# SDMB reading style **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 8, 1999, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-reading-style/10913 "1999-11-08T05:31:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-reading-style/10913/1 "1999-11-08T05:31:00Z")
This was inspired by the anal-retentive thread in which Dirty Devil said: > [@](#): > > When I log onto the SDMB, I have to go to GQ first, then Great Debates, then the Pit, and finally to MPSIMS. If I log out and log back in (even twenty minutes later), it’s the same thing. I’m fairly new here and when I started reading, it was in MPSIMS, then I moved to GD and The Pit. Other boards were browsed after that. Now I find that is the order that I have to read the threads in. I’ve also grown fond of the “Next newest thread” link. Anyone else have a particular reading style? Perhaps a style streamlined for efficiency? * * * “I would far rather be ignorant than wise in the foreboding of evil.” -Æschylus. 525-456 B. C. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-reading-style/10913/2 "1999-11-08T05:57:00Z")
Back in the Early Times (when there were fewer than 500 posters, registered or otherwise) and only four Fora (Master’s Voice, Try It Here, GQ, and the Pit), I used to enter each one in turn, scroll to the oldest one I had not read, and simply work my way up to the top using “next newest”. I have not been able to do that in a long while. There are far too many threads going and I haven’t got time to read them all. Now I pick a Forum (different order each day), and select specific topics to view. An awful lot of stuff on **Mindless** , **P** ointless, **S** illiness **I** **M** ust **S** hare I simply ignore. Questions in GD that ask about specific hardware or software that I don’t own or work with get ignored, too. There are a lot of topics that appeal to an awful lot of diverse people. * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![ChrisCTP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@ChrisCTP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisCTP)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-reading-style/10913/3 "1999-11-08T19:36:00Z")
I always start in MPSIMS and the Pit. I guess I just like to settle in and get comfy before I dive into the “big” forums. I go to GD after the Pit, then GQ. You will find very little of me in either of those forums, though, because as I have stated before, I’m only a pretend intellectual. I like to lurk around in them, but rarely do I have anything intelligent to say. * * * “Excrement. That is what I think of J. Evans Pritchard, PhD.” --Robin Williams, Dead Poets Society Chris’ Homepage: [Domestic Bliss](http://www2.crosswinds.net/~domesticbliss/) ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-reading-style/10913/4 "1999-11-08T22:47:00Z")
I go in order from GQ to MPSIMS to The Pit to Great Debates. The other forums I rarely, if ever, go to at all. * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-reading-style/10913/5 "1999-11-08T23:23:00Z")
I follow Satan’s path. (eek!) ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-reading-style/10913/6 "1999-11-08T23:27:00Z")
I’m new here, and new to the internet. What first caught my eye here(got here from the Austin Chronicle website. I read Cecil’s column there, bein’ in the backwoods) was the Pit. I’d had a bad day, and it made me laugh. After a month now, it’s MPSIMS, Pit, and then GQ and GD. I’m reading other areas to try to understand more of what’s going on. The time I have here is mostly when I’m tired(not at work) so, for now, is mostly light, but I’m liking it more & more. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-reading-style/10913/7 "1999-11-09T03:32:00Z")
I go in order, starting at Cecil’s Columns (where I pick and choose topics), About this Message Board (starting at oldest unread thread and clicking next newest til I hit “No newer topics”), GQ (same), MPSIMS (same), BBQ (pick and choose topics). I never reach Mailbag or GD during the week (heck I don’t even always hit BBQ), but I pick through the topics on the weekends. No, I don’t _read_ all the topics. Since the subject shows up on the title bar, I just click “Next Newest” for a subject I’m not interested in without waiting until the page fully loads. * * * Your Official Cat Goddess since 10/20/99. Semper Ubi Sub Ubi ---
**Author:** ![neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neuro-trash_grrrl)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-reading-style/10913/8 "1999-11-09T06:53:00Z")
When I first got here, all of two months ago, the first place I stopped was the MPSIMS. I didn’t even venture into the other fora for a while after that. Now, I usually go to MPSIMS, then the BBQ pit, stop off in GQ, go to GD if I have time, then back to MPSIMS one last time before I leave. That’s what I did tonight, I’m on my second MPSIMS visit, and shall be leaving in about fifteen minutes when they close the lab. “fora for a while”. Huh. * * * God is dead. -Nietzsche Nietzsche is dead. -God Neitzsche is God. -Dead ---
**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-reading-style/10913/9 "1999-11-12T03:36:00Z")
I go to GQ first; scroll down and check out the topics to see if anything interests me; look for ones I’ve replied to to see if anyone has replied to my reply. Then MPSIMS and the Pit.