Why is the SDMB here? I know it is to “fight ignorance” but why a message board instead of opening a library or some other “ignorance fighting” tool? Who funds the SDMB and why did he/she/they determine this was the best tool for the job?
http://www.straightdope.com/
http://www.straightdope.com/faq/index.html
The Chicago Reader owns and operates the SDMB.
631 posts, and you’ve only now started to wonder this?
Well, no, I have wondered before, but I had other stuff to do until now.
Look for a post as to why participants post and/or reply to threads on the SDMS forums. Coming to IMHO soon.
“Beware of the Cog”
A few years ago, the newsgroup alt.fan.cecil-adams filled the niche that this board does now. This is a web-based version of that idea.
There was an AOL Straight Dope forum as well, yes? That got kicked to the curb along with most/all of AOL’s other non-money-making fora?
Yep. Though some interesting remains can be seen in Cecil’s more recent books.
How else would we find out what are the three words ending in -gry, whether the Queen of England has any power, or whether there is any validity to the Hollow Earth Theory or creationism? 
Because if it did not, someone would have to invent it.
We think therefore it is?
Well, many of us think…much of the time…depending on who you ask…
Been wanting to get this off my chest for a while now:
“Fighting Ignorance” is the motto of The Straight Dope, AKA the newspaper column. It is often applied by posters here to the message boards as well. Are they really right do to this, or are they jumping to a conclusion that’s not necessarily valid? Why is it assumed that the SDMB must share the column’s motto?
Moved to ATMB.
-xash
General Questions Moderator
Yes. The AOL SD forum was the Official Straight Dope internet presence. It made money until AOL went to all-you-can-surf for a flat fee. AOL’s message boards used to be premium services, and users had to pay to use them per minute until AOL went to a flat rate. After the flat rate went into effect, a lot of people like ME showed up. I had read the Straight Dope books that had been published, and I knew that there was a SD area on AOL. That was almost my first stop on AOL. I spent many, many nights reading the archives, discovering columns that had not been collected in the published books.
The newsgroup was never an official SD presence, though there were many people who posted to it. It still exists, as of a couple of days ago. However, Cecil is connected to THIS website, and he personally OKs the mods and admins here, though we rarely feel his presence.
Of course, we also post the weekly column as well as classic columns and staff reports on this site.
We readers of SD have our own views. We wish to share our views. We demand to be known for our views. Someone actually bothered to listen to our views.
(Hey, my first post… where’s my welcome wagon?)
Well, if it were not a Straight Dope knockoff but still run by the Reader, what would it then be? Probably a public board dedicated more to Chicago and the music scene or some such. Since it it based on the Reader article, however, it should have something akin to the same motif.
The SDMB originally had (correct me if I’m wrong) only about two forums, and they were pretty much like GD and GQ. However, since there are now more than 40,000 members who act in more of a friendly, community-like way, there are additional forums for stuff other than the Dope of the Dope. If you get my meaning.
Welcome to the Straight Dope Ye Who Runs Rampit. Play nice and we wont be forced to bury your corpse and erase all traces of your existance.
I think the SDMB originally had two forums, and they were Comments on Cecil’s Columns, and General Questions.
The other forums grew out of necessity at various times. My guesses as to why:
GD split from GQ to separate factual from debatable questions.
IMHO split from GQ to keep polls and opinion-based questions apart from factual questions.
MPSIMS arose as a place to put all the inevitable detirtus that came by. It was named after a commment in a GQ thread that had no real question to ask, and eventually the forum grew a parsonality of its own.
Comments on Mailbag Answers (now ‘Staff Reports’) either appeared when they started writing staff reprots, or split from CCC to keep it clear which threads related to the Perfect Master, and which to the less-than-Perfect (But still very good!) SDStaffers.
ATMB grew, I’m guessing, from a plethora of questions about the board and the software posed in GQ, and the BBQ Pit as a place to complain about the board, perhaps after some of its early… growing pains.
PLEASE NOTE that I am not in any way an expert on this… this is simply what I’ve pieced together from reading the boards.
Get me a shovel and I’ll start digging.
Because no one else will have us. 