# Appropriate user name, tho **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 16, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277 "2014-04-16T17:34:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/101 "2014-04-17T21:52:19Z")
I think the coy “oh, whatever _did_ you mean” questions are referring to this (simplified) exchange: > [@DrDeth](#): > > 1. I didn’t use his name as an insult. I used it as a joke. > 2. I didn’t call him a half wit. … > [@Marley23](#): > > What are you saying your post meant, then? > The bottom line is that you can’t call a poster a halfwit in GD. There are no exceptions. It doesn’t matter if his username happens to have the word halfwit in it. > [@DrDeth](#): > > A Joke? > > I didn’t call him a half-wit. Where did I use that word? The strong implication/reading is that a poster said something you thought somewhat half-witted. You implied the poster (not the post) was half-witted by invoking his username as a proxy. The foundation of the warning is based on that train concluding that you meant the “appropriate username” as a light-hearted jab. In the exchange I quoted, you seem to suggest your joke was _about_ something else, not that it was not an insult or not an insult sufficient to warrant a warning. Hence, the “oh, then what _did_ you mean by it?” responses. FWIW, I get your basic objection. You seem to consider that intent to insult includes the intent to cause injury or hurt to the subject. But as noted upthread, the mods decided to make the easier call overall and disallow even good-natured ribbing in GD. I’d have hoped your time on the boards and relative benignness (er, if you are relatively benign; I have trouble remembering posters) means you’d have only gotten a note, not a warning. But that would likely make it harder (for various definitions of ‘harder’) to issue a warning to a more acerbic poster, someone who regularly takes potshots and does the ‘but it was only a joke’ routine. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/102 "2014-04-17T22:04:26Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That’s easy to explain: it’s a joking insults. The problem is that type of joke often doesn’t work in text because it’s hard to read your intent. In this case you were also kind of rude to him, which makes it seem even less like a joke: Also, for that to work accurately, doesn’t the object of the “joking insult” have to be in on it? IE: like a friend or something. Unless they really are buds in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/103 "2014-04-17T22:10:52Z")
DrDeth you have made two completely different responses. You have claimed you didn’t mean to imply he was a half-wit in one post while in another claiming that it was “a play on words”. Ok, then for the last time explain how you were making a play on words without implying he was a half-wit? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/104 "2014-04-17T22:11:58Z")
What about truth as a defense against libel? Has anyone actually measured the victim’s wit level, objectively? Depending on the outcome, we may all owe **DrDeth** an apology. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/105 "2014-04-17T22:12:02Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > Also, for that to work accurately, doesn’t the object of the “joking insult” have to be in on it? IE: like a friend or something. Unless they really are buds in real life. Pretty much. Looking back at a previous post I see **DrDeth** insists he didn’t call the other poster a halfwit. That’s what was really confusing. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/106 "2014-04-17T22:23:01Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Pretty much. > > Looking back at a previous post I see **DrDeth** insists he didn’t call the other poster a halfwit. That’s what was really confusing. I didn’t. I alluded to his user name, which is not the same thing. A user name is not a person. Are you the Musician by that name? Are you a fan of Bob Marley? Does that make you a stoner- or just a Doper? You know, I have friends that can watch Andy Kaufman play the Mighty Mouse theme and lip sych to it and they laugh themselves sick. I don’t get it. Does that mean it’s not a humorous performance, just because I dont “get” Kaufman? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277/107 "2014-04-17T22:25:24Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I didn’t. I alluded to his user name, which is not the same thing. Bullshit. With that, we’re done. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/appropriate-user-name-tho/686277.md?page=5)