No one famous is shouting out to the SDMB. This isn’t the only group that likes bacon. This isn’t the only group that says “asshat.” If someone says something about 1920-style death rays, that might be a shout out. Mentioning pie isn’t a shout out.
I know people want to run with the in crowd, and lots of members like the idea of the Dope being some sort of super cool club for smart people. It really isn’t so, okay?
Ha! I must’ve been reading the same threads you were, jsgoddess, 'cause I had exactly the same thought. It’s a bit silly to think we’re that (or at all) influential; reminds me of the twits on Television Without Pity who assume everything is a shout out by some TV writer who’s reading their boards. (Funnily enough, the use of “asshat” is one of the references they cite too.)
The first place I read asshat was on the Smile and Act Nice Boards (sadly, no longer around), and THAT was from an influx of posters from Something Awful.
Thank you. It seems a week can’t go by without a “famous posters at the dope?” or “xyz tv show/movie/author/Jeopardy contestant shouted out the dope!” thread. This board is not even in the top 100 most popular boards on the net - didn’t even crack the top 20 in its heyday from what I remember - and no one thinks of it as some sort of elite online Mensa-type hangout except a few people on one side of the bell who are impressed by our mostly average babbling and a few insular snobs on the other side who don’t get intellectual stimulation anywhere else. I’ve met a lot of incredibly smart people in my life and most of them are about as interested in the internet as the smartest parents of baby-boomers were in television. This is an entertainment website.
I’ll make it even easier. One of the characters on The Big Bang Theory consults Cecil (in the script), and I’ll concede a certain amount of cool. Say up to half of what the blowhards think.
It’s possible Jon Cryer might post here, since Cecil mentions him as a fan in one of his columns. Any other speculation on famous posters is probably wishful thinking, though.