I found the link to the forum from a blog post about Discord and old-style forums. I googled the Straight Dope, and it used to be a QnA panel on a newspaper from the 70s. So is the forum the same thing (questions and answers to the questions), or is it just a general forum where anything works as long as it fits in the scope of the subforum?
Pretty much the latter.
But, one of the sub-forums is “factual questions,” where questions that are thought to have a definitive answer can be asked, and hopefully answered.
Oh I see. Thanks dude
The Straight Dope was a newspaper column by “Cecil Adams” from the 70s until 2018 (with an online presence, once that became a thing). The Straight Dope Message Board started out as a way to submit questions, discuss the column’s content, and answer other questions; and over time it branched out into other sorts of discussion.
This last Straight Dope column may provide some further enlightenment:
So it once used to be discussion about the column, but became general once the column died? That makes sense. Usually, that kills the discussion entirely but not in this case.
No, the column only ended in 2018, and the message board has been used for general discussion since long before that.
But the Message Board has had one specific forum/category for discussion of the column, and that particular forum has become less active since the column quit producing new content.
The motto of Cecil’s column was “Fighting Ignorance Since 1973-- It’s Taking Longer Than We Thought.” By extension, the purpose of the messageboard is fighting ignorance. Spreading ignorance is the one thing that will get people excited in every forum.
As a personal anecdote, I first came to the SDMB to comment on a column. I used to read The Straight Dope online constantly starting in the early 2000s. I read every article and would regularly keep up with new ones as they came out. After I saw some interesting discussions here (especially in FQ, called “General Questions” back then) I cared more about the forum than the column.
A personal anecdote of mine: I learned of the Straight Dope Message Board (SDMB) through the website, because of the late 90s TV show hosted by Mike Lukas. It was my nerdy pastime to stay up late and converse with others on a message board via collegiate dial-up Internet.
It kind of evolved into a group of friends after that.
Tripler
Twenty five years later, some things never change.
Pedantry.
Only pedantry.
Which is good. In a kinda gross and slightly stingy way. Like peeling off a scab when you’re eight.
Except when its bad. Very bad. But in a slightly good way. Like watching Manos: The Hands of Fate.
ETA: Hmmm…The SDMB - like peeling off a scab while watching really schlocky horror movies. Not sure if that scans all that well as a tagline.
To be clear, this board is over 20 years old (longer than that, even, if you count the AOL board before it spun off to its own site). Over that kind of timescales, communities develop, and become their own thing, independent of whatever caused them to come into existence. We still bear the heritage of our founding: We were originally a set of people who appreciated Cecil Adams’ writings, and have evolved into a set of people who appreciate the sort of people who appreciate Cecil Adams’ writings. And those people are still here, even without Cecil.
In principle, the community could survive all of us, and continue to be a community of people who appreciate the sort of people who are in this community, even after there’s nobody left who actually read the original columns as they were written.
Nice post/username combo. 
I started reading the AOL board but lapsed a couple years, then came back and started paying for a membership [I think I am still listing as a charter member, I think I need to pay up for another couple years]
And we can’t help but mention in the last 20+ years of community, friendships and enmities have developed, and people have shared progeny [kids or grandkids] pets, marriages and deaths. We may not be having anywhere near the in person dopefests that we used to get around to, but we are still a community.
I have introduced people to the SDMB for 20+ years now, especially over the past 6. I do it to people I know in real life (family, friends, girlfriends and wives), on Twitter and Facebook, etc. Pre Discourse days I would track the number of visitors myself- Twitter, for example, tells you how many people clicked on a link placed in your tweet, for example. One tweet got over 500 clicks to the SDMB, another would get 6, another would get 50, etc. For years, dozens and hundreds of tweets and fb posts and etc.
Then Discourse happened and it tracks this for me (kinda) so I don’t do that anymore except on high-activity tweets. In the Discourse era I have 1 thread with over 1k outside readers, 2 other threads with 300+ outside readers, and 28 threads with 25+ outside readers (31 threads in total).
I mention this because, unlike most here, I very open about my activity on the SDMB. Likely because back in the 1990s when ‘anonymity’ was one of the drivers of the early internet, I had already been doxxed on a Prodigy board and I figured that I might as well be myself, saving myself a lot of hassle in trying to keep two separate personalities - my real life self and my internet self. Ugh. Too tiresome to contemplate. Just be me.
Anyway, the point of the above is I talk about the board in my real life, on SM, etc. I get feedback, and for those who like this place and register, their comments eventually comes down to this: They find the SDMB to be a place where they, too, can be literate and expect a literate response, something they cannot find elsewhere on the internet.
Dozens of people have told me throughout the years that they are impressed with the amount of well-written user content, and the fact that the SDMB attracts people like Neil Degrasse Tyson and Hayes Brown (of MSNBC)… as well as the many quality ladies I have introduced to this place in the past 3 years (hi!)… is a testament to this Board’s purpose and uniqueness.
They don’t have a connection with Cecil and I barely even mention the books, etc, other than the origin story. They come because I invite them, and those that stay, stay because of the literacy and quality of conversation.
So, in addition to the community, etc, which is why we old-timers come, for the new user to the SDMB, the purpose of this board is to be a place where they, too, can be intelligent and literate, a quality almost impossible to find elsewhere on the internet.
This. Thank you for summing it up so well.
Me too! It’s nice to know that some of us who came to the SDMB through the TV show are still around.
Well, the board gave me a voice. Literally. I’m mute 70% of the time, IRL.
I’m a late comer. I knew about Cecil’s books and had read them. I never got a paper with his column.
One day I met a person thru my Sister and they encouraged me to look up the SDMB.
I did. Now I love this place like you wouldn’t believe.
It’s very fun. It makes me feel less lonely when I am mute.
Jump right it. It’ll grow on you.
We are glad you’re here, Beck.
If so, then the “real world” is missing out. We love having you here! 
Thank you guys.