# Winter of Missed Content **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 16, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954 "2005-01-16T01:51:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/21 "2005-01-19T02:54:33Z")
> [@minty green](#): > > Only a few (2 or 3, if memory serves) weeks of posts were lost. The rest of the 3-month delay was waiting around for the folks in charge to get the software updated and the boards open for business again. The bbboy board filled the gap for 4-5 weeks, IIRC. Actually, I rememberd it as a lot more than 2-3 weeks. If I recally correctly, the latest posts that weren’t lost to the crash were from about Dec 7 2001, and the crash occurred in mid-February. If memory serves, the SDMB In Exile was a couple weeks in coming; a brief review of the archive linked above showed that board was in place by Feb 28. It continued for the rest of the month or so that the Motherboard was down; the two boards subsequently coexisted for a short time (two weeks or so, as I recall). Further archaeological evidence (no, I didn’t use the search feature to get these): This thread appears to be from very shortly after the Motherboard returned to service: > **[Reopened Bbboy forum](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=103363)** > > Ok, the SD server is having trouble handling the flood of dopers, so we’re reopening the BbBoy forum to ease the strain while we try to sort things out. If the SD board is running slow for you, feel free to visit Dope II:... Corroboration for the dates of the Lost Content: > **[Where have all the pre-12/7/01 threads gone?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=103303)** > > I realize we’ve lost everything from 12/7/01 to 2/11/02. Such is life. What I’m wondering is, whether the SD techs have any idea whether threads from before 12/7 have been lost as well. Because my searches are turning up blanks where there ought... > [@RTFirefly](#): > > I realize we’ve lost everything from 12/7/01 to 2/11/02. Such is life. The gap in the posts can be seen (right now) on [page 68](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?f=2&page=68&sort=lastpost&order=desc&pp=50&daysprune=-1) of ATMB. The last post in each thread goes from 12-07-2001 to 03-10-2002. So, the chronology as I can reconstruct it: Dec 7, 2001: Early limit of lost posts Feb 11, 2002: Late limit of lost posts On or shortly before Feb 28, 2002: SDMB In Exile established by the grace of **Tubadiva** _et al_. Smashie Dynasty begins. March 10, 2002: Straight Dope Mother Board returns to service. SDMB In Exile is closed, and reopened soon after. March 20, 2002: SDMB In Exile is closed again. Other trivia about the Temp Board for the intersted: - The original colours were a wierd brownish-mustard colour, later amended to a more familiar grey. - A number of surprising coding tags existed on the Temp Board, including [Whoview], which, when the post was viewed, replaced itself by the username of the poster viewing it. This caused so much confusion that it was disused… but they had to go about it the back way. They added “Whoview” to the Temp Board software’s list of profanities, so that it would be automatically replaced by “Whov!ew”. This disabled the feature. - Another tag got a similar treatment, being substituted by the string “AnnoyingTag”. I don’t remember what that tag did, though. - In addition to Smashie, there was a smiley for ROTFLMAO, which was a grinning smileyface that rolled back and forth across the screen. - When the Motherboard returned, a new version of the vBulletin software was introduced. The various non-default settings that the SDMB had previously operated with weren’t carried over, so when the Teeming Millions flooded back onto the boards, things looked a little different. One of the unexpected capabilities users had was to edit the title under their name - the one that said “Member” (nowadays it says “Charter Member” or “Guest”). The admins specifically requested people not do this, and then they turned that feature off (so I never go to change mine to “Prefect Meister” 😉 ). The admins had to manually change peoples’ self-customized titles back to ‘Member’; when the board ‘went pay’ in April 2004, these posters found that their titles didn’t automatically upgrade to ‘Charter Member’ when they bought a subscription. I’m sure there’s more. It was an interesting and frightening time in SDMB history; for a while, most of us didn’t know what had happened to our beloved Board. In gratitude, I still have the SDMB In Exile [bookmarked](http://profiles.bbboy.net/wolfstu). ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/22 "2005-01-19T02:58:10Z")
I believe this was one of the very first threads posted after the SDMB Proper returned: > **[December 7, 2001...](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=103066)** > > A date that will live… in infamy. Or at least in our minds for a few days, maybe a week or two. Wow, that’s an ouchie - lost everything from December 7 to February, what, 11th was the day it went out? Still, a minor price to pay. What did we... It gives some hints at what was lost. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/23 "2005-01-19T05:38:50Z")
Apparently I snaked my self in here just in the nick of time. My reg. date is Dec. 3, 2001. And man, my very first posts here were tremenduos, and chock full of hearty wisdom and wit, with ne’er a typo in sight. Of course, I can’t prove any of this. ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/24 "2005-01-19T07:17:02Z")
So who actually coined the phrase “Winter of our Missed Content”? I trust they were rewarded with a Straight Dope mug, a chocolate replica of the Perfect Master and Freedom of the City of Chicago? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/25 "2005-01-19T15:08:10Z")
> [@Shrinking Violet](#): > > So who actually coined the phrase “Winter of our Missed Content”? > > I trust they were rewarded with a Straight Dope mug, a chocolate replica of the Perfect Master and Freedom of the City of Chicago? 🙂 [ > [@Jervoise](#): > > ]([http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=2037056#post2037056](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=2037056#post2037056))I think it was **widdershins** who coined **“The Winter of our Missed Content”** to describe the Great Server Crash. I can’t confirm this, though. (After some searching.) [**widdershins**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php) was apparently lurking as recently as June 2004, but didn’t subscribe when the board went Pay. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/26 "2005-01-20T09:52:58Z")
Anybody remember the other competing names for the event? I ended up voting for that one because it reminded me of a Red Green joke. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/27 "2005-01-20T18:40:41Z")
> [@Fern Forest](#): > > Anybody remember the other competing names for the event? Not really, besides “Great Server Crash” > [@](#): > > I ended up voting for that one because it reminded me of a Red Green joke. Do tell! ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/28 "2005-01-21T04:46:35Z")
Red Green had a segment called “The Winter of our Discount Tents.” I was really into Red Green at the time. But I remember we had a few groups of people each one supporting a few names for the event. But eventually the cleverness of this one won out. There may have even been a thread about what we should call the event. Knowing the quality of the board at the time I’d be surprised that the others weren’t nearly as funny. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/29 "2005-01-21T05:25:43Z")
> [@Fern Forest](#): > > But I remember we had a few groups of people each one supporting a few names for the event. But eventually the cleverness of this one won out. There may have even been a thread about what we should call the event. Knowing the quality of the board at the time I’d be surprised that the others weren’t nearly as funny. Actually, I think I remember that thread, but I haven’t found it. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/30 "2005-01-26T20:31:44Z")
Found it! **widdershins** it was! [post=1942494]Literary types! Name the Straight-Dope-astrophe![/post] (I stumbled upon it while browsing all my posts in ATMB looking for something else.) ---
**Author:** ![deena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e7dd6/32.png) [@deena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deena)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/31 "2005-01-27T12:58:25Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Would it be possible to set a search option for a 72 hour timeframe? Presently we can search for posts from the previous day, but the next shortest setting we can opt for is from the previous week. Lots of times I know I’m looking for something posted within the last 2 or 3 days, and don’t need to harass the hamsters by having them look further back. > > Or is there a drawback to adding that sort of timeframe? Where do I go to work the search function? ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/32 "2005-01-27T15:31:37Z")
> [@deena](#): > > Where do I go to work the search function? Unfortunately, as a ‘Guest’, you can’t. The closest you can come to it is using [http://www.boardreader.com/](http://www.boardreader.com/) . **rowrrbazzle** : That thread sure fizzled in a hurry, eh? I had thought there were a few more candidates competing for the label, but it seems “Winter of our Missed Content” won handily. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954.md?page=1)