# When Was "It's Taking Longer Than We Thought" Added To SD Tagline? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 16, 2019, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-its-taking-longer-than-we-thought-added-to-sd-tagline/831215 "2019-03-16T01:58:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gvntofly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@gvntofly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gvntofly)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-its-taking-longer-than-we-thought-added-to-sd-tagline/831215/1 "2019-03-16T01:58:09Z")
The SD tagline Fighting Ignorance Since 1973 (It’s Taking Longer Than We Thought) when was it added, like what year I mean? That made me literally laugh out loud. Just wondering how many years it took to realize it was going to take a long, long time. 😊 ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-its-taking-longer-than-we-thought-added-to-sd-tagline/831215/2 "2019-03-16T05:14:24Z")
> [@gvntofly](#): > > The SD tagline Fighting Ignorance Since 1973 (It’s Taking Longer Than We Thought) when was it added, like what year I mean? > > That made me literally laugh out loud. Just wondering how many years it took to realize it was going to take a long, long time. 😊 Been there for as long as I can remember. As far as I know, that’s been the same banner since '99. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-its-taking-longer-than-we-thought-added-to-sd-tagline/831215/3 "2019-03-16T07:44:57Z")
**Moderator Action** Moving thread from MPSIMS to ATMB. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-its-taking-longer-than-we-thought-added-to-sd-tagline/831215/4 "2019-03-16T07:59:21Z")
For the main Straight Dope page ([www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com)), the “It’s taking longer than we thought” tag is on the earliest copy that the Wayback Machine has, which is December 30, 1996. So it’s been there apparently since the beginning, or at least very close to the beginning. The tag is on the main page, but is not on the message board ([boards.straightdope.com](http://boards.straightdope.com)) for any wayback copies archived in 2004 or earlier, but it is on the message board copies from 2006 and later. Unfortunately there aren’t any wayback captures in between them. So, it was added to the SDMB sometime between January 1, 2004 and April 6, 2006. I don’t see that tag line in any of the books (I only looked on the front and back covers and the first few and last few pages). I wasn’t able to find many copies of articles from actual newspapers online. I did find one from 1996 and it did not contain the tag line. [https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/schmuel/news98/sdope1.jpg](https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/schmuel/news98/sdope1.jpg) ---
**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:** [March 16, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-its-taking-longer-than-we-thought-added-to-sd-tagline/831215/5 "2019-03-16T13:06:44Z")
ISTR that line being used in the column at one point, before this message board was in existence. I’ll have to search the books and see if it’s there somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-its-taking-longer-than-we-thought-added-to-sd-tagline/831215/6 "2019-03-16T13:10:31Z")
It was on the AOL portal as well. It was on the Straight Dope tshirts that we sold starting in 1996. Jenny ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-its-taking-longer-than-we-thought-added-to-sd-tagline/831215/7 "2019-03-16T13:53:06Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > It was on the Straight Dope tshirts starting in 1996. hmmmm—so may we infer that for the first 23 years, the fight was going pretty successfully? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-its-taking-longer-than-we-thought-added-to-sd-tagline/831215/8 "2019-03-16T14:07:02Z")
I go back to the AOL days, and it was always there. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-its-taking-longer-than-we-thought-added-to-sd-tagline/831215/9 "2019-03-16T22:03:53Z")
I think it was in the Montreal Mirror columns in 1988. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2019, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-its-taking-longer-than-we-thought-added-to-sd-tagline/831215/10 "2019-03-16T23:23:56Z")
I got my first edition of the first Straight Dope book out, Copyright 1984. OMG, that thing’s over 400 pages! And the print didn’t seem that small the first dozen times I read it! What happened? Needless to say, I’ve not perused all of it yet in my search for the phrase. But it didn’t appear in little Ed’s introduction. I will persevere.