# Is the SDMB becoming inbred? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 31, 2000, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-becoming-inbred/17371 "2000-01-31T20:07:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-becoming-inbred/17371/41 "2000-02-02T00:15:00Z")
Well, it was probably a stoopid opinion anyway… ---
**Author:** ![Felice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e4f/32.png) [@Felice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Felice)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-becoming-inbred/17371/42 "2000-02-02T00:21:00Z")
Hey, I was thinking about becoming your lackey, doc, but keep that up and I’m going to take my newbie self and go home! 🙂 * * * Felice “There’s always a bigger fish.” ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-becoming-inbred/17371/43 "2000-02-02T03:18:00Z")
I lurked a little bit before signing up, and I think this is a decent forum for the honest exchange of opinion. Especially GD. I haven’t really checked out the other forums, but, so far, I haven’t really seen the need to. One thing that makes me wonder, tho: sometimes you can get way with a convincing argument despite lack of documented support, other times, you get the shit beat out of you. 😉 * * * It’s not how you pick your nose, it’s where you put the boogers ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-becoming-inbred/17371/44 "2000-02-02T03:37:00Z")
> [@](#): > > sometimes you can get way with a convincing argument despite lack of documented support, other times, you get the shit beat out of you. Depends on the topic and depends on the participants. If one is going to post that the earth is 6,000 years old, that person is going to have to scramble to provide evidence that most of us can laugh at. If one is going to establish a position regarding the reality of God, there isn’t a lot of physical evidence to cite, then we look for a firm structure to the argument. (Of course, it is not as if we will be consistent in our application of those guidelines. We’re here to brawl and to learn and which of those two we value more highly on a given evening may be directly connected to they way our SO treated us or how the kids behaved.) * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-becoming-inbred/17371/45 "2000-02-02T03:49:00Z")
We also base a lot on past performance. One “I read it someplace” from **Tom~** is worth seven cites from the peer-reviewed literature from almost anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-becoming-inbred/17371/46 "2000-02-02T04:14:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Sage: > Another almost ex-pounder here! Mostly lurking to get the feel of the place and the posters, I mean the clique! 🙂 > > I did post an opinion like the OP asked for and got so attacked for it I thought I was back in LBBB-land! So whoever said “clique” above, was right-on. Oddly, I would have thought a board like this would be open to opinions, but instead, they reacted as to an atheist comment in LBBB-land. Why? What am I missing? Sage, I’m the guilty party if you’re referring to the following thread: [http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/001093.html](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/001093.html) (Michael Skakel) I, however, plead innocent to newbie-bashing. 1. I didn’t realize you were a newbie at the time I made those posts 2. I didn’t criticize you. I criticized your opinion. 3. I didn’t criticize your opinion BECAUSE you were a newbie; I criticized it for the reason Dr. Fidelius suggested above. **What clique?** If you’re referring to Rick (Bricker) agreeing with me, I would simply point out that Rick has been posting here only slightly longer than you have. If he is in a clique with me 😕, a 6 month board presence is obviously not a requirement. In hindsight, had I realized you were new to the board, I probably would have handled the matter differently. OTOH, responding to someone bringing facts to your attention with “Lighten Up” is not likely to win you friends or admirers. All that aside, I am glad to know I didn’t run you off. This is not a forum for the weak of heart or the thin of skin; things do get rough sometimes. I hope you are getting to know us better, and will continue to post here. We ARE open to opinions, btw. But shoot-from-the-hip, unsubstantiated/unsubstantiable opinions will not go unchallenged. * * * Sue from El Paso Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-becoming-inbred/17371/47 "2000-02-02T04:32:00Z")
There were about 200 users registered when I signed on, and the board seemed quite fresh, fast-paced and lively. The numbers seemed to grow quickly, and the board was sustained early on by a group of transplants from the AOL board, several of whom stayed while manny others did not. We’ve garnered lots of new members (I’ve come to recognize the start of a semester rush) and lost quite a few. As I suspect is the experience of manny, I slogged my way through several debates early on and eventually grew weary of having pretty much the same argument over again. But, the arguments _do_ evolve as we filter lots of folk through them, so I must admit some cheer that we have posters who care to keep the GD fires burning. Several whom I thought were rocks and pillars early on have segued away; others have flat said goodbye. New ones who make an impression show up regularly and it _does_ seem that the roll of active posters hovers between ~200 to 400. As with the rest of life the level of activity and interest waxes and wanes on a weekly or so basis. And we are now establishing the pattern of life on the SDMB in 2000: the 72 hour or so crisis _du jour_. We’ve had the LBMB “invasion” and a, really, minor troll flood along with Opal (hope you’re doing well, dear) having some high profile troubles. Life goes on… The IRL’s have become a well established fact of SDMB life, and the SDMB _is_ a real part of manny lives (there’s a pit thread going on this subject). So, yeah, it does bog down, but methinks new shots are forthcoming; just be prepared to deal with your time otherwise if they don’t appear today. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sdmb-becoming-inbred/17371.md?page=2)