# headphone break-in thread in GQ **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 6, 2013, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275 "2013-06-06T06:26:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/1 "2013-06-06T06:26:47Z")
so a user named “beats2014” posted a thread in GQ about “breaking in” headphones. I initially reported the thread as possible spam setup, with the caveat that it was a legitimate question. it did end up spawning a reasonably well-thought out discussion, but now it seems to have been deleted. meanwhile the same user posted another thread (confirming he/she is a spammer) which **samclem** happily moved from GQ to IMHO. I’m a bit pissed off that a thread containing useful discussion was just nuked from orbit, especially when (presumably) another moderator just moves another of the same user’s threads. Wouldn’t it have made more sense just to deal with the OP instead of taking people’s input and chucking it in the trash? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/2 "2013-06-06T06:32:56Z")
> [@What is a good brand of headphones to buy， in reasonable price?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-good-brand-of-headphones-to-buy-in-reasonable-price/660269/3): > > Er, we just deleted a GQ thread about the same topic\*\* by a spammer with almost the same name\*\*. In a few moments a new poster will be by to tell us where to buy fake earphones. From the current thread. Better than a horse with no name. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/3 "2013-06-06T06:36:20Z")
No, it wasn’t “almost the same name,” it was the same OP. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/4 "2013-06-06T07:50:32Z")
You’re right, I thought it was a new poster because he only had one post. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/5 "2013-06-06T11:47:49Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > so a user named “beats2014” posted a thread in GQ about “breaking in” headphones. I initially reported the thread as possible spam setup, with the caveat that it was a legitimate question. it did end up spawning a reasonably well-thought out discussion, but now it seems to have been deleted. meanwhile the same user posted another thread (confirming he/she is a spammer) which **samclem** happily moved from GQ to IMHO. I’m a bit pissed off that a thread containing useful discussion was just nuked from orbit, especially when (presumably) another moderator just moves another of the same user’s threads. Wouldn’t it have made more sense just to deal with the OP instead of taking people’s input and chucking it in the trash? I read your initial report and at that point decided it was possibly a legit poster/thread. I didn’t revisit the thread until reading this one just now. Colibri was on top of it last night around 10PM when the shills started showing up. He moved the thread out of sight and started banning. I moved that second thread without realizing it was the same guy. I was tired. He’s gone now. I sympathize with your wishing to have the good info about headphones remain. I’ll see what I can do about restoring the good posts. Might take me a bit of time. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/6 "2013-06-06T13:10:33Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > I read your initial report and at that point decided it was possibly a legit poster/thread. I didn’t revisit the thread until reading this one just now. Colibri was on top of it last night around 10PM when the shills started showing up. He moved the thread out of sight and started banning. I moved that second thread without realizing it was the same guy. I was tired. He’s gone now. > > I sympathize with your wishing to have the good info about headphones remain. I’ll see what I can do about restoring the good posts. Might take me a bit of time. its not that big a deal, I shouldn’t have said “pissed” when I was little more than “irked.” ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/7 "2013-06-06T14:32:40Z")
though I’ve seen you’ve restored it, so thank you 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/8 "2013-06-06T14:48:02Z")
Dammit, **samclem** , stop being so reasonable. You’ll set _expectations_. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/9 "2013-06-06T15:28:22Z")
Huh? vBulletin has undelete? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/10 "2013-06-06T16:42:34Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > Huh? vBulletin has undelete? I don’t know what technical capabilities the SDMB has, or what internal policies are. But on an entirely unrelated board where I _do_ have knowledge of behind-the-scenes operations, we learned (through painful experience) never to delete anything. We maintained a hidden “trash” or “limbo” location to hurl threads into, from which they could be restored if errors occurred or decisions were second-guessed. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/11 "2013-06-06T16:52:20Z")
They do have such a mods-only forum here. I’d love to see general (read-only!) access given to the thing for us peons some day (perhaps April Fools?). ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/12 "2013-06-06T17:17:59Z")
Most of it’s not that interesting, believe it or not – mostly housekeeping stuff (a crazy long thread of spammer names, email addresses, IPs). The real juicy stuff happens in the mod loop, which we do via email. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/13 "2013-06-06T17:18:49Z")
Oh, and yeah, we usually just move stuff to the mod forum rather than doing hard deletes. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/14 "2013-06-06T17:46:53Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > I sympathize with your wishing to have the good info about headphones remain. I’ll see what I can do about restoring the good posts. Might take me a bit of time. > [@jz78817](#): > > though I’ve seen you’ve restored it, so thank you 🙂 Great job, **sam**. I hated to delete the thread because there was some good info there, but there were three socks of the same spammer (who was also the OP) all complimenting each other about how great their spam was and I figured it would be a real mess to try vaporize them while still having the good posts make sense. That must have been a bit of work. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/15 "2013-06-06T18:46:13Z")
Ha! I was actually looking for that thread myself because I thought it had a lot of good info in it, despite the spam. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/16 "2013-06-06T23:03:57Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > though I’ve seen you’ve restored it, so thank you 🙂 That’s what they [del]pay[/del] me to do. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headphone-break-in-thread-in-gq/660275/17 "2013-06-07T04:06:37Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Great job, **sam**. I hated to delete the thread because there was some good info there, but there were three socks of the same spammer (who was also the OP) all complimenting each other about how great their spam was and I figured it would be a real mess to try vaporize them while still having the good posts make sense. That must have been a bit of work. I never thought of spam having support socks. Makes sense, of course. Companies and authors post “reviews” of themselves all the time. Not all sock puppets are spammers, but all spammers are sock puppets? This is a real question, since the topic is a central one and I’d like to know more watching mods in kill mode.