# Closing threads **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 14, 2020, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-threads/928063 "2020-12-14T23:55:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 39
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-threads/928063/39 "2020-12-16T18:12:49Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > That’s pretty much the only usage I have ever seen here. It’s not used in dispassionate discussion; it is used as a deliberate insult to the integrity of other posters. Interestingly, a search on ATMB for that term seems to show that most references to the term are by those who are attacking the usage. But [here’s](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mod-note-in-the-bikini-thread/916843/57) the most recent usage by someone who genuinely used used the term. To be clear, I certainly agree that the term has a certain snarkiness even when used substantively. But in that sense, it’s well within the accepted levels of snarkiness that often accompanies substantive discussion on this MB. And at any rate, what I’m objecting to is that it’s a “simple admission that you are unable to win arguments on their merits” as you claimed. It’s frequently adding a bit of snark to a substantive point, which is extraordinarily common and accepted on this MB, from posters and moderators alike. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closing-threads/928063)._