# DNFTAYL: another derogatory categorization of a group of posters (mods object here) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 17, 2001, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dnftayl-another-derogatory-categorization-of-a-group-of-posters-mods-object-here/58393 "2001-03-17T18:01:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dnftayl-another-derogatory-categorization-of-a-group-of-posters-mods-object-here/58393/21 "2001-03-20T16:35:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gaudere \* > \*\*“Mods object here”? Do I have to object to anything in particular, or did you just provide this thread for free-form mod venting? 😉 You know, what I really object to are posters who quote a 50-line post to add a one-line comment. Y’know, there’s this little thing called the “delete” key that allows you to _remove quoted text that you are not responding to!_ It’s really quite simple… > > Well, since you asked: personally, I’d prefer not to see such a “DNFTAYL” post in my forum, RT. This board’s purpose is to fight ignorance, _even ignorance that immediately labels opposing sides rather than make substantive comments_. > > Sure, we could ignore all the people who we’re pretty sure are not going to be convinced by us anyway and who make crappy arguments, but I think it would be a poor choice. We debate them for the sake of lurkers, and on the off chance that the poster that we assume is closeminded may not be entirely so. When a lurker sees you respond with “DNFTAYL” to a post, he may think you are unable to rebut the post; or the poster who irritates you may simply be suffering from ignorance, and an earnest discussion may help him/her to _stop_ being a slogan-slinger, while an acronymic dismissal will likely lead to resentment and/or a “Hah! He can’t argue with me, so he’s giving up” attitude. > > There are times, as well, where the comments you attribute to "AYL"s may in fact be a valid argument. Look at the critiques of Stoid’s defense of Clinton’s alleged exposure of his penis; a fair number of people are telling her that “you’re just saying his penis-exposure is no big deal because you’re a democrat”–and I think it entirely possible that they may have a point. It is also possible that Stoid’s argument has nothing to do with her party affiliation, **but** I think the assertion that someone may only believe in X because of belonging to group Y _can_ at times be a serious and proper one. > > _Immediately_ dismissing someone who appears closeminded in a debate is easy, and cheap. I don’t like easy and cheap in debates. If you respond substansively and point out what is wrong with their posts, they _may_ actually learn something, and so might lurkers. Posting an acronym and ignoring them from then on will almost certainly lead to resentment and further closemindedness, IMHO–I mean, good luck getting that poster to argue reasonably with you after you’ve just done that. If after several serious responses to these posters they are still not debating in good faith, I would be more sanguine about you cutting your losses and refusing to debate any more, but your implication that you’ll do so after the very first such response bothers me a tad. Keep in mind that someday, someone will post DNFTAYC to _you_ after _your_ very first post in a thread, and ignore anything you might say after that. I’m not sure that you’ll see the time-saving capabilities of an immediate acronymic dismissal as opposed to a serious response as being such an asset in that case. > > We don’t repond to the first idiotic creationist post with DNFTC. We don’t respond the the first “no atheist can be truly moral” post with DNFTAYA. We don’t respond to the first “all you Christians think Gandhi is burning in Hell” with DNFTAYC. We don’t respond to the first “you only believe in evolution because you’re an atheist” post with DNFTF. And I think that’s one of our board’s great strengths. Yes, we get frustrated with people who facilely dismiss well-reasoned arguments in favor of shallow slogans, but I’ve always been pleased and proud to see my GDer’s gamely point out the flaws in such a post in thorough and specific detail. I’d hate to see that end. > > As far as I’m concerned in an _official_ level, I don’t currently see a problem with you using the phrase in GD (so long as half your posts don’t consist of it, or something). On a personal level, I’d be disapppointed to see it _unless_ you have already given the poster a good ol’ GD try first–and I’d rather not see it even then, but I understand the need to sometimes throw up your hands in a debate. Poly has often pointed out that labels can do more harm than good, and I think this is one of those cases. \*\* Exactly!! I hate it when they do that shit! ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dnftayl-another-derogatory-categorization-of-a-group-of-posters-mods-object-here/58393/22 "2001-03-20T16:41:34Z")
That wasn’t very nice, Bear\_Nenno. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dnftayl-another-derogatory-categorization-of-a-group-of-posters-mods-object-here/58393/23 "2001-03-20T16:59:14Z")
I must differ with my colleague from Freedonia on this issue. If someone makes a post in response to me, usually in anger, that makes it clear he or she has not gotten the point my post was aimed at making, I will generally respond with a one- or two-line summary of what I’d attempted to say in the earlier post, preceding or following a comment that effectively tells the other poster to read my post, sometimes with a sarcastic innuendo to the effect that they made a quite cogent argument against some point having nothing to do anything yet said in the thread but apparently directed against the point they misconstrued me as trying to make. Further wilful intent to misunderstand what I’m saying – as opposed to clear failure to comprehend me, and the two are usually quite easy to separate – gets ignored, a la Tris’s point. Few if any issues are more important than the person holding the opposite view, and he or she deserves my respect – so long as they accord me the same privilege. But someone convinced that I’m “one of them” arguing an issue that I am not, and in consequence intent on destroying the position that I don’t hold, deserves only my pity and silence. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dnftayl-another-derogatory-categorization-of-a-group-of-posters-mods-object-here/58393/24 "2001-03-20T19:32:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RTFirefly \* > **Coldie may get his underwear in a wad over this, but my belief is that I shouldn’t need to point out, every fucking time, what’s wrong with using lines like this in lieu of substantive debate. I’d rather just post a quick “DNFTAYL” and get back to responding thoughtfully to those who’ve actually engaged in rebuttal.** My boxers appear to be in working order, RTF, but thanks for being concerned. 😉 You don’t need the acronym. People who use those kind of blanket statements as a response are _obviously_ losing the argument then and there. The observant reader will **understand** your lack of response to such a statement. And this observant reader would respect such self control a helluva lot more than the use of **YAOA** [sup]1[/sup]. Other than that, I can’t say it any better than my esteemed fellow moderators already did. It will probably provoke a **EURAAPRO** [sup]2[/sup], and Lord knows we don’t want _that_. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be off to start the **FIWKIOIUA** [sup]3[/sup] thread. 😃 [/quote] [sup]1[/sup] = _Yet Another Useless Acronym_ [sup]2[/sup] = _Equally Useless Response Aimed At Pissing RTFirefly Off_ [sup]3[/sup] = _Fuckin’ Idiots Who Keep Insisting On Inventing Useless Acronyms_ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dnftayl-another-derogatory-categorization-of-a-group-of-posters-mods-object-here/58393/25 "2001-03-20T21:07:47Z")
Personally, unless RT asks me “what’sa bigga, grey, hasada four legs andada longa trunk”, I see no reason to object. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dnftayl-another-derogatory-categorization-of-a-group-of-posters-mods-object-here/58393/26 "2001-03-20T22:10:50Z")
John, that’s irrelevant! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2001, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dnftayl-another-derogatory-categorization-of-a-group-of-posters-mods-object-here/58393/27 "2001-03-21T02:56:06Z")
_Honk, Honk._ First, I prefer to invoke dismissives when I feel someone (ahem) is purposefully side-stepping major points of the argument. Then, I tell 'em so. They always come back. Second, I _use_ such “all youses” for a specific reason. Voters and supporters of a political ideology sometimes feel they can get away with merely swallowing that which they support, ignoring the rest. I want to point out to them that their vote forces them to take the full-on Peter North facial, too. They, after all, signed the contract. People vote in their own best interests. Therefore, as a powerless dope-smoking commune-of-one-living-liberal-ass-abortion-pansy-and-Injun-lover, one of my better chances at knocking someone off the fence is to point out that _they_ are responsible for allowing those in power to do what they do, particularly those things that are _not_ in their own best interests. Remind them of that, and who knows? They might even work to change their own party. Nevertheless, it’s easy to qualify statements by saying such things as “House Democrats” or “Conservative governors” when circumstances warrant. I will try to adhere to such civility in the future. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2001, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dnftayl-another-derogatory-categorization-of-a-group-of-posters-mods-object-here/58393/28 "2001-03-21T22:08:27Z")
Poly- Hey, dat’sa right! DNFTMSL. [sub]Do Not Feed The Mods Straight Lines.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2001, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dnftayl-another-derogatory-categorization-of-a-group-of-posters-mods-object-here/58393/29 "2001-03-22T00:33:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > And this observant reader would respect such self control a helluva lot more than the use of **YAOA** [sup]1[/sup]. > > {snip} > > [sup]1[/sup] = _Yet Another Useless Acronym_ What the hell is this? Some sort of crazy Dutch acronym scheme? ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2001, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dnftayl-another-derogatory-categorization-of-a-group-of-posters-mods-object-here/58393/30 "2001-03-22T01:08:08Z")
Can you tell I’m not really good at this acronym shit? ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2001, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dnftayl-another-derogatory-categorization-of-a-group-of-posters-mods-object-here/58393/31 "2001-03-22T01:50:32Z")
What? You mean “Coldfire” doesn’t stand for “Cranky Old Lycanthrope Dunce Focusing on Impressive Rectal Examinations”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dnftayl-another-derogatory-categorization-of-a-group-of-posters-mods-object-here/58393.md?page=1)