Granted, I’m relatively new here, but when I checked “General Questions” today, there was a thread asking whether or not Antarctica was a land mass, an ice sheet or both.
Now, personally, I think this is a ludicrously “dumb” question, but then, I learned about this in school. Checking the responses, it seemed that several people had some interesting facts and information helping the poster get the answer, and thus stamping out “ignorance”.
So, I guess my question is, do posts get closed in General Questions, once they are answered? Is that the reason this one was closed? Or was it the viewpoint that the question was too dumb to be asked? “No such thing as a dumb question” would not be a belief of these boards then?
But I believe that it was asked by the latest incarnation of dippymonger, someone who has by his behavior surrendered his right to use the Chicago Reader’s property.
There’s no such thing as a stupid question, but there is such a thing as a stupid questioner. That’s the dipster.
If you feel that you have a follow-up question or whatnot, please feel free to open a thread in GQ.
And as always, I apologize to those who responded to his questions (there were others), only to see the thread closed or removed.
We’re currently considering making contact with his university to see if we can’t solve this little problem.
Oh, I didn’t realize that once people “wear out their welcome” so to speak, any thread they open, whether or not it is a legitmate one, gets closed.
I’m by no means argueing that the question was a particularly bright one, but there were some intelligent responses to it. Personally, I think there is little to be gained in further discussion on the topic, but had this “persona non grata” asked about something more relevant, with more “legs” as it were, and several people had already begun to offer answers and indeed a dialog of interest, would even this thread be closed? Or is it incumbent on someone else to repost the question, therefore not being started by the “persona non grata”.
Again, I am by no means advocating a new “Antartica - land or ice” thread, but just curious what the rules are?
And for what it’s worth, I find these boards to be highly enlightening and informative. Just fascinating by the rules…
Aside from the fact that the question was pretty well answered by the time it was closed, It was also started by an Amadán expressly for the purpose of annoying moderators.
That’s a good question, and a toughie. My preference is to delete threads by persons who have surrendered their right to use the property. But candidly, sometimes by the time I get to such a thread, just so much damn ignorance has been fought by our membership that I just don’t have the heart to kill the thread.
So it is admittedly a subjective standard, and we just do the best we can.
Hi, Alzarian. There’s only one rule–don’t be a jerk.
A jerk may be defined as someone who posts an interesting thread topic but who, instead of being a poster who is thirsting for knowledge, turns out to be someone who thinks it’s cute to leap out from behind the door with a cream pie in his hand, splat!
And so those of us who enjoy hanging around in GQ answering questions click on it, hoping to fight some ignorance, but instead we find ourselves wiping whipped cream off our faces with a towel, muttering, “What a jerk…”
I personally clicked on the thread in question only after Mannie had closed it, and I was distinctly disappointed not to be able to discuss Antarctica. What a waste of a good thread topic.
Normally, Alzarian, if you behave like a regular thinking human being, you don’t have to worry about seemingly capricious mods locking your threads at random. If they feel a need to lock your thread, they will ALWAYS put a final post on the end, telling you why. What happened in the Antarctica thread was kind of a personal thing between Manhattan and the OP. They go way back together.