# Why is the SDMB membership declining, and what's the best way to add younger members? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 14, 2021, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208 "2021-06-14T02:28:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/143 "2021-06-15T02:50:48Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Another example: if I started a Starbucks thread in the Café, here’s what would happen. > > 1. I’d get a lecture to support a local coffeehouse > 2. Someone jumps in to say they had Starbucks in 1997 and it tasted burnt > 3. Another lecture about making my own coffee rather than paying for it. Bonus points if it includes information about using a French press or a pour over. Is that new? I feel like this place has had that vibe since I found it. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/144 "2021-06-15T02:51:31Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > You _totally_ win the thread. We can all quit now. (So why am I still typing? Good question 😉 ) Thanks > [@LSLGuy](#): > > Here in 2021 lots of the people who might be good posters and good friends here are probably already over on the side of blogging for profit, Twitting with a mound of followers, or FaceBooking to a group larger and more diverse than just their own cousins and about topics more interesting than just their own meals and (in)digestion. _Et cetera_ through the other 27 major outlets for advertiser-supported user-created content. > > Which is a long-winded way of saying we’re not going to attract many new members with scintillating writing by a Son-of-SDSAB. Those authors already have their outlet. This is a great point. People can build their own brands with ease now. > [@Ranch\_Dip](#): > > But honestly, what is there here that would attract a younger audience? Taking a look at this thread for a slice of what the SMDB has to offer, young people would get to read complaints about the kids these days with their safe spaces and lack of curiosity and interest in debate. This place has always had a bit of a contemptuous streak that is more tolerable when you can back it up, but there are places all over the internet that offer expert opinions and rigorous debates now. The boards are special because it’s been part of a lot of our lives for decades. It was a community, but the people who didn’t grow up here, so to speak, aren’t going to buy into the myth that this board is unique or the best the internet has to offer, because they grew up on Reddit, for example, and they know it has all this and more. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/145 "2021-06-15T03:09:08Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Another example: if I started a Starbucks thread in the Café, here’s what would happen. > > 1. I’d get a lecture to support a local coffeehouse > 2. Someone jumps in to say they had Starbucks in 1997 and it tasted burnt > 3. Another lecture about making my own coffee rather than paying for it. Bonus points if it includes information about using a French press or a pour over. > > If I post the question on the Starbucks subreddit, people answer the question and engage with it. Not a good example, although largely true. If you start a Starbucks thread in a _STARBUCKS_ forum, you’ve preselected a crowd that is going to start with the assumption that Starbucks is good/great coffee. If you posted on a ‘general coffee’ forum, you’d probably get the exact same response you expected from the SDMB (although with several people probably chiming in they loved it as well). If you posted on a Coffee and Tea Snobs Forum, you’d be downvoted out of existence for even suggesting such a thing. [for the record, I find Starbucks coffee perfectly acceptable, although I normally go for an on-tap medium roast, and at a bit over $2 USD, not excessive for any ready-made drink. I don’t dispute that the prices are high for specialty drinks, but if it’s what you want, 🤷‍♂️] But your point is fair, with Reddit and the like, you can select a community that you personally find ‘comfortable’ regarding your chosen preferences. Be it ultra left, ultra right or something just a bit off center. Pro-gun, anti-gun, pro hand washing dishes before the dishwasher, pro entire cake into dishwasher with dishes. There doesn’t _have_ to be any compromises. And general purpose boards that are moderated always have compromises. Yes, the board may be moving to a consensus of ‘proper’ behavior that’s left leaning, but Reddit forums (or Parler threads, or literally anything else) with any moderation slowly move to match the majority of their followers. It happens. ---
**Author:** ![superwombat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superwombat/32/16616_2.png) [@superwombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superwombat)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/146 "2021-06-15T03:14:21Z")
I’m curious how many of us link back to threads here when in other social venues like Reddit, etc. I hear tell there may be some Discourse badges for particularly popular links 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/147 "2021-06-15T03:35:10Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > Not a good example, although largely true. If you start a Starbucks thread in a _STARBUCKS_ forum, you’ve preselected a crowd that is going to start with the assumption that Starbucks is good/great coffee. If you posted on a ‘general coffee’ forum, you’d probably get the exact same response you expected from the SDMB (although with several people probably chiming in they loved it as well). If you posted on a Coffee and Tea Snobs Forum, you’d be downvoted out of existence for even suggesting such a thing. I can accept that. But if I posted a thread on the SDMB about helping me shake up my drink order at Starbucks, I’d definitely get all those responses when all I wanted was some drink suggestions when I stop by in the AM on the way to work. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/148 "2021-06-15T03:43:41Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I can accept that. But if I posted a thread on the SDMB about helping me shake up my drink order at Starbucks, I’d definitely get all those responses when all I wanted was some drink suggestions when I stop by in the AM on the way to work. This is very true. Although not just about coffee, large number of people are vested in being experts, or at least being smarter than the average bear. Which often makes us snobs - I know I have acted that way despite my best efforts in responding to posts in fields where I have worked. You can try to compensate, or be aware of it, but talking down to a person, even with the best intentions, does not engender respect or support. And back to the OP, it can sure drive people away. It might get a pass in places like GD, where you’re going for factual answers, but since most other posts have a large (or very large) hit of opinion involved, getting talked down to just for having a different view of the same facts gets personal fast. Although I still take short shrift of people who spew alternate facts. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/149 "2021-06-15T03:45:09Z")
I think that the SDMB could certainly be popular among young people. Look at YouTube comments; sure there are plenty of stupid comments there (I enjoyed when John Oliver did a mash up of some), but there are also a hell of a lot of people that really want to defend opinions with arguments and have a discussion. And every video has some of this, even those videos obviously aimed at GenZ (or whatever the younglings are called now). So I do think the demand is there, it just seems people don’t know to search for it. I will say, one weakness of the board is that it’s not tailored enough, so you see a bunch of topics, and if none seem relevant to you personally, you just leave. That’s fine for a person like me who will be back, but not so much for noobs. So one approach could be another portal to this content. Firstly it would have a more general name than SDMB, but secondly, you’d put in your interests (or it could receive that data from another platform…) and then it shows you discussions based on that, not based on which topics are most recently active. I think it would be better at bringing in people, whether it would be enough would be a different matter. ---
**Author:** ![oldoaktree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ccd318/32.png) [@oldoaktree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldoaktree)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/150 "2021-06-15T03:46:01Z")
start a starbucks thread. see how long it takes for minimum wage/fair trade/gentrification hijacks your thread about drink suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![superwombat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superwombat/32/16616_2.png) [@superwombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superwombat)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/151 "2021-06-15T03:57:27Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Firstly it would have a more general name than SDMB If it comes to debranding/rebranding, if it wasn’t branded as Straight Dope / Cecil Adams, what could it be called that somehow brings to mind most of our primary scope of discussion? We could specialize in GQ, maybe also specialize in GD, and have the other categories as bonus digressions. Is it too late to do a catchy de-vowel? ~~StrghtDp~~ ~~Str8dope~~ ~~EsDeeEmBee~~ ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/152 "2021-06-15T04:45:24Z")
Any rebranding and/or renaming would have to meet the approval of SunTimes. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/153 "2021-06-15T04:54:03Z")
Well, one way to boost members is if you are a STM (or whatever) subscriber, you get a free SDMB login. Won’t boost engagement, but it will boost subscriber counts. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/154 "2021-06-15T05:22:21Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > being able to pull in large numbers of new, younger users anymore. I think if there was any opportunity to attract younger users to this kind of place it would be the Straight Dope being clicked on a few times while college kids search online (in the course of doing their homework, or settling a bet on some random question by consulting the internet). The problem is, while the columns do well on Google, the message board does not. We don’t generally link to SDMB posts from the rest of the internet, so why would Google think we’re important? The columns were syndicated and links would appear on multiple websites. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/155 "2021-06-15T05:46:17Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I must also add that I’ve seen first time posters get beat up pretty good here on more than one occasion. I seem to remember my first post was met with a friendly “bring out the goats!” and something about not declawing cats. But I spent a couple weeks lurking and made an effort to find out introductions go in MPSIMS. I do recommend that category for new users. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/156 "2021-06-15T06:23:21Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > But it will get back in place the ability to collect money Why would this have anything to do with Ed? They can either collect money or they can’t. It’s not like Ed was personally going going to change the Discourse code into a take money option. People have been trying to give money since we switched over and have repeatedly been told no. If they can change it now, it certainly has nothing to do with Ed. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Keep the SDMB essentially what it is, but increase awareness/outreach/advertising, so that we draw in the kinds of people who would enjoy and fit in well here but are currently unaware of the SDMB. Not to single you out but, the thing is, we all know this is the problem. Having people just keep saying things like outreach etc. means nothing. Should we put ads in AARP? In the magazine version or online? What about the National Enquirer? Lots of fifty+ people there. Is there even any money to advertise somewhere? We don’t have any of the numbers needed to come up with a realistic plan. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Yet jerks are never moderated for being jerks. The result is that we are overrun with sexist jerks, racist jerks, homophobic jerks, transphobic jerks, political jerks, religious jerks, and petty nitpicking jerks. We have jerks who never respond and jerks who flood a thread with fifty posts on a tiny point. We have jerks who live to argue and jerks who can’t admit they were wrong. Every long thread eventually devolves into jerk on jerk warfare. If you doubt me, pick a few long threads at random, read them as if you had never seen the names before, and ask yourself whether you would want to jump in at the 200 post mark Amen. The number of times I’ve simply closed a thread when certain posters show up is large, there is no use reading on because they are sure to be hijacked. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Great Debates is no longer great or much of a debate. You either agree with the regulars, or prepare to be attacked, and if the attacks are modded down the beatings are moved to the pit. I will say that if I was an American conservative, I would probably not reveal myself here, even if I was a left leaning one. There’s a reason I have the Politics and Election forum hidden and I wish more “Great Debates” were moved there. Many seem to be just an excuse for 25 lefties all pile questions on a single righty. Absolutely no one can debate that many people at once, no matter what position you have, left or right. > [@ParallelLines](#): > > For that matter, I’m coming up on my one year board cakeday, but I haven’t ever felt picked on. You should see what we say about you when you aren’t here. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ZosterSandstorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e0b2c6/32.png) [@ZosterSandstorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZosterSandstorm)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/157 "2021-06-15T06:41:12Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > I will say that if I was an American conservative, I would probably not reveal myself here, even if I was a left leaning one. There’s a reason I have the Politics and Election forum hidden and I wish more “Great Debates” were moved there. Many seem to be just an excuse for 25 lefties all pile questions on a single righty. Absolutely no one can debate that many people at once, no matter what position you have, left or right. Honestly it’s deeper than just partisan bias in rules enforcement (which is plainly obvious and disguised less and less these days). This board has always been a social space for a certain group of people who gathered here in their late 30s in 1999 and are now pushing retirement age. There’s a myopic focus on the interests of who that person would have been 22 years ago - it’s simply assumed that everyone is within the narrow window of Bernie Sanders to Joe Biden politics and anyone who disagrees is a troll or a Nazi, but it’s also assumed that everyone is intimately familiar with 800 episodes of Star Trek, that everyone finds the kind of popular culture aimed at boomers entertaining and infinitely fresh (“calm down Francis” is a catchphrase from a movie that I think came out around 175 years ago and is only funny if you were 22 at the time, but everyone here seems to think it’s gut-bustingly hilarious the 2000th time), and that, even after multiple blowups over sexual harassment, everyone is interested in hearing about everyone else’s fetishes, most of which boil down to “a fetish for inappropriately announcing when something posted on a message board has made you aroused.” Because of the above, there’s always a disconnect when people really try to argue a contentious issue here. The unstated presumption is “how dare you come into our peaceful, harmonious social space and start throwing shit on the walls about politics” - _even in the two forums devoted to politics_. There isn’t _really_ any interest in having some sort of moderated exchange of ideas, because the regulars know that they don’t have to put forth anything close to a consistent defense of their beliefs to get support, and some unknown person challenging the clique with 6000 combined years of social time on the board is viewed as unfathomably coarse. No newly registered person is _ever_ going to win a moderation dispute with a 20-year-tenured member of the board’s actual audience, nor is anyone in that group going to admit that the “rules” are a joke and everything here is actually governed by the more fluid, unstated norms of a backyard barbecue among friends. “Hey, maybe your collective opinion about X is wrong” is perceived as much closer to running uninvited into someone’s barbecue and starting to shout about politics, than as contributing to a politics discussion forum on a message board. Eventually, people understand that this isn’t a forum for debating politics and go away, but as long as the board continues to pretend that it has forums for that purpose the cycle will continue. I’m not necessarily saying any of the above is bad. Certainly you near-retirees have the right to socialize online, exclude anyone you wish, etc. just as much as anyone else does. Keeps you off the street corners, I guess. But since the de facto operating principle of this place going back to the days of AOL dialup has been “a place for my friends from the Internet to talk about Star Trek and our fetishes while immediately circling anyone I didn’t know during the Clinton administration with suspicion and chuckling at the ignorance of people who think there are other perspectives in the world,” it’s kind of comical to wonder why you don’t have new or younger members. You can have any kind of board you want but you can’t have it both ways. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/158 "2021-06-15T06:43:58Z")
> [@superwombat](#): > > If it comes to debranding/rebranding, if it wasn’t branded as Straight Dope / Cecil Adams, what could it be called that somehow brings to mind most of our primary scope of discussion? To be clear, I don’t think SD would ever change its name, but it doesn’t need to; my meaning is that we could just have _another_ portal, it could be phone-based, with access to the same database and keeping all the same content rules, moderation etc but just with the more user-focused approach. Yes, it would take time and investment, but any serious attempt at changing the SD’s fortunes is going to require that. In terms of naming, I think simplest is best. As painful as it might sound to us, something like “Smart chat” would do (“Discourse” is taken). ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/159 "2021-06-15T06:52:33Z")
Sorry to go a bit off topic. At one time when we were discussing raising money for the board, people suggested getting an Amazon link on the board that we could use to access Amazon and buy our usual stuff and the board would get money for each click. Were they just talking about an Amazon ad or was this different? Is this still a thing and does it bring in an amount of money that would be useful? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/160 "2021-06-15T09:31:30Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Subreddits start with an r/. Can you deal? 🙂 [And for the avoidance of doubt, this is totally intended as a lighthearted joke to clear the air, not to resurrect a heated debate!] O RLY? Re: r/ Non-obvious initialisms were bad enough, now I have to decode punctuation marks, too? 🤪 😜 😝 🤑 Actually, that whole issue is pertinent I think (though I sure don’t want to rehash it here). Part of the reason I was so pissed off about Dopers using unknown initialisms and acronyms is because that sort of thing is so prominent on Facebook and YouTube comments, etc. and I was loudly saying what I assumed most of us felt: that we don’t want that sort of knuckle-dragging nonsense here. But now with the entreaty from Cece as well as this thread I wonder if that dumbing down is precisely the sort of thing the Dope needs to become more popular with the Teeming Crassness (i.e. the rest of the world, not the Teeming Masses). I’m just the canary in the coalmine. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/161 "2021-06-15T13:12:45Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > The problem is, while the columns do well on Google, the message board does not. I’m pretty sure that a lot of the “new” posters, particularly the one-and-done folks who revive a zombie thread to comment on it, are finding those message board threads through Google. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/162 "2021-06-15T13:23:20Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > that we don’t want that sort of knuckle-dragging nonsense here. > > But now with the entreaty from Cece as well as this thread I wonder if that dumbing down is precisely the sort of thing the Dope needs to become more popular with the Teeming Crassness (i.e. the rest of the world, not the Teeming Masses). Well gee, I can’t imagine why this site isn’t attracting more people. Why, just look at how welcoming the members are to everyone else. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208.md?page=9)