There was a really great novel series I was reading (up to book two at the time) and kept waiting and waiting for book three. I posted a message here asking if anyone knew the situation with the series. Within 24 hours the author wrote me back explaining the issues that delayed the next book release.
To say I was blown away by his email would be an understatement. The guy thoughtfully wrote me an email describing everything in his way (new research, personal issues, etc) and suggested other biographies to read in the mean time.
Really cool.
Another time, I had just met a beautiful girl and was on the third or fourth date. A song came up over the speakers that I tried and tried to remember, but couldn’t. She told me (as I tried to remember) that the song was her favorite and she always wished she could find.
Following day I posted an impossible song request (along the lines of “the” was a word in it) and a poster attached a YouTube clip of the song & artist that jarred my brain free!
There was one odd really odd thing I experienced associated with this board. I was laying in bed on night when I thought of this comedy skit that I saw on Showtime as a child in the early 1980’s when we first got cable. All I remembered were a very vague things about it and I wanted to know THAT INSTANT. I look up obscure things all the time but that was pushing it. I typed in a google search and it gave lots of bad hits based on my hopelessly bad information but there was one that wasn’t a pure hit but it was a clue.
A Doper I knew asked the same thing many years before on another site and never got the answer but the responses added some additional information but not much more. I was able to take that and not only find the answer but also find a clip of what I was looking for on Youtube in 5 minutes.
The Doper in question was LiveOnAPlane and he died suddenly and unexpectedly not very long after I sent him that. It is tragic but I was happy that I could help him solve a mystery we both wondered years apart and we never met each other except here. Pretty good for just two people out of seven billion who never met in person but only through the SDMB.
Dr. Drake mentioned in a thread once that he knew his stuff regarding Celtic languages. I needed translation help for my national anthems website, including the page on the Breton anthem. He was a great help in not only translation but explaining some of the things to do with the anthem - since I consider the Breton anthem a relatively “rare” one, I probably wouldn’t have found all this out without him, even within the circle of the dozen or so anthematologists I correspond with frequently.
Oddly enough, LiveOnAPlane also figures into my best things from the SDMB list. For my 40th birthday two years ago, he sent me a new, very nice digital camera, just because I said I might like to get one for myself. Things like that are so unexpected and appreciated- I will remember that forever.
In a general sense, another best thing is just the ability to see a subject from different angles and not be narrow-minded. The Dope *greatly *helped me with that.
Not to mention all the wonderful people I’ve “met” here, and have really met from here, and all the laughs, truths, and WTF moments.
My father had loaned a book to a friend, who moved, taking the book with him. My father had misremembered the title of the book. I posted about this, and had a few replies very, very quickly. I was able to get the book and send it to my dad, who thinks very highly of my research skills. If only he knew…
It’s not a huge thing, but a few days ago I started a thread asking for punk rock book/movie recommendations and got recommended “Please Kill Me” which I’m really enjoying.
There are probably others, too, over the years but I’m blanking on them right this moment.
The deadlift. Somebody, I think ultrafilter but I’m not positive, posted that deadlifting was one of the best lifts for full body strength. Son of a gun if he wasn’t right.
3 or so years ago, someone posted a recommendation on a technical thread for a tech tool application that has made my and about 3-4 other people’s lives way easier. I had no clue such a tool existed, and nowadays I use it almost every day for my job.
Someone posted a fix to make Windows Vista run faster and I’m forever thankful for that. Also someone posted a tip on coffee grounds absorbing odors which came in extremely handy after my dog had a bout of explosive poops in the house.
I have an enormous pile of books in my “to be read” pile that have been recommended by members of this board. Thank you all for contributing to my procrastination!
I’ve enjoyed a large number of websites that have been similarly recommended.
A number of recipes and kitchen tips have made their way into my repetoire based on posters’ suggestions.
I am ever more appreciative of rational discourse backed by factual data than I was before lurking and posting here.
One Doper sent me, free of charge, Civ III Complete. I don’t know whether to thank him or curse him. It was most kind of him (her?) though.
I’ve also received some gifts, and sent out some gifts. That was fun.
Still, though, anything that makes my dad happy is gonna win out. He’s happy to be remembered, but he’s ESPECIALLY happy to get another copy of that book, because it had been nagging him for YEARS.
I’ve made some new friends on the Dope. I’ve also been recommended several books that I enjoyed and some great music. I consider the SDMB my online hometown.
A few years ago, I was sent a box full of magic books that a fellow doper no longer wanted… pretty much for free. I have read each and every one of them through many times since then and still refer to them.