# Places like the SDMB **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 4, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-like-the-sdmb/146646 "2003-01-04T20:05:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-like-the-sdmb/146646/1 "2003-01-04T20:05:12Z")
I’m teaching a college course on rhetoric and argumentation this spring that will have an on-line discussion forum. I want to set up some links to places on the net where rules of arguentation and evidence are generally observed, as in the SDMB. My goal is that they observe the unhindered exchange of intelligence, wit, style, imagination and logic that is the soul of civilized intellectual discourse. The problem is that there aren’t many such places (And I also don’t know how to look). Anybody care to add to my scanty list of “places on the web where debate is conducted civilly and with intelligence?” I’m looking for non-academic sites-- it’s a freshman class. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-like-the-sdmb/146646/2 "2003-01-05T17:06:44Z")
\<\< Anybody care to add to my scanty list of “places on the web where debate is conducted civilly and with intelligence?” \>\> … and you think the SDMB is one such? Man oh man, furt, you either got two screws loose or you’re very new here. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-like-the-sdmb/146646/3 "2003-01-05T17:11:12Z")
I still stick to my opinion that there **are** no other messageboards on the net. What you have been experiencing is a delusion.😃 Nope, none, not one. Zip, zilch, nada…😃 ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-like-the-sdmb/146646/4 "2003-01-05T20:04:43Z")
Well, NLZero attempts it, and like SD succeeds in its own way. The mix of people is quite different. It used to be BIX (the Byte Magazine Information Exchange), I believe the first great Board. Somehow BIX got shut down and the name locked down, but users continued on NLZero. You can also find **moderated** newsgroups. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-like-the-sdmb/146646/5 "2003-01-06T17:08:08Z")
James Randi’s site ([randi.org](http://randi.org)) is pretty good. As is (or used to be, I haven’t been there in a while) [junkscience.com](http://junkscience.com) ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-like-the-sdmb/146646/6 "2003-01-07T05:26:14Z")
[http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/index.php](http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/index.php) . This is an astronomy site, the main focus being bad astronomy portrayed in media, and the respective good astronomy. There are a number of fora for topics, including one dedicated to answering the Apollo Hoax topic. It is generally a good place, with most regulars well-behaved, and logic and argumentation are much preferred over whining and mindless complaints. And if you send your students there, you’ll simultaneously be fighting the ignorance of the Apollo Hoax phenomenon and that stupid Fox program. Plus, they can learn some history in disguise. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-like-the-sdmb/146646/7 "2003-01-07T15:13:42Z")
Plus, The Bad Astronomer is a regular here. It makes sense that his boards would be as well maintained. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-like-the-sdmb/146646/8 "2003-01-07T22:25:49Z")
Thanks, guys. Bad Astronomy is a bit more topic-specific than I was looking for but still useful, and NL Zero appears to be a pay site. But Randi and junkscience look great. Any more? And CK I keep trying to ditch the SDMB, but … Well, note my registration date… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bad_Astronomer)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-like-the-sdmb/146646/9 "2003-01-11T01:05:00Z")
Thanks! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-like-the-sdmb/146646/10 "2003-01-12T21:38:07Z")
Our own **Opalcat** started a site a few years back and it is, in my mind at least, the closest thing to SDMB without being SDMB (unlike our Hong Kong clone). I believe it can be reached at [fff.fathom.org](http://fff.fathom.org). It served us well during the _Great Darkening_ last year and kept a number of us reasonably sane. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-like-the-sdmb/146646/11 "2003-01-16T00:15:00Z")
thanks (Okay, that was a bump. No more, I promise.)