I suspect the OP is a semi-veiled swipe at gun control, so I understand why Jonathan Chance closed it. Nevertheless, taken on its face, I think it’s a valid (if hyperbolic) debate. Many cities ban plastic bags. Wildlife may be, and often is, harmed when they become entangled in plastic bags. Their manufacture requires the use of non-renewable resources and emits greenhouse gases that contribute to anthropomorphic climate change. Plastic doesn’t biodegrade, so the bags wind up as litter that either stays where it is or consumes resources to be picked up – where it helps to fill our landfills. I’m sure there are other reasons why some cities banned them, but those are off the top of my head.
Now, I haven’t seen any sea turtles with Solo cups around their necks. I’m sure plastic cups are less harmful to wildlife than the bags. But they do use non-renewable resources to make, and they do contribute to global warming. And of course they litter our environment. and people and require the use of people (who must be paid) and non-renewable resources, and the emission of more pollutants to pick up.
I don’t think cities should ban plastic cups as they do plastic bags, but it might be a good idea for them to forbid their use at concerts and other large events because of the massive amount of waste that is generated. Paper cups will still wind up as litter, but at least they decompose. They also use renewable resources for their structure, and I suspect they emit less greenhouse gas in their manufacture.
It’s not a great debate, but I think we should look into our habits and the things we take as granted, and consider how much damage they do to the environment. (I’m looking at you, bottled-water drinkers!)
I would just like some clarification, because on its face, that looks like a legitimate debate about disposable cups. If there’s some kind of backstory here or key to understanding that it’s a veiled reference to gun control, I’d appreciate some explication. And I know nothing about Boffking’s thread-starting history. What topics does has he obsessively posted about?
Yeah, I would not have clocked that for a gun-control debate. Banning disposable cups is a reasonable thing to discuss, just like banning disposable plastic bags.
Well, JC will eventually come in here and defend his actions, but the OP of that cup thread has a history of starting a gazilion threads, often in the wrong forum and then never returning to post in the threads again. He’s been told to slow down on the thread starting, and make sure he puts them in the correct forum. This one is much of a “my opinion” sort of thing, as you yourself noted (emphasis added).
Threads in questionably incorrect forums? I mean, time will certainly short circuit of that is allowed to happen. Cosmic chaos. A thread in a questionably incorrect forum has to be dealt with before it becomes an epidemic.
I suspect it’s the poster rather than the thread itself. If somebody else started a debate on the topic I think it would have been fine.
BTW gun control never entered my head reading the OP. Finely nuanced I guess but I completely missed it. Are we sure it had a gun control undercurrent?
He posts on a large range of different topics in all forums, but has started several on Trump and Bernie. He has been limited to one Trump thread per week.
I agree that it was in the wrong forum, but I don’t see why it’s posting on the same subject.
Maybe it’s a Trump metaphor, but I don’t see it.
Well, if that hypothetical poster hadn’t been given the same mod instruction as the OP had, then yeah. The thread would have been moved and that would be it. That only makes it about “the poster” in the sense that he had been given explicit instructions about what to do going forward.
I’m with the mods on this. Boffking needs to start fewer threads and participate in the ones he does start. If he just wants to share random thoughts, he can do that on facebook.
The thing is, this particular poster would likely start a thread about banning plastic forks, another thread about plastic spoons, another about plastic knives, *ad nauseum. *He needs to consolidate his issues, and at least to occasionally return to threads he’s started. This has been brought to his attention before, yet he still needs to be reminded of it.
I think as a mod it would be incredibly annoying to have to constantly deal with reports alerting you to the fact a thread is in the wrong forum, then have to move them, finally followed by noting the poster in question to take more time for correct thread placement. When, you know, it doesn’t take any time at all in the first place to pay attention to where you are posting. Unless it’s more important to share, rather than participate. Which might explains why he very seldom returns.
ETA: I have no comment on whether that thread was suitable for GD. As always, I’m assuming the answer is “It depends.”
If anyone else had posted that thread in that forum, do you think there would have been any moderation at all?
I’m not against adding rules to certain posters if they continue to screw things up, but to receive a warning, it really should be a clear AND intentional screw up.
Based on a quick search of his posts and his threads started, it seems that over the past two years, boffking has made a total of just under 1,400 total posts, and has started about 500 threads.
When more than one out of every three posts you make is a new thread, you probably need to step back and ask yourself whether you’re just posting to hear the sound of your own voice. There are a couple of other people on this board who have a long history of starting massive numbers of threads without participating in any meaningful way. Don’t be one of those people.
And apparently Torontomade a run at banning both foam and paper disposable cups a few years ago since the city’s recycling program was unable to process the 350 million cups and lids in the local waste stream yearly.
Throw in concern about the proliferation of trash from K-Cups and there is more than enough substance there to justify a GD thread regardless of who started it.
