# These Boards or This Board? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-boards-or-this-board/405718 "2007-05-27T18:03:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-boards-or-this-board/405718/1 "2007-05-27T18:03:43Z")
I’m always confused when people refer to the SDMB as “these boards”. Isn’t it one board (with serveral forums)? At the top of the page, it says Straight Dope Message Board. Singular. No nit-picking about forums/fora, either. Both are correct. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-boards-or-this-board/405718/2 "2007-05-28T02:25:05Z")
I’d go for ‘This board containing these fora’. I wonder what others think about it. Bob ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-boards-or-this-board/405718/3 "2007-05-28T02:31:25Z")
It’s called the “Straight Dope Message Board.” Singular. Cecil would not have made a mistake here. Or anywhere else, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-boards-or-this-board/405718/4 "2007-05-28T03:08:46Z")
However, cast your eyes upwards to the URL. http:// **boards**.straightdope.com/… That looks like an Ed Zotti kind of mistake. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-boards-or-this-board/405718/5 "2007-05-28T13:17:12Z")
I tend to use “boards,” as in “see you around the Boards” when I’m signing off on an email to a fellow Doper. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-boards-or-this-board/405718/6 "2007-05-28T13:19:48Z")
Let’s not even mention “teh internets” for fear of invoking Executive Privilege. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-boards-or-this-board/405718/7 "2007-05-28T16:07:13Z")
The usage as I understand it is: _Board_ (singular) = message board, e.g., Straight Dope Message Board _Forum_ = one subregion of a message board containing material segregated by content or besought mode of response, e.g., General Questions. Occasionally referred to collectively, technically inaccurately but with acceptable colloquial vagueness, as “the boards.” _Thread_ = one sequence of posts being a given question or proposition and the responses it engenders, e.g. “These Boards or This Board?” _Post_ = a single response from a single member, contained in a thread. E.g., what I’m typing now for people to read. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-boards-or-this-board/405718/8 "2007-05-28T16:25:32Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] I’m always confused when people refer to the SDMB as “these boards”. Isn’t it one board (with serveral forums)? At the top of the page, it says Straight Dope Message Board. Singular. [/QUOTE] So what does common usage care about correctness? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-boards-or-this-board/405718/9 "2007-05-28T17:08:57Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] So what does common usage care about correctness? [/QUOTE] I’m just curious about where the practice comes from. It seems to be \*\*very \*\*common, so maybe there is some history involved that I’m not aware of. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-boards-or-this-board/405718/10 "2007-05-28T17:18:49Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] I’m just curious about where the practice comes from. It seems to be \*\*very \*\*common, so maybe there is some history involved that I’m not aware of. [/QUOTE] My hunch is that people who visit multiple message boards would be more prone to refer to “the boards” where those whose forum activity is limited to this one would lean toward “the board.” That’s not 100% true, but probably more than 75% so. Also those with a background in BBS’s (before the internet got up and running as smoothly as it does nowadays) had to dial in to as many different “boards” as they were active in. That could be a carry-over usage from those days. Other than those obvious possibilities, it’s more like the Coke-soda-pop thing.