Little Nemo made the initial suggestion for what turned up as Great Debates (all that stuff was either in MPSIMS or GQ before).
What did your grandfather do?, started by aenea.
Thanks for the clarification/reminder, Coldie. From the link you provided and Ed Zotti’s response:
I do remember it more as it was introduced, and I’m not about to stir the pot by making virtually any comment on this, but it’s always good to be elucidated.
Snec:
I actually started that thread, but I at least never said anyting about not coming back. I can’t stand that kind of theatrics: “I’m leaving! What, no one noticed! Oh yeah, well I’m back! Now I’m REALLY leaving! See me go! Wah wah wah!” Ugh. Totally one of my SDMB pet peeves. I just petitioned more or less out of asking that she be given another chance, and to recognize her for doing what I believed was a good job. I don’t remember any other petition threads, so I’m curious which one you’re thinking of.
Of course, when she left, she did take quite a few of my favorite posters with her, so I suppose they did stick to their guns–totally respect that.
::bump::
This has been some amazing reading for a relative newbie like me. Please keep the info coming, I’ve laughed, cried and been stunned by some of the relevations.
With Thanks to SNenc for starting this thread.
leechbabe
I started lurking around the time of the Satan-SheWhoShallNotBeNamed period. The “Satan’s teeming minions” tour was, in retrospect, the “How can I get into this college girl’s pants” tour.
He put up a sob story, skipped all the other stops, made the trip to NC, and nailed his quarry. My favorite SDMB post of all time is from PunditLisa, who called him out in a pit thread when he bitched about their relationship being “outed” by a newbie. PL, if you ever see this, you are my SDMB hero.
A hacker named GlowWorm managed to screw up the banners for awhile. Turned out she was a teenage girl.
Jeebus, FORMERAGENT and his 007 sock was some pretty funny shit. That was hilarious to those of us reading it in real time. GET OUT OF THE HOUSE! HE’S POSTING FROM INSIDE THE BUILDING. Oh, man, that was some trollery. MOST spies just use CIAXXX-XX-XXXX (their SSN) while sharing vital secrets. Also, most spies use IM to warn their counterparts that they are compromising sensitive info, instead of a message board. Damn, that was funny shit.
Don’t forget the whole, “OG SMASH!” origins!
How about the whole deeward thing?
Engelbert Humperdinck, begone! 
F_X
A request from the OPer:
Please don’t just drop one-line references to things. The whole point of this thread is to serve as a reference where people can go to learn about the boards. So, if you want to talk about something, I would ask that you please either explain it or link to the appropriate threads, if they still exist.
Thanks.
Ruffian, I’m pretty sure that was your thread. I don’t remember any others. I know “signing” the petition did not automatically equal a statement of “I’m leaving and never coming back! Phhhhbt!”, but I know some people turned it into one.
You’re welcome, leechbabe. I had people like you in mind when I started this thing.
Nobody has mentioned trying to figure out what happens on the 33d of may, but only during leap years, yet?
Well, some of you asked about the GOOD stuff.
A few threads and subjects that have made me think we’re a pretty good bunch…
EvilBeth’s little-VERY little- girl Emma, who weighed in at less than two pounds. There have been several threads about her. I know one is titled “A Bag of Sugar”. So many people care about how well she’s done. Last I heard, she’d cracked five pounds and was doing fine.
All the “It’s SoandSo’s Birthday” threads. It really makes clear just what a community this is when we take the time to acknowledge special events.
Threads of sympathy over losses in Doper’s families, whether it be human or pet. Kelli’s Mom and Guinastasia’s kitten come to mind.
Just plain fun stuff! Online parties, snowball fights, etc. One of the first things I remember is a bunch of Doper’s setting up their virtual lawnchairs to watch a flame war between Esprix and another Doper. I think the title was “Hey Esprix” or something like that. It was last fall.
When I think of this board, what comes to mind first is all the great people here, not the few idiots.
LOL!! I remember reading page after page after page of that thinking:
“They stumped us. The bastards finally stumped us. All the questions we’ve been able to answer, and a freaking morning radio show asks the question that renders us clueless.”
Then one of us figured it out. 
We didn’t win the radio call-in, but we sure as hell saved our pride. Go team Dope!
Just thread.
OG! OG! OG!
OG SMASH!
So what was the answer???
Errr. I take it that the answer was that you never have a 33rd of may, even in a leap year? How long did it take you to figure it out?
Nah. The answer was “The last day of the Summer Festival on
the Barlow Calendar.”
Fascinating isn’t it?
For anyone unfamiliar with why in the world we’d be trying to figure out what happens on the 33rd of May:
A radio program, I believe, asks these really difficult trivia questions. One of the questions was (paraphrasing) - what happens on the 33rd of May, but only in leap years? The Teeming Millions busted our nuts to figure it out.
Tibs.
" This has been some amazing reading for a relative newbie like me. Please keep the info coming, I’ve laughed, cried and been stunned by some of the relevations. "
Hell, this has been enlightening for me, and I’ve been a member for two years now:)
[sub]Still waiting for someone to talk about Karrot Soup…[/sub]
For the record, the question under discussion is question 5 in the fourth set of questions down. I tried finding the original thread, but no luck. It may have been lost on one of our little misfortunes.