB solely to communicate with a very small group of people, so the “push” aspect is essentially lost on me. And when I opine critically of things such as Twitter, a lot of folk predictably come back contending it is a wonderful source of info and exchange of views. Are they mistaken? Or can one platform be many things? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/15 "2023-01-30T15:10:29Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > I thought SMS stood for short messaging service, i.e. the texting capability of a cell phone. > > Was sitting here trying to figure out what would make a site an SMS site. Yes, this exactly. If “SMS” is being used now to stand for “social media site,” that’s hella confusing. As for whether the SDMB is social media: > [@Do you consider the SDMB to be "social media?"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-the-sdmb-to-be-social-media/849036): > > I was having a discussion with a coworker today about how widespread social media is (meaning FaceBook, Twitter, InstaGram, etc.), especially to the Millennials. My co-worker is an older Generation X-er, and I, as I understand it, fall into the [Generation Catalano](https://slate.com/human-interest/2011/10/generation-catalano-the-generation-stuck-between-gen-x-and-the-millennials.html) crowd. It’s kinda neither here nor there, but I add it for framing. But just a li’l while ago, I got back home, and on reflection, thought I would ask the Teeming Millions: Do you consider the Straight Dope Message Board as “social … ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/16 "2023-01-30T16:39:13Z")
I don’t consider it one, but I have stronger criteria for social media sites than most, based on when the term became a thing. Site concepts that existed before the rise of Web 2.0 and the coining of the term “social media” don’t count. To me, social media requires the ability to follow individuals and for them to be able to follow you. You have to be able to get an individualized feed of information. Forums, as they show the same information to everyone, don’t count. They may be social, but they aren’t an attempt to replace media with stuff vetted by your contacts. Reddit was the weird hybrid, in that you could subscribe but not to individuals. But they later added the ability to subscribe to individuals, so now I consider it fully social media. While Discourse did modernize forums by adding some aspects of social media, it still ultimately functions like the forums of before, not creating these individualized feeds of content that are specific to the user. ---
**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:** [January 30, 2023, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sdmb-an-sms-site/979048/17 "2023-01-30T16:45:18Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Yes, this exactly. If “SMS” is being used now to stand for “social media site,” that’s hella confusing. Agreed. SMS has a well-established definition, and that definition has nothing to do with social media. My supposition is that the person at the OP’s place of employment had heard the term “SMS,” and assumed (incorrectly) that it stood for “social media site,” or something like that.