It’s been exactly three years since I discovered the SDMB, and I want to celebrate this anniversary by paying homage to our beloved boards. Below is just the beginning of that homage. I’m hoping others who have similar warm spots in their hearts for this place will kindly post additions.
Note: all the sentences below have something in common. If you do decide to add to the tribute, please make sure your sentences follow this common factor rule. Thank you.
We’re winning the battle, I believe, against the stupidity peddlers and the ignorance dealers. Straight Dope Message Boards deserve much of the credit! Very smart people come to these boards, often arriving with the most amusing of screen names. Doper writings and rants will almost always be a cut above the usual Internet output, you can be sure.
General Questions is the supreme educational message board. Check out the many knowledgeable responses to the often obscure and difficult questions that people post. (Any “3 -gry” riddles, however, will generally lead to something akin to a rather large and appropriately angry riot.)
Kill an hour or an afternoon in Great Debates ruminating over the most importantant questions of our times. Where is George W. Bush coming from with all this talk of compassionate conservatism and lower taxes? Comfortable and secure with what some will argue are the rather loose regulations covering our nation’s guns? Does God exist, and if so, is it still OK to lust after Donna Reed?
Hint: unless you have very thick skin, avoid a dive into The BBQ Pit. Open hostility, anger and rancor (albeit witty hostility, anger and rancor) can be found in nearly every Pit thread…
(Sorry about the above mispelling of “Important”. Please ignore it.)
Dine with the Cafe Society and enjoy a lively discussion of the arts over a warm cup of coffee or tea. Poems, literature, movies, and drama are just some of the entrees this cafe serves.
Signs are hereby presented to diagnose that the Straight Dope has really, completely, gotten under your skin.
It’s not uncommon for you to be at the SDMB approximately six out of every seven nights. * A healthy mix of excitement and fear overcomes you when you check off the “Email Notification” option. * A truly proper post (and others like it) needs in your humble opinion, to have a smiley. * When your family is too close to tossing out your computer, burning your Cecil books, and squashing you like an insect.
Instruction in the art of puzzle unravelling may be considered by some Dopers to be cheating. Still, if the instructions are obtuse, it won’t be as though I have lied. Hopelessness should not be rewarded, but persistence must be praised. Part of the problem, Peregrine, is just how little anyone actually notices. Therefore, I will post these final common factor sentences to the homage, and then keep my mouth shut. Zeroes must be scored by all SDMB members who, for whatever reason, are still unable to solve.
Only a few hours left and there is no time to lose! It’s a hard thing to admit, but I’ve only stumped the SDMB once in sixty-six puzzles, according to my notes. At this moment it is still to early to tell if, for a second time, I have won. Hear me brag tomorrow morning, however, if we have passed the full week and the solvers remain silent. Members of these illustrious boards should be aware that these five sentences adhere to the code, and contain no tricks or traps.
I had an e-mail requesting the answer to this puzzle. I figure that because this is my first time stumping the entire SDMB in over a year and a half, I’ll break my “Don’t post an answer” rule.
Tomorrow morning.
The thing is, this puzzle is tricky, but by no means impossible. It requires no special knowledge. So, I’ll give it one more overnight shot, and then if this puzzle is still unsolved when I drag myself out of bed tomorrow morning, I’ll post the answer. Ergo, if there are any last minute lateral thinking types who aspire to triumph where others have failed, now’s the time to act.
(Note these sentences do not follow the common factor rule.)
