# Telling Friends about the SDMB **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 30, 2002, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531 "2002-04-30T19:13:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dreamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@dreamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dreamer)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/1 "2002-04-30T19:13:33Z")
Have you ever told someone about this board and have them look at you like your some kind of internet freak?! Well, maybe not a freak, but something to that effect :D. I’ve told a few friends how much I love this place and visit it every day and am totally addicted to it. But I don’t think they understand! I guess the “Straight Dope” name doesn’t explain much either 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gazelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Gazelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazelle)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/2 "2002-04-30T19:21:49Z")
Oh yeah. Definitely. You should have seen the looks on their faces when I told them (two summers ago) how excited I was because I was finally going to meet **Satan**! ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/3 "2002-04-30T19:39:16Z")
Hurmph. Yeah, I’ve told some people, but only my wife and one of my best friends have ever actually checked it out. My wife signed up, but never re-signed after the Great Malignment of December '01. ---
**Author:** ![Gundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/4 "2002-04-30T19:48:36Z")
I have. Some can’t believe that I spend as much time here as I do, and that I actually wanted to meet the people from here. 'Course, these are the same people who keep sending me “missing child” e-mail alerts…worded exactly the same way every time outside of changed names…even though I have repeatedly sent them links to Snopes. So I don’t worry. ---
**Author:** ![Jonno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f19dbf/32.png) [@Jonno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonno)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/5 "2002-04-30T20:59:36Z")
I’ve been pretty lucky. Most everyone I’ve talked about SDMB to has at least understood, if not become a regular poster. And it’s always a nice coincidence to meet someone, like 'em and _then_ find out they’re a poster here, huh **Dreamy**? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RickQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@RickQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickQ)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/6 "2002-04-30T21:26:39Z")
I have told a few people about this. Some have understood, some have given me funny looks. The name does sometimes cause people to do a double take until I explain it. Imagine how bad it sounded when I was explaining to an Embassy official how **Brynda** and I met 😃 Rick ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/7 "2002-04-30T21:35:57Z")
I’ve been a member of this board since (well, duh, just look below my username) June of 2000, and my father still doesn’t understand why I like this place. I tell him this is one of my two main forms of socialization and he still doesn’t understand. This from the man who spends as much time on yahoogroups as he does asleep. ::shrugs:: ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2002, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/8 "2002-04-30T23:27:11Z")
Well, my brother thinks I’m out-and-out nuts. I was visiting him in Minnesota when I went to the Dopefest where both **Canthearya** and I met **Satan** , and I tried to get him to come, but he couldn’t be persuaded to meet a bunch of internet weirdos. When I’ve told other friends, they usually humor me with the kind of smile you give a child that is slightly off, but you like them anyway. However, I knew I had made a wise choice in marriage partners when **Bluesman** immediately recognized the uber-coolness of the Dopers. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/9 "2002-05-01T01:28:37Z")
…Telling people I can’t go camping because I’m going to a dopefest this weekend Nah, I don’t get weird looks… ---
**Author:** ![Gazelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Gazelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazelle)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/10 "2002-05-01T01:50:21Z")
Rock. I’m _uber-cool_. Thanks **Lucretia**! Now I have a best compliment to post the next time that thread comes back up! 🙂 Aunty Canty ---
**Author:** ![dreamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@dreamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dreamer)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/11 "2002-05-01T02:15:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CelticCowboy \* > \*\*I’ve been pretty lucky. Most everyone I’ve talked about SDMB to has at least understood, if not become a regular poster. And it’s always a nice coincidence to meet someone, like 'em and _then_ find out they’re a poster here, huh **Dreamy**? 😃 \*\* It’s _especially_ cool when people you know post in your threads :). ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/12 "2002-05-01T02:21:44Z")
I still have to tell folks (my mom) **Geobabe** and I did not meet in a chat room, and that we actually met face before we started dating. Some friends have gotten used to the fact that I fly around the country to see people I only “know” through the internet, but not all. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/13 "2002-05-01T02:23:58Z")
While I’ve made a few good friends here, I’ve generally held it (the board) in abeyance for my non-board IRL friends. We’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/14 "2002-05-01T02:43:28Z")
And not only **that** , but the fact that I come **here** and learn so much, then don’t have anyone to discuss it with in RT, because they are more interested in NASCAR, Jerry Springer or soaps. **Yogi Berra** might have put it this way: “If people don’t wanna learn, nobody’s gonna stop 'em.” 😉 That isn’t to say that people who **don’t** frequent SDMB are ignorant, just that I don’t travel in circles of people who would enjoy its content. I have learned to just enjoy SDMB quietly, ask my questions and then feel enriched when y’all answer. I no longer say, “Hey I visit this great message board on the net called the SDMB! Ya’ oughtta go there!” But I **have** had the opportunity to be helpful to someone else with what I have learned here, fulfilling the philosophy of fighting ignorance, and I feel good about that. Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/15 "2002-05-01T16:19:31Z")
Most people sort of understand when I tell them about this place, but a fair number still think “chat room.” It’s kind of hard to explain, but the term I use most often is “online community,” which seems to describe it better than “message board.” The strangest thing recently was during a conversation with the woman who has been my best friend since high school. I was telling her about some stuff that came up during ChiDope, and she said, “Well, after you and Bill get married, maybe you’ll outgrow the message board.” Outgrow? Whaaaa…? She’s even met a bunch of Dopers, so I have no idea where that came from. ---
**Author:** ![pbrtallboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@pbrtallboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbrtallboy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/16 "2002-05-01T17:25:48Z")
[hijack] **Canthearya** and **Lucretia** , I’m sure i’m speaking for everyone when I ask, was **Satan** like, a total babe, or what? [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/17 "2002-05-01T18:46:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pbrtallboy \* > \*\*[hijack] > > **Canthearya** and **Lucretia** , > > I’m sure i’m speaking for everyone when I ask, was **Satan** like, a total babe, or what? > > [/hijack] \*\* I thought he was pretty (unintentional pun alert) hot. ---
**Author:** ![moi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@moi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moi)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/18 "2002-05-01T19:26:13Z")
Mucho weird looks from our friends whenever **tdc** talked about the boards. I think they started to work on an intervention when we used Straight Dope coffee mugs or wore T-shirts… Unlike **tdc** , I’m kind of old hat at that, since I was on AOL in my early teens and invited someone that I met on AOL to my wedding. At least people these days know what chat rooms are… ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/19 "2002-05-03T00:26:09Z")
> [@](#): > > “Well, after you and Bill get married, maybe you’ll outgrow the message board.” Heresy! Heresy I say! ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531/20 "2002-05-03T02:08:23Z")
I don’t even bother trying to explain to most people I know. If I want to mention something I heard here, I say something along the lines of “someone I know blah blah blah…” because its a lot easier than telling people what the SDMB is. And I feel REALLY stupid right now, because even after the bazillion threads about misreading/mispronouncing usernames, it took being distracted by a Palm Pilot noise while reading the name **Canthearya** to actually understand what it means… LOL!!! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telling-friends-about-the-sdmb/106531.md?page=2)