Looked like King Eumenes II of Pergamum to me. Jonathan Chance hasn’t posted to that thread.
You are, of course, correct – I was mistaking another thread on a completely different subject where Jonathan Chance had recently volunteered useful information I was somewhat surprised he knew (since it was completely outside the wide areas of expertise I’ve known him to have up until now), with His Pergamese Majesty’s link in that thread. Sorry, Jonathan and King Eumenes!
Not the correct answer, which is “There is no official SDMB merchandise, but buy straightdope stuff!” 
We don’t. If a poster’s primary purpose appears to be promoting a certain product, we’ll likely shut him down as a spammer even if we don’t know he’s profiting somehow. However, average posters can occasionally mention/link to certain products they really like and that’s fine, as long as we don’t know they’re making money off it. Also, you can sometimes promote your own stuff if you clear it with us first; Cecil has a weak spot for helping out authors, for instance.
Not if no one on the board is making money from it and we don’t think you’re shilling for someone else. We’d also be highly interested to know who is selling SDMB merchandise without our knowledge. As an aside, we really should get some stuff for people to buy related specifically to the board.
That’s a good idea. But it brings up another question. Let’s say some creative person out there designed a cool bumpersticker, or a T-shirt commemorating a dopefest or something, (like, “I survived NYC MegaDopefest 2005, and all I got was this stupid T-shirt”). Would they be allowed to do this? Would they be able to go into the NYC MegaDopefest thread and tell people about the T-shirts?
I ask because it seems like you’re saying that people would be FORBIDDEN from doing this, which would be a shame; or forbidden from mentioning it on the boards. Because there are some creative people out there who could come up with some really cool stuff. And, because if we waited for the Chicago Reader people to come up with something, it would never happen.
Anyway. Just a thought.
Oh-HO! You want a MONOPOLY, eh?
[blatant sucking up]
BTW, you were not included in my snotty comment earlier where I made a blanket statement about the mods. You’re one of the most reasonable mods I know.
[/blatant sucking up]
IANAL
If you made it up, and didn’t put the words Straight Dope specifically on it, or sell it for profit, I think it would be okay.
But other than that, if you put the site logo and such, you might be in violation of copyright laws. And yeah, it sucks, but hey! I know of people who create great fan art and such-but they’re not allowed to sell for profit, either.
Which is similar to the seemingly humourless Cajun Man shutting the Post Party for Guin’s 20,000th post.
I can understand shutting down most post parties, but there are execeptions.
Shutting that thread down was overkill.
I thought post parties weren’t allowed? (BTW, I’d like to note that I did NOT start the thread, and was actually kind of embarassed by it-like shit, do I REALLY post that much?)
:o
Yeah, Guin, ain’t it a bitch to find out you have nearly three times LESS life than me? 
The best thing to do would be to e-mail an admin. I think Ed Zotti would be the best, and ask how you’d be allowed to use their copyright. I asked once, and his requirements were perfectly reasonable. (If it’s a bumper sticker, don’t plow your car into a schoolyard at recess.)
I honestly didn’t interpret that sticky as meaning a 100% banning; I thought that a limited amount of such threads was OK. (Sorry I embarassed you, Guinastasia.)
'Tis all right. Tell the truth, I didn’t even realize I had that many posts until I saw the thread.
Yeah I agree it was stupid to close that thread, because, I mean, come on! That’s like the most posts ever on this board! That is definetly worthy of a thread! Geeezzz.
There may indeed be exceptions . . . when the OP has obtained prior permission. This was not the case.
It’s up to the discretion of the board staff as to what is or is not an exception . . . not the general membership.
Cajun Man
for the SDMB
Well that’s just great. NOW what am I gonna do with my corvair loaded with SDMB bumper stickers?
Hmm. So the only acceptable answer to the question in question would have been: “There’s stuff out there, but I can’t tell you where!”
Random merchendise suggestion: Dopeopoly. A series of stickers to convert a normal Monopoly board into a Straight Dope board. Just add rules!
Exactly.
Though you could stand to put the information about requesting such a thread for a circumstance such as a 20,000th post.
And you could have chosen to show some discretion, left the thread open, but posted that for normal circumstances the thread would be closed but in this case it was unique and that next time a mod needed to be contacted before hand.
Exactly.
Methinks some moderators hold some grudges against certain posters, and use their “powers” for evil, and not good… :dubious:
Is the FIRST 20,000th POST NOT worth noting??? 
To encourage, “better to ask for forgiveness than permission” behavior?