# Bad Moderation in the "What happens politically if gas prices go through the roof?" thread **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 2, 2026, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-moderation-in-the-what-happens-politically-if-gas-prices-go-through-the-roof-thread/1028143 "2026-03-02T16:14:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2026, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-moderation-in-the-what-happens-politically-if-gas-prices-go-through-the-roof-thread/1028143/41 "2026-03-05T19:46:51Z")
Sure, but you _also_ say the OP doesn’t own a thread, but it’s not like you poll everyone taking part up to then. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-moderation-in-the-what-happens-politically-if-gas-prices-go-through-the-roof-thread/1028143/42 "2026-03-08T22:53:30Z")
Let’s review. > [@What happens politically if gas prices go through the roof?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-politically-if-gas-prices-go-through-the-roof/1028133/18): > > > [@What happens politically if gas prices go through the roof?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-politically-if-gas-prices-go-through-the-roof/1028133/14): > > > > No, I think it’s amazing how fast political allegiance slips away when it starts affecting the ol’ wallet. > > _Points at MAGA response to COVID_ > > They don’t even care about their own lives; I wouldn’t assume that they care about their wallets all that much if they can blame “those people” and consider it the price for hurting everyone else. > > What’s the line? Something like “America is full of millions of people who will be willingly reduced to living under a bridge eating a squirrel off a stick, if it means the people they hate don’t have a squirrel or a stick.” This is 100% on topic. The OP asked about the public and political response to higher gas prices. @wolfpup claimed it would be substantial among conservatives, @Der_Trihs argued, “Meh, not really, look at this example.” Der: The mods saw the vitreol and whited out. That’s a communication problem and deserves some reflection on your part. Good work maintaining your habit of obeying the entirely reasonable rules of this message board though: you brought the issue to ATMB rather than arguing it in the original thread. > [@What happens politically if gas prices go through the roof?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-politically-if-gas-prices-go-through-the-roof/1028133/47): > > The Right loves to talk about “personal responsibility”, but when their decisions inevitably cause disaster it’s always somebody else’s fault. The discussion that prompted this was totally off topic though and was appropriately modded. @Measure_for_Measure has spoken! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2026, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-moderation-in-the-what-happens-politically-if-gas-prices-go-through-the-roof-thread/1028143/43 "2026-03-15T23:39:23Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Der: The mods saw the vitreol and whited out. That’s a communication problem and deserves some reflection on your part I don’t really see anything particularly vitriolic in his post, though. He points to the right wing response to COVID-19, suggests this means they won’t prioritize saving their own lives, as long as it hurts the right people. Then he uses a bit of metaphor to describe the idea in an interesting way: people would be willing to be so poor they would have to be homeless (hunt and) eat squirrel on a stick as long as they can count themselves better than others. I don’t see any intense hatred beyond a fairly common sentiment about how right wing politics work. And, yeah, it seems entirely relevant to the topic of the political responses to high gas prices. Any offtopic/hijack started after that point, when people focused more on the right wing part than the gas price response part. I think allowing that for a bit and then saying it had gone too far was really good moderation, @What_Exit. The hijacks I think you have to be careful of stopping early are more the ones where people start getting hostile or at least very animated and intense. The ones where you may come back to like 30 comments in an hour or something, going way off th rails before the mods have a chance to deal with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-moderation-in-the-what-happens-politically-if-gas-prices-go-through-the-roof-thread/1028143.md?page=2)