When I moved to Michigan, the local free alternative weekly paper didn’t carry the Straight Dope. (Their loss. I rarely make the effort to pick up a copy.) I tried www.straightdope.com and here it was. This was a year and a half ago, so there wasn’t a message board here, and I didn’t have AOL access. But at least I could keep up with the column.
It is too clear, and so it is hard to see.
My local paper doesn’t carry the Dope, so just how the heck did I hear about it? Well, I have a rotten memory and I’m just not sure. I’ve given this a lot of thought over the last few months (someone started a thread like this a while back, but that’s ok), and I think I’ve narrowed it down to two possibilities:
The AFU archive reprinted Cecil’s column debunking “gerbilling.” I’ve haunted the archive for a couple years now, so I may have picked up a link from there.
My husband came home about a year ago with the “Pluck Yew” story and I remember thinking the story sounded like crap and wanted to debunk it so I may have done a web search for “Pluck Yew” and was directed to the Dope. I think that is one of the first columns I read here, so I think I’m leaning towards that possibility.
Before I thought maybe I’d gotten the link from a skeptical web site, but no, I think it was probably more of an urban legends thing. Basically, I just stumbled here by accident and decided to stay 
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
OK, my memory is worse than I thought. The “Pluck Yew” (Origins of 'The Finger) column was originally published in Sept. 1998, quite a bit before I found my way here. Still, I might have found it in a web search… hell, however, I came here is moot, you’re still stuck with me
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
How did you find this place?
Turned left at Greenland.
Wrong thinking is punished, right thinking is just as swiftly rewarded. You’ll find it an effective combination.
When I was in college, I used to read the Straight Dope in one of the weeklys (the New Times, I think). When I moved, I could never find in the local rag, so I forgot all about it. About 6 months ago, my then girlfrind sent me the link. I’ve been reading ever since, but only recently started posting to this MB.
“Penises don’t belong in the mouth, girls and boys. You’ve got the wrong hole there. Just like you wouldn’t shove pizza up your nose.”
-From the Brother Jed flyer-
The local alternative paper here, The Metro runs the Straight Dope column every week. It took me almost one year to summon up the courage to come here. I was unceremonioulsy and heavy-handedly censored by one of the moderators here (I won’t say who. We all have a job to do.). So I left in a huff of profanity and small-mindedness (sorry). I went off in search of other message boards as fulfilling and satisying as the SDMB is, but as you all might know all too well, came up empty-handed…again. So I unceremoniously returned.
Anybody want to start up a “concept” album thread again? 
“What’s right is only half of what’s wrong and
I want a short-haired girl who sometimes wears it twice as long.”
George Harrison - Old Brown Shoe
Until I started lurking, and then posting to this board, I didn’t even know about the SD.head hung in shame I know, I know. What can I say?? A limited upbringing, I guess.
Anyway, I didn’t actually ‘find’ this board, I was invited to hop on, by Vestal Blue, my great friend from hi school days.
Now, here I am, as addicted as the rest of you.sniffle Thanks, pal!!
Don’t make me come down there.
God
I’m a fan of Urban Legends, and on a couple of sites (including www.snopes.com),,) I would find numerous references to Cecil Adams.
I fianlly did a search on the name, read the columns and lurked for awhile, and finally joined up.
You say “cheesy” like that’s a BAD thing.
I always said that a bus buddy of mine told me about this site, but he denies it… I guess I might have surfed here.
I’ve never read an SD column in print or an SD book. But I did read the entire archive (circa April 1999).
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.
With love from the poster voted as having the "Most Confusing Username"
Dirty Devil showed me the board. He offered to loan me the books, but my reading platter was and still is too full to read them now. So, I have been reading the archives a bit at a time. Just finished the first one this week.
Mike Mulligan had a steam shovel,
a beautiful red steam shovel.
Her name was Mary Anne.
I’ve been reading the SD for about 15 years—first in a now-defunct NJ paper called The Gold Coast.
First got it online at a magazine job I had in '96, but I didn’t discover the message board till last summer.
Yes, I have all the books . . .
“I have a lot of good ideas, problem is most of them suck.” -George Carlin
I live in the UKk and had never heard of The Straight Dope. I stumbled across a link to the homepage at http:\www.bored.com
My internet time has increased by quite a lot since.
I’m also an urban legend debunker, and www.snopes.com is one of my favorite sites. While reading their message board I think in Nov. 1999 about the “Up the butt, Bob” UL on the Newlywed Game, someone referenced Libertarian’s thread on that subject was getting good, so I checked it out. Lo and behold, I was witness to a great place of wiseacres, so I stayed.
Esprix
Two totally different sources led me here.
#1
I had never heard of SD or Cecil Adams until last year.
I was actually surfing on Amazon.com for some “SD-type” books, such as the ones authored by Schenkman, Burnam, Poundstone, etc.
Amazon.com shows a list of other books that purchasers have also bought, and one of the books that showed up on the list was one (or more) of the SD books.
#2
GRY!
I have had fun with the -gry question for almost 15 years, and the (now) second to the last time it came up at work, I thought I would try to find a list of all the -gry words, since my source said that OED has many (about 100).
Lo! I found it thru one of the search engines.
One of the other links that showed up was “The Word Detective,” which, being the verbivore (with respect to Mr Lederer) that I am, I started reading.
At the time he (Word Detective) had a link to the SD site (don’t know if he still does), so that was the other reference.
That’s when I started reading this site.
A Canadian Angel told me about it.
I really try to be good but it just isn’t in my nature!
i saw the tv show one night, and loved the blue guy. at the end of the show, they mentioned the AOL keyword, and i joined, my first question, if i remember correctly, was “what is space made of?” (username: mjm14) when the aol site died, i migrated here.
eggo
My Web Page:SMITE WARNING it may offend you.
I’ve been reading Cecil’s books and columns for a long time, and when I got “The Straight Dope Tells All” and read the message board excerpts, I thought “Gosh, that looks like a fun place to hang around. Too bad I don’t have net access…” Then I started college and had net access, but it was a while before I got around to wandering in here. Well, I’ve been making up for lost time ever since…
Heck is where you go when you don’t believe in Gosh.
I found The Straight Dope on AOL a 3-4 years back. I hung out occaisionally in the chat and read all the columns as they were posted. I never liked the AOL messageboard/USENet program so I never read the messageboards or newgroups until The Straight Dope left AOL and migrated to this site.
I have been a fan of Cecil’s ever since I was a child. I would go every saturday to the Edgewater branch of the Chicago Public library to watch the movies they would show. I saw a lot of odd films there. And while I was there I’d check out a stack of books and pick up two copies of The Reader. My uncle told me always pick up two copies, because if your friends haven’t had a chance to pick one up yet they’ll steal yours.
I also became fond of Life in Hell, Zippy the Clown, Ernie Pook’s Comeek, Pheobe and the Pigeon People and the musings of Basil Metabolism.