# What was your very first thread on the SDMB about and how did it work out for you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 7, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-very-first-thread-on-the-sdmb-about-and-how-did-it-work-out-for-you/484836 "2009-02-07T21:02:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-very-first-thread-on-the-sdmb-about-and-how-did-it-work-out-for-you/484836/61 "2009-02-09T18:49:18Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Doesn’t work for me. I changed user names back in 1999 and it won’t let me search for my original name. It should, What Exit? was not my original name. Your user name goes in the **User Name:** box under the right hand side Search by User Name and not the Search by Keyword box. … I found the thread announcing your user name change so I am guessing that in 1999 the board had a different policy that allowed a completely new user account as opposed to just a user name change on the same account. Your current user Id is 3516. I found no user registered by your old account name and your last name in all caps was used by a short term guest in 2005. It appears your original account is gone. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-very-first-thread-on-the-sdmb-about-and-how-did-it-work-out-for-you/484836/62 "2009-02-09T18:55:56Z")
I take back all I’ve said about the SD Search function… It’s AWWWWWWSOME!!!😛 > **[Ode to Billy Joe](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=46278)** > > In this lone hit song for Bobby Gentry, I’ve always been puzzled by one part of the song. There is a reference to the narrator of the tale (the singer that is) and Billy Joe throwing some off the Tallahachie Bridge a few days before Billy Joe kills... Number 6, please. Read it and weep. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-very-first-thread-on-the-sdmb-about-and-how-did-it-work-out-for-you/484836/63 "2009-02-09T20:49:53Z")
… while I cannot say _specifically_ what my first thread was that got me in such “hot water”, maybe I can be allowed to allude to it? It was a riddle that had no correct answer, only I didn’t know this, and I used it as my first thread to ask a question. I barely got out of here with my life! :eek: **PLEASE** if you know this riddle and value your Dope membership as I do mine, let what I just now wrote be the end of it, okay? I just felt obligated (as I do most threads where I can contribute something) to answer this one in some kinda way.😉 Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-very-first-thread-on-the-sdmb-about-and-how-did-it-work-out-for-you/484836/64 "2009-02-09T20:52:13Z")
> [@](#): > > It should, What Exit? was not my original name. Your user name goes in the User Name: box under the right hand side Search by User Name and not the Search by Keyword box. When did you change usernames? The board used to allow things like multiple names so people could do it themselves if they felt like changing. The downside was that as far as the software was concerned, you were a brand new user with no connection to your previous username so you’d get a new starting date and post count. As for the actual posts, I think a lot of early long-inactive threads have been deleted. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-very-first-thread-on-the-sdmb-about-and-how-did-it-work-out-for-you/484836/65 "2009-02-09T20:58:05Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > When did you change usernames? The board used to allow things like multiple names so people could do it themselves if they felt like changing. The downside was that as far as the software was concerned, you were a brand new user with no connection to your previous username so you’d get a new starting date and post count. As for the actual posts, I think a lot of early long-inactive threads have been deleted. My change was early 2006 I think. But you answered the question it looks like. Your current user account is completely disconnected from your original and probably lost account. I thought all the threads were restored recently but the database might not have a User ID connected to your original posts. I think I have seen that in some of the oldest threads and this would explain why. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-very-first-thread-on-the-sdmb-about-and-how-did-it-work-out-for-you/484836/66 "2009-02-09T22:36:12Z")
An important distinction needs to be made between searching for old THREADS that you created and searching for old POSTS that you may have made on threads created by folks other than yourself. Once upon a time this board ran on ubb (Ultimate Bulletin Board), not vb (vBulletin). And back in the ubb days, there was once an upgrade from version “x” of ubb to version “y” of ubb. (not the real version names/numbers, in case that’s not obvious). Apparently when we did upgrade to vBulletin, the posts made in version “y” were updated to show the username appropriately, but the even older posts made in version “x” of ubb came through as having been made by “Guest”. For totally unknown reasons, a search for THREADS created by SpecifiedUserName will birng up even those ancient 1999 era threads, even if, when _viewed_, you see the first post being made by “Guest”. But a search for POSTS made by SpecifiedUserName will not find the ones that show as “Guest”. For those, **Shodan** is dead-on correct: searching for your old sig line is the best strategy. Mine (back then) was “Designated Optional Signature at Bottom of Post”. I can search for that in Search by Keyword and obtain my first [straightdope.com](http://straightdope.com) posts. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-very-first-thread-on-the-sdmb-about-and-how-did-it-work-out-for-you/484836/67 "2010-06-15T03:27:16Z")
Regarding the perennial question as to who or what was thrown off that famous bridge, I remember posting a fairly definitive answer here some ten years ago, the response coming from ‘the horse’s mouth’, so to speak… > **[Ode to Billy Joe](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=46278)** > > In this lone hit song for Bobby Gentry, I’ve always been puzzled by one part of the song. There is a reference to the narrator of the tale (the singer that is) and Billy Joe throwing some off the Tallahachie Bridge a few days before Billy Joe kills... (post #6) ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-very-first-thread-on-the-sdmb-about-and-how-did-it-work-out-for-you/484836/68 "2010-06-15T04:04:10Z")
After checking, it seems that my first thread was asking whether there were statutes against blasphemy in the USA. 4 responses, the first answered my question. My first post was in a thread about foreign aid given by the USA, starting an argument with \*\*Liberal \*\* (back then known as “Libertarian”) about it being or not a moral imperative for a developed nation (or something similar). ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-very-first-thread-on-the-sdmb-about-and-how-did-it-work-out-for-you/484836/69 "2010-06-15T08:53:47Z")
I wanted to know what the name of the type that’s used on the front of ambulances is called, the mirror image kind. I knew there was a word for it, and apparently it’s called retrography. I was looking for the answer to this for _years_. I’ve been hooked ever since. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-very-first-thread-on-the-sdmb-about-and-how-did-it-work-out-for-you/484836/70 "2010-06-15T10:21:45Z")
That would be this one: [The Best Way to Relax? - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=533836) \*I just signed up today, so I’m going on a bit of a posting spree. Don’t mind me… Anyway, what, in your opinion, is the best way to relax? After a long, hard day at my high-pressure job I find that nothing is more relaxing than to come home, get a brew from the fridge, make a big-ass sandwich, and then sit down on the floor in front of my TV and start cracking all of my joints. I do my neck, my back, elbows, wrists, hips, all my fingers, ankles, and then finish with my toes. My wife is disgusted by it, but I swear there is nothing more relaxing. I’m curious about your methods, though. \* I still do that. It didn’t work out very well, though. The thread, I mean. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-very-first-thread-on-the-sdmb-about-and-how-did-it-work-out-for-you/484836/71 "2010-06-15T11:16:15Z")
My first thread was to update one of Cecil’s columns. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-very-first-thread-on-the-sdmb-about-and-how-did-it-work-out-for-you/484836/72 "2010-06-15T11:29:44Z")
This is well over a year old, so I’m going to close it. If someone wants to start a new version, please do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-very-first-thread-on-the-sdmb-about-and-how-did-it-work-out-for-you/484836.md?page=3)