# Ban disposable cups closure **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 26, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418 "2016-06-26T16:34:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/1 "2016-06-26T16:34:33Z")
[Thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=796841) (such as it is). 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!) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/2 "2016-06-26T16:42:52Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/3 "2016-06-26T16:51:13Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/4 "2016-06-26T16:52:32Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > And I know nothing about Boffking’s thread-starting history. I haven’t been paying enough attention to know whether **Jonathan Chance** has a legitimate gripe, but [here’s one of the threads that led up to this warning](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=796713). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/6 "2016-06-26T17:02:28Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I haven’t been paying enough attention to know whether **Jonathan Chance** has a legitimate gripe, but [here’s one of the threads that led up to this warning](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=796713). Yep. Nothing to do with stealth gun debate topics. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/7 "2016-06-26T17:05:18Z")
I assumed it was just about cups. I don’t even see a gun control analogy. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/8 "2016-06-26T17:06:57Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Yep. Nothing to do with stealth gun debate topics. Perhaps I’m saturated by GC being all over the news and social media. Personally I don’t see the closed thread as being a non-debate. The OP presented an issue and gave his opinion on a solution. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/9 "2016-06-26T17:13:20Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Perhaps I’m saturated by GC being all over the news and social media. > > Personally I don’t see the closed thread as being a non-debate. The OP presented an issue and gave his opinion on a solution. 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). ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/10 "2016-06-26T17:30:52Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/11 "2016-06-26T17:34:24Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/12 "2016-06-26T17:41:20Z")
Just looking at his posting history, it seems that he has started hundreds of threads - search maxes out at 500 - and [only rarely participates in the thread beyond the first post.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19422290&highlight=boffking#post19422290) He has occasionally been noted for [posting in the wrong forum](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19431444&highlight=boffking#post19431444). He posts on a large range of different topics in all forums, but has started several on Trump and [Bernie](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19389788&highlight=boffking#post19389788). He has been limited to [one Trump thread per week](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19428156&highlight=boffking#post19428156). 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. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/13 "2016-06-26T17:44:28Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/14 "2016-06-26T17:48:12Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I agree that it was in the wrong forum. Actually, I’m not sure it was. I can see this as GD material, at least potentially. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/15 "2016-06-26T17:57:46Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/16 "2016-06-26T18:02:07Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/17 "2016-06-26T18:05:59Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > 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 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.” ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/18 "2016-06-26T19:04:58Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/19 "2016-06-26T19:18:50Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > 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. \* Yep. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/20 "2016-06-26T19:21:22Z")
I don’t see the thread started by \*\*boffking \*\*as inappropriate for the GD forum. Environmental impact of drinking cups was a subject of the Wall Street Journal. See: [Hot Drink Debate: Paper or Plastic?](http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304732804579425493477617388) While some cities have not seen the switch from foam to paper as enough: [Vancouver debates BAN on paper coffee cups: Is this just moral grandstanding?](http://www.therebel.media/vancouver_debates_ban_on_paper_coffee_cups) And apparently [Toronto](http://www.wellandtribune.ca/2009/04/09/coffee-cup-ban-debate-takes-5)made 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](http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/03/the-abominable-k-cup-coffee-pod-environment-problem/386501/) and there is more than enough substance there to justify a GD thread regardless of who started it. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418/21 "2016-06-26T19:28:53Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Yep. > > 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. There are also a number of posters who are _ **no longer** _ on this board who had the same problem. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ban-disposable-cups-closure/758418.md?page=2)