# When did the Straight Dope jump the shark? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 5, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260 "2010-08-05T13:09:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/1 "2010-08-05T13:09:16Z")
I first became aware of TSD when I was a senior in high school back in 1988. I discovered **The Straight Dope** and **More of the Straight Dope** at my local library, and, let me tell you, they were sheer nirvana for me. So you can imagine I was extremely excited when, six years later, a new collection of columns ( **Return of the Straight Dope** ) came out. And then I read the thing. Now, truly, the late period SD books don’t _suck_, exactly, but the column had by that time seemed to lose more than a little of its previous hyper-addictive readability (I’ve read through those first two tomes, oh, let’s say at least five or six times each). “Cecil’s” writing style had changed, and not exactly for the better. Of course, the issue may be that, after reading those first two volumes, I had unrealistic expectations of the column (I mean, after reaching the lofty heights of the Vlad the Impaler and penile fracture columns, it’s kind of all downhill from there). Nonetheless, my borderline maniacal enjoyment of TSD cooled down, never to warm up again, sadly. So, does anyone else share my (blasphemous) opinion on this? ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/2 "2010-08-05T13:19:58Z")
It jumped the shark when Cecil backed off of his claims from the “Gerbil stuffing” column when it was reprinted in the book. But it’s still entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/3 "2010-08-05T16:37:28Z")
When Cecil stopped copping an attitude and giving people stuff back 😃 Seriously the first two books and colums from that era were far more entertainingly written because of the “attitude.” Now it’s way too PC, but in the SD’s defense, what isn’t? ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/4 "2010-08-05T17:31:48Z")
I remember reading the columns in the alternative paper back in the 80s and really loving it, looking forward to each new column. I also bought the books. For at least the past year I don’t even read the weekly columns anymore. I don’t know what changed behind the scenes, but it definitely isn’t the same. I don’t think it is the writing style, but the issues that are being addressed are lame or uninteresting. Or maybe my years of reading the SDMD have left me jaded. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/5 "2010-08-05T17:56:43Z")
> [@Raza](#): > > I don’t think it is the writing style, but the issues that are being addressed are lame or uninteresting. Or maybe my years of reading the SDMD have left me jaded. Agreed. On both counts, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/6 "2010-08-05T18:00:24Z")
I won’t pin down when, or even _if_, this happened – however, I will say that it’s been at least six or seven years since I replaced my Straight Dope front page bookmark with one for the SDMB. Another thought just occurred to me – time was that a new column came out on Wednesday, and that was it. Once a week a new column came out, and it was a Big Fricking Deal to me – a midweek “something to look forward to” kinda thing. When they changed it so that every day had new (or reprinted-but-new-to-me) content, the mystique was lost. I still read it, but it was no longer a big deal. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/7 "2010-08-05T18:05:45Z")
BoneTheFish has [a SD page](http://www.bonethefish.com/viewtopics.php?2330), FWIW. I’d say when [The Masquerade](http://www.ipass.net/whitetho/edcecil.htm) was continued far past its sell-by date. Kind of like your slightly-barmy uncle, who keeps trying to scare you with his Frankenstein mask on Halloween, even tho you are 20 years old now and haven’t been the least bit terrified by it since you were 10. But it’s hard to put an exact date/year on that. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/8 "2010-08-05T18:23:53Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > BoneTheFish has [a SD page](http://www.bonethefish.com/viewtopics.php?2330), FWIW. > > I’d say when [The Masquerade](http://www.ipass.net/whitetho/edcecil.htm) was continued far past its sell-by date. Kind of like your slightly-barmy uncle, who keeps trying to scare you with his Frankenstein mask on Halloween, even tho you are 20 years old now and haven’t been the least bit terrified by it since you were 10. But it’s hard to put an exact date/year on that. 🆒 Good lord, it’s [Bernie Goetz](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zWuJ71hzNuQ/SiQJt9SOQdI/AAAAAAAAABw/aSbN9Xzj7Uk/s320/slides_im_25th_geek-tastic_anniversaries_14.jpg)! ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/9 "2010-08-05T18:57:54Z")
Well to be fair, a lot of the really interesting topics got pretty wall covered in the 70s. (calories in semen, sparks from Life Savers, etc.) Mopping up the remaining dull questions is bound to feel anticlimactic. In other words, The Dope is still big; it’s the questions that have gotten smaller. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/10 "2010-08-05T20:52:39Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > Another thought just occurred to me – time was that a new column came out on Wednesday, and that was it. Once a week a new column came out, and it was a Big Fricking Deal to me – a midweek “something to look forward to” kinda thing. When they changed it so that every day had new (or reprinted-but-new-to-me) content, the mystique was lost. I still read it, but it was no longer a big deal. I feel the same way about The Onion. It was something I looked forward to on Thursday. > [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Well to be fair, a lot of the really interesting topics got pretty wall covered in the 70s. (calories in semen, sparks from Life Savers, etc.) Mopping up the remaining dull questions is bound to feel anticlimactic. It’s not that we’ve run out of questions, IMHO. It’s that now, we’ve got other resources easily at hand that we can use to find the answers. I’ll say there were two sharks the SD jumped over; one in the early 2000s when Google became the preeminent search engine and the amount of content on the Web was increasing exponentially, and another later in the decade when [Wikipedia started to include more articles on mundane topics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semen#Semen_ingestion). ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/11 "2010-08-05T20:56:56Z")
Darn it, elmwood, I was coming in to say pretty much the same thing. I think it’s when the World Wide Web became prominent. Now there are other ways to find out the answers to things you want to know. I also think we are jaded to a degree because there is an information overload. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2010, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/12 "2010-08-06T02:28:48Z")
I guess Cecil has mellowed. ☹ I do miss the classic snark. When a rare occurrence showed up in the column [Do fire departments actually rescue cats from trees](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2916/do-fire-departments-actually-rescue-cats-from-trees)? I commented on it in COCC. Here it is in all its snarky glory. > [@](#): > > You’re suggesting that, for cats, tree-climbing is a one-way street, and that if we examined the fossil record we would find vast strata of fossil forests with fossil cats crammed in the upper branches, futilely awaiting human beings, urbanization, combustible buildings, the hook and ladder, the telephone, and other necessities whose emergence was still eons off. ---
**Author:** ![oliversarmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@oliversarmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oliversarmy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/13 "2010-08-06T04:33:43Z")
When Satan got banned. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/14 "2010-08-06T04:42:25Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > I first became aware of TSD when I was a senior in high school back in 1988. I first became aware in 1988. 😛 I dunno when it jumped the shark. I think that it was at the point when the questions he answered started seeming less outrageous. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2010, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/15 "2010-08-06T05:32:45Z")
Yep, questions got worse. Also, they lost their “ripped from the headlines” feel. I think they used to sort of follow the big stories of the day. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/16 "2010-08-07T04:01:58Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I dunno when it jumped the shark. I think that it was at the point when the questions he answered started seeming less outrageous. Are we not misusing “jumped the shark” here? Isn’t a trend toward _less outrageousness_ roughly the opposite? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/17 "2010-08-07T04:15:22Z")
Too me, jumped the shark is when something moves from being cool and fun to being dowdy and passe. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/18 "2010-08-07T04:15:50Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > It’s not that we’ve run out of questions, IMHO. It’s that now, we’ve got other resources easily at hand that we can use to find the answers. I’ll say there were two sharks the SD jumped over; one in the early 2000s when Google became the preeminent search engine and the amount of content on the Web was increasing exponentially, and another later in the decade when [Wikipedia started to include more articles on mundane topics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semen#Semen_ingestion). This. I, like many of you I suspect, found out about this website because I had previously been reading the books. That was back in 1998 when my internet was dialup and I rented these paper website dealies from a store called the “Library.” Nowadays, with Mythbusters and Wikipedia and Snopes, nobody cares what happened to channel one. Heck, thanks to digital cable, I _have_ channel one. As a result, the column becomes a bit more esoteric. I thought binaural beats and the effects they had on marketing was a really cool read, but I don’t know how many people would share that sentiment. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/19 "2010-08-07T11:37:14Z")
I miss the snark, too. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260/20 "2010-08-07T12:45:19Z")
Topic-wise, yeah, it’s harder to find questions that can’t be immediately answered by Google. Cecil used to do word origins and movie/TV trivia every so often, that’s all out. However, I dunno, I think that [Did the Australian Army once wage war on emus?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2952/did-the-australian-army-once-wage-war-on-emus) and [Can brainwaves be detected in lime Jell-O?"](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2942/can-brainwaves-be-detected-in-lime-jell-o) are certainly amusing. And [How much flatulence would it take to become airborne?"](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2938/how-much-flatulence-would-it-take-to-become-airborne) has to rank up there with the caloric count of semen. Those are all from the last couple of months. I admit to some bias, since I work for the STRAIGHT DOPE and I help sort the mail (to find interesting questions), and it’s become harder but I don’t see any shark-jumping. I think it’s more that we live in an era of information overload. As an example: last night after dinner with friends, someone asked a trivia/nostalgia question. Ten years ago, that would have engendered interesting and fun discussion/recollections as we tried to remember the name of Tonto’s horse (or whatever.) We’d have remembered all the old western horses we could, and laughed and enjoyed the discussion. Last night, as soon as the question was asked, someone pulled out an iPhone and looked it up. No further discussion, no fun. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-straight-dope-jump-the-shark/549260.md?page=2)