# DrDeth is Pitted Again **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 17, 2025, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044 "2025-10-17T03:32:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![discobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/discobot/32/570_2.png) [@discobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/discobot)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2025, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/41 "2025-11-01T23:15:03Z")
> đź”® Yes ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2025, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/42 "2025-11-01T23:18:31Z")
> [@discobot](#): > > You’ve disabled me in your preferences. You need to allow new user onboarding tips to interact with me. This must be @discobot’s way of saying “I know you are, but what an I!” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2025, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/43 "2025-11-02T04:05:25Z")
He gets off on being a history contrarian. At least he doesn’t seem to be bleating about France triggering WWI anymore (after being exposed as misrepresenting the key source for his claims). ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2025, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/44 "2025-11-02T04:15:42Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Does he identify with Texas in some way? Perhaps he’s seen The Alamo one too many times I would bet he used to watch it together with his dad (you know - the one who was BFFs with Doug McArthur). ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/45 "2025-11-03T04:12:43Z")
I almost never participate in these Pit threads, but since I can’t call DrDeth a willfully ignorant ass in his inane Texas thread, I’ll just say it here. ---
**Author:** ![DETXL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/detxl/32/19366_2.png) [@DETXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DETXL)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/46 "2025-11-03T08:05:18Z")
That one perplexes me. I feel like most of us, if we were going to pretend to have read a book, would at least know to skim the introduction where the author dismisses the entire concept of finding "the bad guy” as fatally flawed, or would at least _spell the title correctly_. He’s like a longitudinal experiment in how the cardinal sin isn’t “being really blatant about Googling things to make yourself seem smarter.” We’ve all done that. It’s “being _really, really_ _bad_ about Googling things to make yourself seem smarter” with a side of doubling down on the weird thing you just said, presumably hoping that appearing to be a true believer will make it less obvious that you spent 30 seconds copying the first result of a web search and 0 seconds actually reading it. There is apparently some compulsion to post in every thread whether or not you know anything about the topic, I guess. I don’t really get why, on a message board of actual people with subject-matter expertise, posters feel the need to jump in immediately by asking ChatGPT for the answer, but at least ChatGPT is very unlikely to tell you that its opinion of Cicero came from its father, who campaigned with Julius Caesar in Gaul. (We will never find out, because I’m 100% sure ChatGPT blocked DrDeth after he couldn’t restrain himself from responding to each sentence separately with “yep” or “good one” or [calling some author he doesn’t like a terrorist](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-should-have-been-read-in-high-school/1022741/23)) ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/47 "2025-11-03T09:50:40Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I almost never participate in these Pit threads, but since I can’t call That’s why it is here. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2025, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/48 "2025-11-05T14:08:23Z")
I hope DD appreciates how useful and educational his dumb Texas thread turned out to be for so many people. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2025, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/49 "2025-11-05T19:29:53Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > his inane Texas thread [I guess he enjoys getting his ass handed to him re: Texan slavery.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-myths-that-reallly-get-on-your-tits/704744/120) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2025, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/50 "2025-11-05T23:01:23Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I hope DD appreciates how useful and educational his dumb Texas thread turned out to be for so many people. That’s a remarkably positive takeaway for it all. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/51 "2025-11-06T00:23:08Z")
Goofus and Gallant doesn’t work without Goofus. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/52 "2025-11-06T01:29:29Z")
I think the chorus of that “Who knew? TIL.” idea is sooo much more effective than a chorus of recipes would’ve been. I was proud to add my voice to the groups’. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/53 "2025-11-09T03:02:45Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I hope DD appreciates how useful and educational his dumb Texas thread turned out to be for so many people. People without introspection don’t understand these things. People with introspection don’t have multiple don’t have multiple pit threads about them. The likelihood of him catching the irony is left as an exercise to the reader. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/54 "2025-11-09T03:24:50Z")
I made the mistake of unmuting him just long enough to see him griping, for the 1,000th time, that a cop/legal TV show wasn’t realistic. Like he’ll ever let anyone forget he was a “fed”. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/55 "2025-11-09T12:33:52Z")
I hadn’t realized he’d once been some sort of LEO. Does make some of his one-way nature (IOW all output, zero input) more understandable. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/56 "2025-11-09T14:10:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > some sort of LEO For a very loose definition of “LEO”. Kind of like how someone in the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service is a member of a “uniformed service”. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/57 "2025-11-09T15:11:29Z")
He worked in some job at the federal bank. He likes to spin that like he’s “a fed” in law enforcement. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/58 "2025-11-09T15:15:11Z")
Oh, yeah. Now that I recognize from some of his posts on banking and banking regulation. Which was my late wife’s field. His expertise in that areas reads like the typical “This is/was my day job and we did …” post that any of us might post about about our own career areas. So not a widely acknowledged and published expert in the field, but a basic journeyman who knows their biz. He was probably some flavor of auditor at FDIC or OCC or even FTC in the banking division. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/59 "2025-11-09T17:01:55Z")
Maybe a minor job with the IRS? I can’t recall exactly, just that it didn’t align with his hints of authority. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/60 "2025-11-10T04:11:49Z")
He seems really good at hinting at a deeper level, deliberately giving the impression that there is more, without the outright lying that some posters have done or that happened with his father’s service. He used to drop “as a Fed” in LEO threads, giving the impression he had some sort of front line duty without saying he was an FBI agent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044.md?page=4)