# Would you recommend the SDMB to your friends and acquaintances? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 5, 2021, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recommend-the-sdmb-to-your-friends-and-acquaintances/945765 "2021-07-05T22:03:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recommend-the-sdmb-to-your-friends-and-acquaintances/945765/61 "2021-07-12T00:11:18Z")
Not until we tame the Pit. It is embarrassing. ---
**Author:** ![Old\_Wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecccb3/32.png) [@Old\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Old_Wench)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recommend-the-sdmb-to-your-friends-and-acquaintances/945765/62 "2021-07-12T00:17:15Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’ve had real life meetups with just two people from here. One died last year and I miss him. So do I, **kayaker** , so do I. The late **Kopek** and I met several Dopers in person and I’m FB friends or stay in touch otherwise with a few of them. I don’t mention this place by name to people but occasionally make vague reference to “a message board that I read.” One aunt in particular has too much free time on her hands and gets way too nosy about things so I definitely don’t want her here. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recommend-the-sdmb-to-your-friends-and-acquaintances/945765/63 "2021-07-12T05:36:20Z")
I had an even better GATEKEEPER show up when I mentioned that hubs was working on making coffee mead for me. china guy not only insulted hubs for wasting good honey on making coffee flavored mead for me, he said that hubs should stop buying honey from a local beekeeper and drive a few hours to buy the fake shit that Costco sells. I’m a retired government worker. I have been trained for over 20 years to just let shit slide off my back and now that I’m retired, I just don’t give a shit. Many younger people don’t have those skills. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recommend-the-sdmb-to-your-friends-and-acquaintances/945765/64 "2021-07-12T06:14:07Z")
I think you misunderstood the post. Everyone was polite and helpful in the thread, and @China_Guy’s the response was: > [@Fermentation and COVID](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fermentation-and-covid/942339/20): > > Tell hubby after he’s recovered that he can do mead experiments with Costco 5# mead at about $10/bottle. It’s pure honey and good for experimenting. Frankly, if you’re gonna add coffee, it will overpower and be a waste of the expensive as silver craft honey. he can prolly do a couple of _gallons_ of coffee mead for $20 once he gets the hang of it. He was _encouraging_ your husband to make coffee mead, and suggesting how he could possibly save money. He said you’re not going to be able to taste difference between expensive honey and cheap honey in coffee mead, so if you want to save money buy cheap honey. Nothing discouraging, nothing disrespectful, so I don’t know what you mean by ‘gatekeeper’. ---
**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/codinghorror/32/4242_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/codinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recommend-the-sdmb-to-your-friends-and-acquaintances/945765/65 "2021-07-12T19:55:25Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > She participates in other message boards where the population actually tries to help and nurture each other and nastiness of any kind is frowned upon. They are non-political. What are some examples of those, out of curiosity? Not trying to pry, just general, representative examples. > [@JaneDoe42](#): > > china guy not only insulted hubs It’s also true that “insult” is sometimes in the eye of the beholder. Any questioning of the premise is often viewed as “how dare you question my question” by the question-asker. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recommend-the-sdmb-to-your-friends-and-acquaintances/945765/66 "2021-07-12T21:24:19Z")
> [@codinghorror](#): > > What are some examples of those, out of curiosity? Not trying to pry, just general, representative examples. Generally more special interest, like a writer’s message board, A message board associated with a magazine she reads, etc. I’m not sure which specific ones she uses now, but she has zero tolerance for people who like to attack others not like them. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recommend-the-sdmb-to-your-friends-and-acquaintances/945765/67 "2021-07-13T01:39:32Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I’ve downloaded my posting history and put in on the shared family drive I had this comment fresh in my mind when you started an ATMB thread detailing your posting stats: > Number of Posts: **27,112** > > Most words in a single post: **3,078** , but “The Journey” easily outpaced that with 6k of words… but I broke it up into 6 posts for clarity purposes. I think you’ll have to wait until your kids are retired and have plenty of free time (and no responsibilities) before they’ll be able to read all that. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recommend-the-sdmb-to-your-friends-and-acquaintances/945765/68 "2021-07-14T04:24:02Z")
No, not any more. I’d be ashamed I’d be associated with it. Like Facebook, I use it because still has marginal utility to me. Force of habit. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recommend-the-sdmb-to-your-friends-and-acquaintances/945765/69 "2021-07-20T06:36:18Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > got clobbered by the typical cynical, hard-boiled, mean sort of person one can find here from time to time. I left and didn’t come back for many months. Hey, welcome back and I apologize (if it’s not too late) for that. I thought I was being sarcastically funny and it didn’t work out right in text. Contrary to McCluhan’s claim, the medium isn’t completely the message. –G! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recommend-the-sdmb-to-your-friends-and-acquaintances/945765/70 "2021-07-20T11:06:00Z")
Gee, I don’t think it was you, was it? It was years ago. Needless to say, I got over it. But thanks. Referring to MM marks you as a fellow old person. Or a very well-read young-ish one. I like either one of those. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2021, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recommend-the-sdmb-to-your-friends-and-acquaintances/945765/71 "2021-07-28T17:25:26Z")
I have in the past in the sense of “you might find this particular discussion interesting”, but probably wouldn’t now. I don’t think most people would be interested for one thing - it’s a bit of a dinosaur medium. And although I still like it here because of the breadth of topics (general interest message boards that are all collated in one spot are a rarity - I find mega-single topic boards like Reddit useful, but annoying in design), frankly it’s a slow declining, kinda hidebound community in some ways. This doesn’t much bother me - I’ve been here forever. But I suspect most of friends/acquaintances wouldn’t want to put in the work. Plus, I’m less of a sharer that I used to be 🙂. I no longer am young enough to have even a shred of interest in trying to draw someone else into one of my hobbies. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recommend-the-sdmb-to-your-friends-and-acquaintances/945765/72 "2021-07-28T19:26:14Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > …it’s a bit of a dinosaur medium… Can you define this a bit? _Dinosaur_ because we use full sentences with words spelled out and punctuation and grammar mostly correct? We post long-ish paragraphs? We discuss grown-up topics at some length? What would a non-dinosaur board look like? (Serious question – I don’t hang out on other boards or use social media.) ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2021, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recommend-the-sdmb-to-your-friends-and-acquaintances/945765/73 "2021-07-28T20:31:22Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > _Dinosaur_ because we use full sentences with words spelled out and punctuation and grammar mostly correct? We post long-ish paragraphs? We discuss grown-up topics at some length? Dinosaur because message boards in general have rapidly declining usage and are dying off. A quick google of cites (blog opinions, not research pieces) in reverse chronological order: [#1 from 2020](https://www.engadget.com/2020-02-27-internet-forums-dying-off.html), [#2 from 2017](https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2017/02/someone-would-always-answer-sad-death-internet-message-board), [#3, dishearteningly from 2011](https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/remembrance-of-message-boards-past/) 😃 (NYT paywalled). Doesn’t mean they are as dead as the dinos. Yet. More like endangered. We’re polar bears on melting ice flows due to probably irreversible global warming, staring starvation in the eye. But the prognosis (outside of certain formats like Reddit and others sorts of single subject specialty boards), is grim. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-recommend-the-sdmb-to-your-friends-and-acquaintances/945765.md?page=3)