# When Did It Become Normal To Bold Names In Threads On SDMB?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-it-become-normal-to-bold-names-in-threads-on-sdmb/379077>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [November 4, 2006, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-it-become-normal-to-bold-names-in-threads-on-sdmb/379077 "2006-11-04T10:10:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-it-become-normal-to-bold-names-in-threads-on-sdmb/379077/41 "2006-11-14T11:48:43Z")

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Yeah, my take is that it’s about respect, and I have been asked why I bold names on other message boards.

I am proud to tell them I learned about the practice _here_.

Q

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-it-become-normal-to-bold-names-in-threads-on-sdmb/379077/42 "2006-11-14T20:39:33Z")

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[QUOTE=DMark]

I am on a few other boards and nobody does it there.

[/QUOTE]

I am on _quite_ a few other boards 😛 , and I _have_ seen it elsewhere. Of course, the SDMB is a very large & well-known board, thus it is quite possible that others took the custom from us.

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**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-it-become-normal-to-bold-names-in-threads-on-sdmb/379077/43 "2006-11-14T20:56:07Z")

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[QUOTE=DMark]  
I am not quite sure why this thread was moved here…actually, I was looking more for an answer like, “We’ve been bolding names since 1999 when a drunk poster bolded all of his threads and we just started bolding his name as a joke and the habit caught on.”  
[/QUOTE]  
Bolding the names happened once. In 1960. In a post made from the bottom of the Mariana Trench…

(sorry - couldn’t resist)

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