# The 10,000 post question!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-000-post-question/51555>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [January 24, 2001, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-000-post-question/51555 "2001-01-24T15:31:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-000-post-question/51555/1 "2001-01-24T15:31:43Z")

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I realize it may be a little early for this, but **handy** has posted, as of this moment, 8,220 messages to this board. I think it’s safe to assume he’ll get to 10,000 posts before anyone else (or maybe not!).

What I’d like to know is this: Is the board software capable of displaying “10000” as a number? I mean, I don’t know much about the history of the software itself; maybe the original programmers never thought someone would have that many posts. Maybe it’s not capable of a fifth digit (in that field, anyway).

So what’s the scoop? Will **handy** one day have 10,000 posts (or 10000), or will he have to start over at 1? 😃

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-000-post-question/51555/2 "2001-01-25T02:11:10Z")

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I asked the same question a few months ago, but didn’t get an official answer. [Is handy going to roll over?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=32909)

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**Author:** ![Pit\_Meister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Pit\_Meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pit_Meister)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-000-post-question/51555/3 "2001-01-25T08:34:15Z")

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Here’s the official answer. No.  
10,000 is not a “magic” number.  
It’s not a power of two, and not a “Y2K” number in computers.  
It’s just another number.

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**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-000-post-question/51555/4 "2001-01-25T08:53:42Z")

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Pit Meister, kindly refrain from giving out “official” answers, as you are not on the staff and not privy to official information.

Lynn  
Administrator  
For the Straight Dope

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**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-000-post-question/51555/5 "2001-01-25T12:42:24Z")

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Sorry, **bibliophage**. I did do a search to see if the topic had been covered, but because it didn’t seem to have real discernable search terms (and also because I didn’t search back enough), I missed it…

(“handy”? “posts”?" Hoo-boy…)

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**Author:** ![Pit\_Meister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Pit\_Meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pit_Meister)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2001, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-000-post-question/51555/6 "2001-01-25T23:37:04Z")

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Sorry for the confusion. Instead of “official” I should have said “obvious to this informed reader.” If this were the Op-Ed page, I’d be in the Letters to the Editor section, not the Editorials themselves.