Through snopes.com, whose messageboard I find…lacking… somehow in comparison to this one.
I read Straight Dope books for a while before I found the net, and then, somehow, once I got online, I found Cecil online. I’ve lurked for about three years now, I think?
I had terrible insomnia the summer I turned sixteen. I’d sit up at night reading Straight Dope, which my brother turned me on to. Eventually I stumbled onto the boards, where I lurked for a little while before joining.
I’ve been reading the Straight Dope columns online for years now. I remember Googling some random question that was on my mind at the time, though I forget now what the question was. One of Cecil’s columns showed up in the search, I read it and was instantly hooked. I bookmarked the front page and then just spent the night reading every possible column I could. At first I didn’t go near the message boards - I wasn’t interested in message boards at the time, assuming it would be no different than any other message boards I’d been to - chaotic, senseless, kids spewing vulgarities, etc.
Eventually, I did finally sneak a peek at the boards, because I realised people were asking questions, and I was curious. I’ve been reading the boards for at least four years now on a regular basis.
I didn’t participate at first because I felt intimidated, and I’m actually very shy in person. I didn’t think I had anything to say. Hell, I still don’t think I have much to say, but 1,600+ posts later, I seem to be yammering about something.
I think my first post here (as a guest at the time) actually had something to do with Nik Kershaw. I thought I’d be gone after that free month, but was glad I’d finally participated. Then **Roland Orzabal ** sponsored me, and shortly afterwards I gave you “penis ensues”. So I guess I wasn’t a total waste. :dubious:
Don’t recall the exact process, but it was a result of reading the first two Straight Dope books.
I lurked for a long time, then realized I wanted to participate, and here I be.
D’oh!
:smack:
Yeah, that would be the one …
There was an article in a Reader’s Digest about The Straight Dope. I saved the issue, bought the first book, torn out the article and kept it.
When my office got the Internet, I went to the Straight Dope, lurked a while, and finally posted after someone asked a question about whether “Street” vs. “Avenue” vs. “Road” designations had any meaning. The poster lived in my home town, where a Avenue magically becomes a Street after crossing the main drag. I pointed this out, and have been here ever since.
I first head about SD from the t.v. show. God how I loved that show. About two years ago it popped back in my head and I figured there would have to be a website at least devoted to the show and hot damn I was turned on to something so much better.
The man who would become my husband was/is a Doper and lured me into his bedroom with promises of witty quotations and insightful observations.
I found the SD article (and epic poem) on Schroedinger’s Cat by accident and, being straight and liking dope, somehow stuck around. I never intended to post until I found an anti-whaling thread that I couldn’t resist posting to. I’ve pretty much been lurking since, after finding out that my netiquette was somewhat lacking and, much to my surprise, I didn’t have an awful lot of intelligent things to say.
I blame EnderW24.
I was looking for a substitute message board for www.Wizardworld.com. and www.tcj.com. A search of UBB sites and I found “home.”
I stumbled upon the first Straight Dope book back in the mid-to-late 80’s, bought each of the next three as they came out, and pretty much had them all memorized, I read them so much. I used to read the weekly column in a local alternative paper, but at some point the paper got sold or went under or something, so I started reading the columns on-line. I wasn’t even aware of the boards for a long time. Once I found them, I lurked for a couple years before eventually signing up. I read considerably more than I post and am amazed at the folks with thousands of posts to their credit. (Don’t you people have jobs? :))
I started out watching the TV show (on A&E?) in 1996. I got my daughter a computer shortly thereafter and aquired AOL. Subscribed to the newsletter and lurked at the boards for years until I joined last year. Now I have my youngest daughter and her husband hooked on The Dope! 
Way back when the first book collecting the columns came out, I read it inside-out on a plane trip to California. Then, and this may have been years later, I found the usenet group alt.fan.cecil-adams (or whatever it was called). There was a board on AOL, but I never had AOL. When they made this board, it of course was big news on the usenet group, and here I came.
Um, yeah.
Mr Alpine had the first three books around for years, dog eared and memorized, before I picked them up. Pre-Internet savvy, I tried to hook into alt.fan.cecil-adams, but never really “got” it. During a later period of unemployment, I found the boards and (still) mainly lurk. Recently started reading again after a 3 year flirtation with more constructive activity.
It was all part of my long-completed return journey from a brief stint of new age spirtual searching to my natural state of semi-informed cynical skepticism. Thank Og for michael shermer, snopes & the Dope.
In my case, no, I have no job, and no vehicle! Which means some days, I really have nothing better to do* than hang out here. 
-
- Okay, so there are hundreds of other things I could do, since anything I could ever want or need is within walking distance. But some days I want or need to stay right here. So
- Okay, so there are hundreds of other things I could do, since anything I could ever want or need is within walking distance. But some days I want or need to stay right here. So
I used to be a book buyer and first discovered the books on a mass market backlist. I’ve always been curious about the way things connect and love reading about the peculiar and the strange. It was reading about the sperm trees of Los Angeles that completely hooked me on the SD. The willingness to examine almost any question, no matter how peculiar, plus the snarky voice used to do it told me I’d found somebody who thought like me.
When I eventually got access to the Internet, after I got past my Buffy phase, I put “staight dope.com” in the URL bar and hit enter. I got caught up on all the columns I’d missed and after that happened I started clicking on the various links. I lurked for about a year before I joined. I’ve never been shy about expressing my opinion so I decided to join because everybody seemed to be having so much fun. I mostly post in Cafe Society because I’m kinda suave and cultured.
It really was a kick to see myself quoted in another doper’s post. I haven’t opened many posts of my own yet but I enjoy responding to other’s o.p.s.
I got here through bored.com, and I’ve been addicted to Dope ever since. (Is there rehab out there for an addiction to Straight Dope?)
It’s all TonyF 's fault…