# What Made You Join The Straight Dope? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 26, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420 "2010-04-26T17:19:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![melodyharmonius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/melodyharmonius/32/21310_2.png) [@melodyharmonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melodyharmonius)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/21 "2010-04-26T19:16:36Z")
I feel so silly that I had never heard of Cecil Adams before this. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/22 "2010-04-26T19:29:36Z")
I started reading it… I have no idea why. I was a fan of Cecil, and I suppose that I randomly searched his name one day. I didn’t join until someone was lamenting there was nothing good on TV, gave an example, and listed Supercop as part of nothing good. Jackie Chan. Michelle Yeoh. A beautiful gem of kung fu action. Had to defend it. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/23 "2010-04-26T19:33:26Z")
Now that I think about it, I really did lurk a long time! I remember reading along with the posts on September 11, 2001, and I didn’t join till 2003. ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/24 "2010-04-26T19:34:28Z")
In the late 90s I was a moderator for a trivia site in AOL, and learned of the Straight Dope AOL presence. Lurked there for a while, and when the SD moved to [straightdope.com](http://straightdope.com), I delurked and signed up. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/25 "2010-04-26T19:36:31Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I had read the books whenever they came out, and one day I decided to check out the website. After lurking for a bit, I decided that my uninformed opinion was just as good as most mooks’, so I joined up and have been making a pain of myself ever since. That’s pretty much my story as well. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/26 "2010-04-26T19:42:36Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > My brother made me do it. He also used to chase me off the pier while waving a saber and yelling “I’m Long Jorn Silver and I’ll make you walk the plank”. My other brother used to hold me down and stick butter in my ears and up my nose, and then call the dog over to lick the butter out. So this was better than those. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/27 "2010-04-26T19:44:07Z")
I was on the political forum of a Bengals fan website […] and we were discussing what constitutes torture and all that whole ball of wax, and someone there linked to **Scylla’s** thread when he waterboarded himself. I never left. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/28 "2010-04-26T19:44:11Z")
I stumbled across one of Cecil’s columns somehow, probably through Google. I enjoyed reading them, and never really noticed that there was a messageboard. When I eventually did, I really enjoyed reading those threads as well; when I discovered [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=356653), I joined. It still cracks me up whenever I read it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/29 "2010-04-26T19:53:56Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > \, I decided that my uninformed opinion was just as good as most mooks’,\ Eggzackly. I may have killed the first thread I participated in, too - I couldn’t find it again after I posted. How my hands trembled as I hit “Submit Reply” all full of trepidation. ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/30 "2010-04-26T20:02:51Z")
I was a regular at snopes, and several people mentioned this place. I remember **Guinastasia** and **tdn** particularly. I lurked here a lot but I found it really intimidating because the size and the traffic here were so different from snopes. Gradually I worked out that I was spending more time here than there, and I pretty much never posted there again. When I read there now it’s a different world and I’m much more comfortable here - still don’t post that much though. Not sure that it was ever one particular thing that made me join. I have still to this day never read a column anywhere other than online. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/31 "2010-04-26T20:14:16Z")
I believe I was researching dowsing and found the Straight Dope article on it, and registered to post my thoughts on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/32 "2010-04-26T20:18:54Z")
I read the books from my local library and then saw that the Straight Dope was on AOL, back when the “big brain” look was still there. I signed on then, though it took me awhile to re-register here on the web. I think I was first part of it in 1997 or so. Maybe earlier. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/33 "2010-04-26T20:59:49Z")
My College roommate back in 2003 used to read Cecil’s columns and introduced me to them. And so I read the dope for about a year, before realizing they had message boards, and even then I avoided them. However, I was hooked by the creation of the first Mafia Game Thread. I think I started actively lurking around the 2nd or 3rd Mafia Game for sure, and then lurked over in the new idlemafia forums reading the off-board mafia games (around 2005-2006?), and then I started playing Mafia over there and enjoying myself and that’s how I got to know alot of dopers. Finally in 2008, **Boozahol Squid P.I.** aka **Diomedes** , paid for my membership, and I became an official Doper (actually the story is I joined as a Guest for about 24 hours on the Dope, before he found my name and bought me a subscription. Since then, I’ve let that lapse, as the Dope went over to the Free Posting style and such. So I’ve been on the Dope since around 2003-04, but an official “doper” since 2008. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/34 "2010-04-26T21:05:44Z")
I THINK the Straight Dope was in one of our local free papers. Maybe the _Free Times_…well, now I see it’s on the [_Cleveland Scene_](http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/the-straight-dope/Content?oid=1534970) Web site, but the papers merged, so I may never know. Anyway, once I got me some Internets I looked it up. I read every single article that was posted, spending as much time there each day as I spend here now (meaning most of my online free time). Then I had a question and decided to ask Cecil, and whoever responded said “Cecil’s not gonna answer, but why don’t you ask at the SDMB?” So I did, and I kept coming back. I haven’t read any new SD columns since I joined here. heh ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/35 "2010-04-26T21:07:39Z")
> [@Charley](#): > > I was a regular at snopes, and several people mentioned this place. I remember **Guinastasia** and **tdn** particularly. I lurked here a lot but I found it really intimidating because the size and the traffic here were so different from snopes. Gradually I worked out that I was spending more time here than there, and I pretty much never posted there again. When I read there now it’s a different world and I’m much more comfortable here - still don’t post that much though. Not sure that it was ever one particular thing that made me join. I have still to this day never read a column anywhere other than online. Wow! You’ve been a charter member since 2000 and only have 234 posts!?!?! You are a die-hard! Honestly, I don’t know how people do it. Lurk so much and not post, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/36 "2010-04-26T21:11:26Z")
The TV show Heroes had just started and I was surfing the net about the show and came across the message board and after my guest membership expired I paid to join. I’ve been hanging around ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/37 "2010-04-26T21:27:06Z")
Wow - two days ago was my 10 year anniversary of joining SDMB. I followed a thread on something and there was a link to the Dope along the line. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/38 "2010-04-26T21:34:27Z")
I discovered the main Straight Dope website after having read all the books in the early- to mid-90s, then quickly found the message boards. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/39 "2010-04-26T22:13:38Z")
Got to the website from a link at Snopes. I read almost all the articles. Then I saw the message board. It was different from the Snopes one, and I couldn’t figure out how. There was just something missing from the Snopes board that was present here. I wanted to join, but I didn’t want to waste my guest membership. (The only reason I have a membership now is I was sponsored.) Then I read y’all were going to leave the pay-to-post model. Once you finally set a date, I finally signed on, knowing full well that my guest membership would be extended when you finally switched over. It took a bit longer than Ed said, but my account never went away. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420/40 "2010-04-26T22:40:34Z")
Loved the books in the 80’s. Couldn’t get Cecil to answer my questions via letter, discovered the website and message board in late 1999, lurked a bit, and eventually joined to ask about what “time is of the essence” meant. Also to ask about Anthroposophy. And how history would have been different if George Washington had been a horse. Stayed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-made-you-join-the-straight-dope/537420.md?page=3)