# SD Board History: Date of origin, etc? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 11, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-board-history-date-of-origin-etc/360298 "2006-06-11T13:52:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-board-history-date-of-origin-etc/360298/1 "2006-06-11T13:52:56Z")
When did the SD get started? Did anything like it exist before the Internet when there were “bulletin boards” accessed by modem? Also, what Doper has the greatest number of posts to his/her credit? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-board-history-date-of-origin-etc/360298/2 "2006-06-11T15:20:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Also, what Doper has the greatest number of posts to his/her credit? I saw someone say \*\*[Liberal](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?userid=3284) \*\* has the most posts in a recent thread. At 26,237 posts, this appears true. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-board-history-date-of-origin-etc/360298/3 "2006-06-11T15:48:35Z")
[Guinastasia](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?username=guinastasia)’s at **27,762**. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-board-history-date-of-origin-etc/360298/4 "2006-06-11T15:52:09Z")
I believe Dex, Tuba, Opal and others started the board way back when, sending posts to each other by carrier pigeon. After the pigeons started disappearing (the fact that Dex has a fine recipe for pigeon pie was considered, rightly in my opinion, a false and malicious canard) several other methods were tried. These involved tom-tom drums, signal beacons and cryptic messages in the Personal columns of certain newspapers. Each of these, however, proving unsatisfactory, for one reason or another, Tuba finally tapped out one morning, “What about this internets thing?” The rest is history. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-board-history-date-of-origin-etc/360298/5 "2006-06-11T15:54:24Z")
[QUOTE=Jinx] When did the SD get started? Did anything like it exist before the Internet when there were “bulletin boards” accessed by modem? Also, what Doper has the greatest number of posts to his/her credit? - Jinx [/QUOTE] I’ve seen it noted somewhere that there is a usenet group for the Straight Dope, but I’m not sure how old that is. Being usenet though, it has the potential to be quite older. The board itself, I **think** is currently in it’s third incarnation. It started on AOL, then switched to the net but using some funky service/BBS engine, and then finally got vBulletin and it’s own servers. I am not sure of any of that though, and definitely not of the relative dates. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-board-history-date-of-origin-etc/360298/6 "2006-06-11T15:59:32Z")
Hm… I found the following: [ > [@](#): > > The message board began in a crude form on America Online, during or before 1997. It existed in this format for a few years before moving to its current website in early 1999. The board has continually evolved, with the administration adding forums as need dictates. The most recent additions were CSR, IMHO, and CS. > > In mid-February of 2002, the message board crashed and was not brought online again until March 10, 2002. All posts from December 7, 2001 through the time of the crash were lost, leading members to dub the event “The Winter of our Missed Content.” ]([http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Straight\_Dope\_Message\_Board](http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Straight_Dope_Message_Board)) I think that the second incarnation as I termed it may have actually have been a board that everyone leaped to during the Winter of Missed Content, and that there was no middle stage between AOL and here. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-board-history-date-of-origin-etc/360298/7 "2006-06-11T16:02:29Z")
Annnnd, here’s the usenet groups: [ > [@](#): > > alt.fan.cecil-adams is a Usenet newsgroup dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. AFCA is a spontaneous efflorescence of wit and learning on the part of the Teeming Millions and has no formal connection with the Straight Dope or the Chicago Reader. However, if our Web message board isn’t to your liking, you may find AFCA more congenial. > > misc.facts.straight-dope is a more recently established newsgroup started by folks who thought the other SD message boards sucked. Hey, free country. Besides, I ask you, does even Dave Barry have three message boards devoted to him? Well, who knows, maybe he does. God knows we’re above such petty competitiveness. Try 'em all, mix 'em, match 'em, start your own damn newsgroup, far be it from us to stand in the way of free expression. ]([http://www.straightdope.com/faq/](http://www.straightdope.com/faq/)) ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-board-history-date-of-origin-etc/360298/8 "2006-06-11T16:19:17Z")
The current incarnation of this Board began on March 9, 1999. I joined a week later. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-board-history-date-of-origin-etc/360298/9 "2006-06-11T16:28:09Z")
> [@](#): > > I believe Dex, Tuba, Opal and others started the board way back when, sending posts to each other by carrier pigeon. [Carrier pigeons](http://www.blug.linux.no/rfc1149/) are not incompatible with the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-board-history-date-of-origin-etc/360298/10 "2006-06-11T16:55:20Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] [Carrier pigeons](http://www.blug.linux.no/rfc1149/) are not incompatible with the Internet. [/QUOTE] Hence the “NO CARRIER” notice you used to get when logging off.