# What info does SDMB save about users? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 16, 2000, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564 "2000-08-16T14:09:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Fanny\_May](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3be4f8/32.png) [@Fanny\_May](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fanny_May)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/41 "2000-08-19T02:06:42Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by TubaDiva \* > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fanny May \* > Interesting that you approve of all the forums and their moderators, with the exception of those who have responded to this thread. I’m sure that’s coincidental. I didn’t say that at all. I have no problem with MPSIMS. I simply said it wasn’t serious, as is implied by the name. If I asked a question there, the name would prepare me for a joke instead of a real answer. With the way ATMB is listed, I think people do expect real answers. What would happen if you called me at the library and asked what information we kept about you, and I said “The number of lifetime sexual partners” ? You’d be taken aback, and rightly so. If you asked that question on GQ and Cecil said, “The number of lifetime sexual partners”, you’d be taken aback and rightly so. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TubaDiva \* > I respectfully disagree. If anything, ATMB is one of the more civil forums around here, it’s the nature of the beast. Here, we can respectifully disagree. What I have said above is precisely the opposite. I think all the other forums are more civil than this one, except the pit. I have plenty of problems with the pit, and I make no appologies for it. I find it disgusting, degrading, and beneath the overall quality of this board. If it disappeared tomorrow, I believe we would all be better for it. The pit is the only thing blocking the SDMB from being available on all the computers at our library. Right now it is only available “behind the desk” in the research area. I think it would be enormously entertaining for the general public, and perfect for many reference questions, if it didn’t have the pit. I try to ignore the pit, but it’s tone of incivility seems to slop over into the other forums, primarily this one, and I just think it’s too bad when it does. That’s all I came to say. I know you disagree, so I won’t bring it up again. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/42 "2000-08-19T03:57:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*Actually, TubaDiva, while the Chicago Reader may have dropped their contract with DoubleClick for ad sales representation, it appears that they are continuing to license the DART ad management system. Roll over one of the ads on the home page and check the click URL. > > The DART ad management system and DoubleClick’s ad rep business are two different things. > > BTW, I didn’t mean to imply anything about the Straight Dope’s data collection initiatives or lack thereof. I just wanted to make the point that if you did collect data, it is possible to target ads using that data. Just one of the things I know as the result of being an Internet marketing geek. \*\* Thanks for making that point clear. While we want you to make coming to the Straight Dope a part of your everyday life, we also have privacy concerns and don’t ever want to be intrusive. I’m gonna go ask the guys in Advertising what’s going on here, 'cause I have to tell you, I dunno. But I want to find out. > [@](#): > > \*\*The pit is the only thing blocking the SDMB from being available on all the computers at our library. > Right now it is only available “behind the desk” in the research area. > I think it would be enormously entertaining for the general public, and perfect for many reference questions, if it didn’t have the pit. \*\* I dunno what to tell you about this, we are what we are. We attempt to answer some questions, make folks think, make folks laugh, invite discussion and debate. But we’re not written for children, we don’t invite children to our site, in fact we don’t even allow registrations from people under the age of 13. Most of the homework sites block access to us as well, for the same reasons. It’s not appropriate for children. If your local standards are such that adults can’t be offered unfettered access to the Straight Dope, that can’t be helped. I live in such a town, so I understand why you feel compelled to take the sort of action that you do. My local libraries offer computer access, and I could see someone going to the Straight Dope and ending up on the evening news. “LOCAL LIBRARY ALLOWS SURFING ON ADULT SITES.” Or some such trash. The times we live in, I guess. your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![FreakFreely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/48db29/32.png) [@FreakFreely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FreakFreely)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/43 "2000-08-19T04:25:02Z")
I’d just like to add to TubaDiva’s enlightening and intelligent post \ by saying that the Pit _does_ help this message board. Aside from the obvious fact that I **do** enjoy the Pit, I think it’s a deterrent. You see, people are gonna flame no matter what you do. If you get rid of the Pit, it’s just _even more_ likely to happen in the other forums. Besides, it’s not like the rest of the SDMB is totally free from slightly R-rated material. I mean, what about that thread Ruffian started, asking for oral sex techniques? Or the one weirddave started, asking women what it feels like to have a man inside them? Or the thread I started entitled “Sadism Dominance Masochism and Bondage Inc.”? Are you suggesting that we make sure _all_ of our posts are rated PG? This board provides a venue through which we can voice what we’re thinking about _anything_. And personally, I like that. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/44 "2000-08-19T06:17:05Z")
Just to back up what Freak said, from the other point of view. I very much dislike the Pit… and for that very reason, I’m glad that we have it. If I want to avoid flaming, I can do so very easy, simply by staying out of that one forum. It’s sort of like chopping the onions into big pieces in a salad, so that people who don’t like onions can pick them out. ---
**Author:** ![THespos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/45 "2000-08-19T08:43:12Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m gonna go ask the guys in Advertising what’s going on here, 'cause I have to tell you, I dunno. But I want to find out. Actually, there’s one possibility I hadn’t considered. It’s entirely possible that your advertiser, evite, might be using DART from their end and that the SD might be hard-coding their ad rotation fragments into the site. The guys in Advertising would certainly know. ---
**Author:** ![DRY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/46 "2000-08-19T08:48:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\*Just to back up what Freak said, from the other point of view. I very much dislike the Pit… and for that very reason, I’m glad that we have it. If I want to avoid flaming, I can do so very easy, simply by staying out of that one forum. It’s sort of like chopping the onions into big pieces in a salad, so that people who don’t like onions can pick them out. \*\* I agree with you. Except I’m not sure that I’m glad that we have it. Sometimes, I suspect that the Pit’s existence itself creates hostility and ill feeling. I don’t mind venting and certainly understand that aspect of it, but a disagreeing viewpoint with respect to that vent often becomes a profanity laced flame war. Some people can flame for fun or just for distraction, but there are more than a few that cannot and things can get REALLY ugly there. I occasionally join discussions in the Pit, but usually in relatively civil threads. And I’ve never flamed anyone there. I believe myself to be perfectly capable of giving as good as I get in a flame war, but I’d really prefer not to ever be in that position. I’m not sure that I’d vote to eliminate the Pit, if said vote were ever taken. But I’m not sure I’d miss it all that much, either. ---
**Author:** ![eggo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@eggo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eggo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/47 "2000-08-19T15:22:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eutychus55 \*\*\* > > Whether you actually “leggo my eggo” > > \*\* yeah, I hate all those bastards hanging on me all the time… [quote] _Originally posted by SPOOFE Bo Diddly_\*\* ::BANG:: Aaack…!.. ::slump::\*\* No, No, he wouldn’t write Aaack…!.. he would just say it… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/48 "2000-08-19T17:31:35Z")
> [@](#): > > No, No, he wouldn’t write Aaack…!.. he would just say it… Maybe he was dictating… ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/49 "2000-08-19T19:36:11Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Sagesgirl \* > **Shriek!!** _\*\*\* > > No! Not the macrame! Anything but that! > > (sound of running footsteps) \*\* Ahh. And so the SD gains its knowledge… ---
**Author:** ![MadPoet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@MadPoet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPoet)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/50 "2000-08-19T19:47:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Name of the guy you sat on the bus with on Friday the 18th, August 1976. Uh… that would have been my mom, as I wasn’t born for another 8 days. Wow… precognitive prenatal surveilance. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2000, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/51 "2000-08-19T20:43:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by THespos \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > I’m gonna go ask the guys in Advertising what’s going on here, 'cause I have to tell you, I dunno. But I want to find out. > > Actually, there’s one possibility I hadn’t considered. It’s entirely possible that your advertiser, evite, might be using DART from their end and that the SD might be hard-coding their ad rotation fragments into the site. The guys in Advertising would certainly know. \*\* From what I know of the situation, that’s probably the scenario. Evite is certainly a much bigger organization than the Reader and has much more reason to track ad response as well as the resources to process such information. Keep in mind that online is a tiny adjunct to the Reader’s main business and they do not have the high tech resources an online outfit (like, say, Excite) would have happening. But I’ll check with Advertising just the same and let you know what I find out. your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2000, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/52 "2000-08-20T22:40:49Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by MadPoet \* \*\* > [@](#): > > Uh… that would have been my mom, as I wasn’t born for another 8 days. > > Wow… precognitive prenatal surveilance. \*\* Eerie, ain’t it? Also eerie…that I managed to pick a date only a week before you were born. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2000, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/53 "2000-08-20T23:41:19Z")
Personal information? Quite a bit & for quite a long time. Why? First, when you write a message saying how many times you masturbate, how big your penis is, what girl you like, how you wipe your butt [yep, these are all real subjects here] the message gets archived for a long time & often search engines pick them up too. Ya never thought of that eh? ---
**Author:** ![logamanth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@logamanth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/logamanth)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2000, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/54 "2000-08-20T23:47:06Z")
If you believe what a person posts about penis size, I’ve got a perpetual motion machine I can let you in on. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2000, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/55 "2000-08-20T23:49:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by logamanth \* > \*\*If you believe what a person posts about penis size, I’ve got a perpetual motion machine I can let you in on. \*\* [Homer]On this message board we OBEY THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS!![/Homer] ---
**Author:** ![johnpastor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@johnpastor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpastor)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/56 "2000-08-21T00:45:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Moe \* > [B[Homer]On this message board we OBEY THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS!![/Homer] \*\* If you believe the 2nd dubious “law” (the one Einstein hated), I’ve got a few religious dawn-of-man scenerios you would probably like. ---
**Author:** ![as\_if](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@as\_if](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_if)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/57 "2000-08-21T01:53:58Z")
I wonder where people DID go after leaving the SDMB? Did you go back to work? To buy anything expensive? To another newspaper columnist site? Dave Barry? **[http://www.pine-strawberry-az.com/Amuse\_me/DaveBarry/davebarry.html](http://www.pine-strawberry-az.com/Amuse_me/DaveBarry/davebarry.html)** (I’m easily distracted. Now that I went there for the link, I have to read it. be right back. Don’t monitor my links while I’m gone, OK?) ---
**Author:** ![as\_if](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@as\_if](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_if)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/58 "2000-08-21T01:56:52Z")
Dave Barry? \*\* [http://www.pine-strawberry-az.com/Amuse\_me/DaveBarry/davebarry.html\*\*](http://www.pine-strawberry-az.com/Amuse_me/DaveBarry/davebarry.html**) ---
**Author:** ![as\_if](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@as\_if](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_if)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/59 "2000-08-21T02:00:04Z")
All that and it wasn’t even the main link. \*\* [http://www.herald.com/tropic/barry/](http://www.herald.com/tropic/barry/) \*\* I’m back. Time for Cecil again. Re-commence recording statistics. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564/60 "2000-08-21T02:08:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\* > Personal information? Quite a bit & for quite a long time. Why? > > First, when you write a message saying how many times you masturbate, how big your penis is, what girl you like, how you wipe your butt [yep, these are all real subjects here] the message gets archived for a long time & often search engines pick them up too. > > Ya never thought of that eh? \*\* Wow…so if i were to post a message sayin’ i was a stupid ugly moron who liked to kiss their own butt, the Straight Dope would know about that? And maybe even put me on a stupid ugly moron buttkissing mailing list? ::shrieks a la Ned Flanders and runs for the hills:: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-info-does-sdmb-save-about-users/29564.md?page=4)