# What originally brought you to the SDMB? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 22, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669 "2013-03-22T18:51:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/81 "2013-03-26T12:22:20Z")
I read the column online for years before I figured out that there was a message board. Then I lurked for a good long while on the forums before actually joining. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/82 "2013-03-27T09:58:58Z")
I saw the short-lived TV show, which according to wikipedia, was in 1996. TV show —\> books —\> website —\> message board ETA: Dang, I lurked for four years before joining! ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/83 "2013-03-27T10:04:31Z")
Witness protection. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/84 "2013-03-27T13:55:29Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > …ETA: It just hit me that I’ve been a Doper for _thirty years_. Wow, I feel old now. Jeez, me, too. I first saw one of Cecil’s books in the summer of 1988. That started it all. > [@elbows](#): > > …I believe my first question was why Bolivia had a navy ? Of course Wiki has an article on that and other landlocked navies: [Navies of landlocked countries - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navies_of_landlocked_countries) > [@NitroPress](#): > > In an era where online conversation is devolving to 140 character chunks that blow away in the wind, the massive solidity of a good forum is beyond price. A massively solid forum with attentive, responsive moderation that lets fun be fun and assholes be cast into the outer darkness (Facebook) is truly priceless. If what remains are a body of users who may fight like cats and dogs but do it with some degree of intelligence, wit, knowledge and enforced civility… happy to be here… Hear, hear - well said! ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/85 "2013-03-27T14:40:26Z")
Found one of the Straight Dope books in Juneau, probably spring of 1989 just before I went to the University of Iowa. It always kind of stuck with me (especially Slug’s drawings) so I was especially pleased to see the column in the Washington, DC _City Paper_ when I went to Georgetown for my second (ultimately successful) attempt at an undergraduate education. Remained a loyal reader for years and joined the Board around the time they started announcing it in the column. Then, as now, I surfed it from work (although back then I didn’t have Internet at home). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/86 "2013-03-27T14:58:15Z")
A 1984 Plymouth Horizon. Back in 1989 I drove down to the bookstore, saw the first two books, and was hooked. A few years later I went online to see if any more books were available and found the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/87 "2013-03-27T15:22:38Z")
I started reading the column in the Baltimore City Paper in the late 70s and bought a couple of the books when they came out. When I moved to Ohio in 2000, I did a web search to see if there was a local paper that carried the column, and found the web site. I began reading the site pretty regularly, and eventually followed a thread-spotting link to the board. I lurked for a few years before joining. ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/88 "2013-03-27T15:36:59Z")
Don’t tell **Bricker** , but I had a colleague from law school who was in love with him. I was working at the NRA at the time, and he would tell me about this super awesome lawyer who would post on this message board, and just kill it. So I started lurking in in 2002. I finally joined up when there was something I felt absolutely compelled to answer. I can’t remember what it was though. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/89 "2013-03-27T20:52:18Z")
I read an article on Cecil Adams and The Straight Dope in Reader’s Digest, ran out and bought the first book. Long before the Internet. As soon as I got Internet access, I came here. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/90 "2013-03-27T21:07:53Z")
Books\> AOL Board\> here. Stayed on through sheer bull-headedness. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/91 "2013-03-28T13:58:17Z")
I used to read straight dope stuff on the news groups. Then AOL picked up some of it; and that’s where I started reading it regularly. I don’t know the years, but I was one of the first group that moved over here (#157, baby!) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/92 "2013-03-28T14:20:50Z")
I answered this a long time ago, but I can’t find the post. Anyway, I think it was from “The Word Detective.” An ad for the Straight Dope was on the site, and it had the teaser of “How do bumblebees fly?” ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/93 "2013-03-28T14:24:26Z")
I stumbled on a couple of the books in the library because I’d always filled my head with useless facts–the Peoples Almanac books, William Poundstone, etc. Once in a while I saw the column in the Providence Phoenix, but I didn’t pick that up regularly. I was probably looking for an answer to some question via Google when I came across the Straight Dope archives. I started poking around the message board. I signed up in order to post something in the long and silly “1920s Style Death Ray” thread. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/94 "2013-03-28T14:24:50Z")
My roommate and I used to watch “The Straight Dope” TV show with Mike Lucas. Wow, that was in 1996! I must have lurked longer than I thought before joining the board. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/95 "2013-03-30T01:50:52Z")
I joined because my wife was already posting here, and the Dope would constantly be a topic of conversation. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/96 "2013-03-30T02:01:43Z")
I was dying to know what you call the writing on the front of Ambulances that reads correctly in the rear view mirror. **Colophon** found a link that told me it was called retrography. I’ve been hooked ever since. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2013, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/97 "2013-03-30T02:02:08Z")
I first heard of the Straight Dope because a friend of mine in high school had one of the books. I found the site one day when random-surfing, and stumbled across the link on someone-or-other’s home page, and thought “Gee, that’s the same column as from that book”. The thread that convinced me to stick around was [Galileo, a Hammer, & a Feather](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=2787)– Any board that could support a discussion as nerdy as that one turned out to be is a place I can call home. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/98 "2013-03-30T06:10:20Z")
A Google search led me to a GQ thread about a year ago. I joined soon after. I’m a N00b. ---
**Author:** ![CateAyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@CateAyo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CateAyo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/99 "2013-03-30T14:53:21Z")
I thought they were serious about the “dope” thing… ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669/100 "2013-03-30T14:57:13Z")
> [@CateAyo](#): > > I thought they were serious about the “dope” thing… At least it’s straight dope and not some fake crap that’ll get you injured, or worse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-originally-brought-you-to-the-sdmb/653669.md?page=6)