Hey Twickster...How Was This Warning Justified?

[Xploder]

In this post: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11891431&postcount=50 Twickster issues a warning to Hajario for supposedly snarking on a post by Lynn. What really happened was that Lynn posted that she sometimes gets up in the middle of the night and eats pie from the fridge, Haj replied that there’s no wonder BMI’s are so high in America, Lynn posts back that no, really, she has a sleeping disorder and only eats cheese and crackers, Haj posts back that even if HE gets up to pee at night he doesn’t eat several hundred calories worth of cheese and crackers before going back to bed.

Here’s the exchange…

Lynn’s comment: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11885163&postcount=3

Haj’s response: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11888684&postcount=35

Lynn’s response to that: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11889542&postcount=47

Haj’s response to THAT: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11890691&postcount=48

Then we get this:

@twickster

hajario – this thread is about robe habits. Attacking someone else because of an offhand comment about snacking is a jerkish thing to do.

Warning issued.

So tell me, exactly HOW was what Haj did a jerky thing? Can you possibly do that? I don’t think so.

I also should point out that titeling a thread “How Do I Wear A Bathrobe” is just BEGGING for someone to say something snarky, which nobody did.

[Covered_In_Bees]

Are you trying to argue that Haj’s post was not snarky? Not even a little bit? That is going to be awfully difficult position to take.

I think it was snarky but that the warning was not warranted, but maybe I’m jaded from my own warning that twickster gave me yesterday. She must not have received my Christmas present yet.

[Xploder]

No it was NOT snarky…if someone posts that they throw on a bathrobe to get up in the middle of the night to EAT PIE, there’s no reason why someone shouldn’t make the comment about BMI in America.

[Freudian_Slit]

It sounded more like a throw away comment to me. Anyway I don’t really see the big deal about eating in the middle of the night if you wake up and are hungry. I have a BMI that’s close to really low and on occasion I’ve been known to eat in the middle of the night. And sometimes it’s junk food.

[Xploder]

No problem then. I’m just really curious why the warning was issued for that comment. It makes no sense at all. It’s a fact that eating right before going to bed adds fat to your body, therefore, saying something about the BMI should be okay. Unless, apparently, you’re talking about someone on this board. Someone that is an admin at that.

Seems stupid to me.

[chacoguy]

I could see this being justified if he had said

@hajario

You actually get up in the middle of the night to eat more pie? No wonder your BMI is out of control.

As it stands, well, I wish there was a tin foil hat smiley.

[Xploder]

Sort of agreed…the whole warning is ridiculous and stupid.

I still don’t see any snark in there, he had a valid point.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@Xploder

It’s a fact that eating right before going to bed adds fat to your body,

Nope, it’s almost certainly a myth.

Medical Myths: Eating Before Bed

Top 10 diet myths

Don’t Buy Into These Diet Myths

Don’t eat before you go to sleep—good advice or medical myth?

Now, what were you saying about this?

[Xploder]

Then I was wrong about that. No problem but still, getting up in the middle of the night and, admittedly, eating pie, justifies a response.

[twickster]

To quote the full exchange, for those who can’t be arsed to follow a slew of links:

At post #3, **Lynn **said the following:

@Lynn_Bodoni

My immediate family used bathrobes when I was growing up, and my parents still do. I own one, but rarely use it for its intended purpose.

**You’re supposed to throw on a bathrobe when you get up in the middle of the night to pee and/or eat that last slice of pie in the fridge. ** Because your pajamas are practically UNDERWEAR, and it would just be too embarrassing to be seen in your PJs, even by your parents/children. For kids’ sleepovers, bathrobes are essential. Bathrobes are also handy if your house is chilly, and your PJs are warm enough while you’re under the covers, but too cold when you wander around the house. I usually use my bathrobe for this. I also use it for when I’m not sleeping at home, because I customarily sleep in just my panties, and most people just would rather that I cover up if I need to make that potty run. Usually I use it if I need to stay in the hospital, because I really don’t think those gowns do a good job of covering me up. While I don’t care if complete strangers see me in my skivvies, most of those strangers would prefer to be spared that sight.

A bathrobe is also a good idea for when the house catches on fire in the middle of the night…you’re dressed enough that you won’t be cited for public lewdness, but they’re very easy to grab and toss on when you’re in a hurry.

At post #35, hajario excerpts the bolded sentence (a humorous aside in a series of scenarios about when one might wear a robe) and comments:

@hajario

People actually get up in the middle of the night to eat more pie? No wonder BMIs in this country are out of control.

Lynn responds:

@Lynn_Bodoni

My father and brother and I are all intermittent sleepers, we will wake up after about four hours of sleep, unless we’ve been heavily sedated. And by heavy sedation, I mean a lot of Demerol or something similar. Even with Demerol, I’ll have to wake up in the middle of the night to pee, unless I also have a catheter for urine.

Usually, when I wake up, I’m pretty hungry, too, and I know from experience that I can’t sleep if I’m cold, have to pee, or I’m hungry. So usually I will eat some cheese and crackers…I generally don’t keep pie in the house. I’ll only have a single slice when I’m eating out.

But go right ahead and keep jumping to conclusions. The exercise is good for you.

And we finish with the post I warned hajario for:

@hajario

I get up in the middle of the night to pee too but I don’t snarf down hundreds of calories after doing so. My BMI is 21 and I work out regularly. I am well aware of the benefits of exercise and clearly I am not the one who needs more of it.

hajario went out of his way to comment on one sentence from a much longer post with a self-righteous remark, Lynn responded testily, and hajario came back with another swipe comparing other people’s eating habits with his own superior lifestyle choices.

It seemed clearly jerkish to me to interrupt a thread about bathrobes to snark on overweight people, so I warned him. hajario accepted the warning with equanimity.

ETA: The two posts immediately above this were not there when I started writing my own post.

[Freudian_Slit]

@Xploder

Then I was wrong about that. No problem but still, getting up in the middle of the night and, admittedly, eating pie, justifies a response.

Why?

[Xploder]

Hey whatever. Just more of the same inconsistency in moderation. A throwaway joke, (which was also true), now deserves a formal warning. Nice.

[C_K_Dexter_Haven]

“It was only a joke, officer” has never been an acceptable excuse here for misbehaviors.

[RaftPeople]

@Xploder

No problem then. I’m just really curious why the warning was issued for that comment. It makes no sense at all. It’s a fact that eating right before going to bed adds fat to your body, therefore, saying something about the BMI should be okay. Unless, apparently, you’re talking about someone on this board. Someone that is an admin at that.

Seems stupid to me.

I actually think the mod went a little easy on this one. If I were a mod I probably would have banned hijario purely on the grounds of posting inane information about his/her BMI and exercise habits.

[xash]

@chacoguy

I could see this being justified if he had said

@hajario

You actually get up in the middle of the night to eat more pie? No wonder your BMI is out of control.

As it stands, well, I wish there was a tin foil hat smiley.

chacoguy, I understand that you made clear that hajario didn’t actually say that, and your edit was relevant to the discussion, but please note that we do not allow edits inside a quote tag. If you wish to change the content of someone’s actual post, please use the quotation marks instead.

-xash
Administrator

[Giraffe]

I found the warning fairly strange as well. I think what bothers me about it is that I think if it were different people and/or a different topic, no warning would have been issued. Imagine the same exchange, but with two random posters whom twickster doesn’t know from Adam and the disputed topic being smoking instead of eating/obesity:

Poster A: I throw on a robe to get up in the middle of the night to smoke a cigarette.

Poster B: People actually wake up and smoke? No wonder cigarette sales in this country are so high.

Poster A: I don’t sleep well, and once I’m awake I can’t fall asleep without a cigarette. Don’t let that stop you from judging me.

Poster B: I’m a bad sleeper, too, but I still don’t feel the need to give myself cancer. [Some comment about judges which is analogous to the exercise exchange which I’m not clever enough to think of right now.]

Does anyone think a warning would have been issued to poster B for that? (I post way more in IMHO than MPSIMS, so I don’t actually know what the norm is there for disagreement, but I’ve seen people commenting on each other’s choices and habits in IMHO with far stronger language than that.) And if not, are people’s unhealthy eating habits and/or weight issues more off limits for us to comment on than other habits and/or beliefs?

[MOIDALIZE]

Has a fatwa been issued?

[pseudotriton_ruber_ruber]

No, just a normal BMI wa.

[SkipMagic]

Different people involved (specifically, I’m assuming, a non-staff member)? I think a warning would have been warranted and issued; in fact, based on past experience, we would have heard complaints–publicly or privately–if a mod hadn’t stepped in to say something. In this case I see it as treating Lynn like every other poster instead of letting it slide because she’s a mod.

Different topic? Depends on the topic. As it is, however, hajario made a couple of pokes at someone’s weight in a thread not even discussing weight. Like it or not, weight is a pretty personal issue, and focusing on one throwaway line just to drag the (sensitive) topic up is borderline jerkish. Continuing to harp on it like he did was definitely jerkish.

[SmartAleq]

@SkipMagic

As it is, however, hajario made a couple of pokes at someone’s weight in a thread not even discussing weight.

He did nothing of the sort. He made a general comment that Lynn twisted to be personal to her, and included a gratuitous insult. For which she hasn’t been warned, I note. Also of note, if it’s against the rules to talk about Lynn being fat, she ought to be banned by now because she’s the one who brings up her fat, her digestion, how often she shits and what it smells/looks/smears like, mentions fucking CATHETERS in that post under discussion, for gods sake, and in general spends quite a lot of time and effort rubbing other people’s noses in her bodily functions. So, please, by all means, MAKE it a banning offense to say anything at all about the fat, eating habits and any and all other TMI regarding the corpus Bodoni, and in true Dope style make it retroactive–and get that big old ban stick out and smack Lynn upside the noggin with it, because she’s the biggest offender.