This thread was forwarded to me in an email.
That’s a classic.
My first exposure to Cecil Adams came by browsing through one of his books while waiting in a huge line at the student bookstore. I didn’t get very far through it, because I didn’t want to misfile it and therefore had to put it back on the shelf when the line moved forward. The only question I remember is the one asking how many calories there are in oral sex if you swallow. Go figure.
Many years later, I found Neil Gaiman’s blog online and read it for a few months. He mentioned looking something up on the Straight Dope twice, so the second time I checked it out. I found out, oh, it’s that guy! So I read through the archives.
Later I had a question and went back to the site to Ask Cecil. I got the standard email saying that I probably wouldn’t be getting an answer, but that I might get an answer from The Teaming Millions if I posted it on the boards. Being a shy sort, I read the boards for awhile before posting the question. I don’t remember the question now, but I’m sure it was answered with flair and style. Either that or I had already googled my way to the answer and was just enjoying the answers to all of the other questions.
And the story goes on.
I got really drunk in Bozeman Montana and woke up hear.
So now you can channel Chronos?
I found The Straight Dope book while looking for something in a book store. I read the book and the More book.
Years later I decided to see if there were any new additions. I fired up “Straight Dope” into a search engine and found this.
Me too. 
Ask the man with locked in syndrome thread by Blinkie was posted on another board and that was my first thread here.
Well, I had this idea about putting an airplane on a treadmill…
Oh - I guess I joined well before all that nonsense. I actually went looking for my first post and am kinda disappointed to see that I can only look back through my last 750 posts.
IIRC, I googled something and got linked here. I found a witty bunch of smartasses and decided I’d hang out.
Bicycle.
I came to the Straight Dope by bicycle.
Seriously, I was intrigued by the first book, bought it, was hooked, & the SDMB was very literally the first place I went to.
I was reading posts on a weight-loss support board and someone mentioned SDMB. I was curious and checked it out. So I joined.
Glad someone recognised the Casablanca quote 
It was on a listverse list as one of the best time-wasters on the internet, so I came over and started reading the articles. After a few months I noticed the message board sign, and clicked on it. After a few months of lurking I decided to join.
I found a paperback copy of the first Straight Dope book at a used bookstore in 1997 or 1998. After reading it, I got hooked, and proceeded to buy the other Straight Dope books. One of them had a URL for the Straight Dope website, and out of idle curiosity I clicked on the “Forums” link, and the rest is history.
I will admit that I more or less lurked for 2-3 years, then posted infrequently for about another 3-4 and finally hit my stride in the last 3-4 years.
HA! I’m old enough to get that.
While writing a song about recidivism and prison rape (lovely!), I was bopping around on Google for interesting material. One of the things that came up was an “Ask me Anything” thread by a prison doctor. I was absolutely fascinated and read through the whole thing. I wanted to give something back to the community, so I joined up and started an AMA about Wikipedia. It didn’t get much attention, but I was already hooked, so it didn’t matter. Much more interesting and intelligent conversations here than in most places (internet and real life).
Way back in the AOL days, the column about whether there was a real Dracula was posted to the AOL front page. Not the best of Cecil’s columns, but I was hooked instantly.
I didn’t post on the forums much until recently, but have read every column and occasionally lurked the forums ever since.
I absolutely love the dope. I clicked a link one day and it went straight to Siam Sam’s “We’ve got pigeon eggs” thread. I lurk and read many, many threads.
Years ago, in the early80’s, I read a column of Cecil’s in a student paper in Chicago. Later, when I got my first computer I figured something that cool would be online and sure enough it was.
Thank you to “Is it true that male pigs have corkscrew shaped penises?”
Way back in the late 90s, there were Straight Dope ad banners on some of the internet pages I visited. Finally, I clicked on one and got hooked.
So, there’s hope for me yet? 10,000 posts, here I come!