# I object and demand a retraction **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 11, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843 "2012-06-11T19:25:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/21 "2012-06-12T01:36:26Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > No you don’t. My gf has two horses. Gotta clean stalls regularly, keep them fed and watered. They get brushed weekly, fed twice a day, new shoes or resets on a regular basis. Vet visit for vaccines and deworming every few months. Plus their pastures need to be mowed every few months since they don’t eat fast enough. > > After all of that, we ride a few times a month due to other fun things taking up our time. > > You don’t want a pony.😃 But what if he poops candy? Can I get one then? Oh, and @ TriPolar: It was just a mod note. Move on. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/22 "2012-06-12T01:37:01Z")
This would have gone better for you if you had stated you strenuously object in the title. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/23 "2012-06-12T01:40:27Z")
It seems to me that offering a clarification would be more in order than demanding a retraction. Miller’s interpretation doesn’t seem unreasonable to me: Tripolar’s interpretation smacks of dubious loophole and technicality. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/24 "2012-06-12T01:46:42Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > This would have gone better for you if you had stated you strenuously object in the title. It’s difficult to determine the proper degree of dudgeon for this sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/25 "2012-06-12T01:54:37Z")
I would disagree on TriPolar’s claim that he did not wish harm on anyone. A wish that harm would occur is implicit in a wish to see that harm. I can’t say “I hope to someday see your murdered corpse lying by the side of the road” without wishing you to be murdered. And while death is inevitable, deterioration is not. So I also disagree with TriPolar on that issue. TriPolar was wrong and Miller was right: he did wish harm on other people. But that brings us to a point some other people have brought up which TriPolar himself did not raise in his OP. The rules prohibit threatening harm and wishing death towards another poster. TriPolar did neither. What he did was wish harm towards them. A technicality perhaps but on that narrow point, I’d say he was innocent. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/26 "2012-06-12T03:47:25Z")
As “wishing harm” goes, this seems pretty weak. Then again, an indignant demand to retract a non-warning \*is \*really inane. Sorry, I need to recuse myself from this one. ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/27 "2012-06-12T10:17:53Z")
There were a lot of dumb posts in that thread (and I can’t say anything more about that in this forum), but even I scratched my head at the non-warning. Even though the post was abrasive (again, the worst I can say about it in this forum), I would have started a thread myself about this (I was tempted to, but didn’t care enough). ---
**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 12, 2012, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/28 "2012-06-12T11:49:54Z")
Well, if **TriPolar** ’s statement was a no-no, where _does_ that leave “All Religious People Should Be Executed”? ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/29 "2012-06-12T11:59:00Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Well, if **TriPolar** ’s statement was a no-no, where _does_ that leave “All Religious People Should Be Executed”? As stated above, that’s a zombie thread (and although I wondered about it myself yesterday, I wasn’t in the mood to read through the entire thread to see if anyone got a warning back then, but I did note that the necromancer was banned). ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/30 "2012-06-12T16:36:00Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Well, if **TriPolar** ’s statement was a no-no, where _does_ that leave “All Religious People Should Be Executed”? The intent of the rule was to prevent fights between posters from breaking down to the point where they’re shouting death threats at each other. We’ve generally allowed an exception for rants about a group of people, who might be represented on the Straight Dope, and therefore, technically targeted, but aren’t called out by name or otherwise directly implicated in the rant. “All telemarketers should be shot,” would not be a violation of the rule, even though we do have some posters who are telemarketers. Similarly, a poster advocating that we should bomb Iran would not fall afoul of this rule, even if we had Iranian posters who would theoretically be killed by the bombs. “Kill all religious people,” is of a kind with that, particularly the first example. Now, one could reasonably ask why that thread didn’t take a hit under the “no hate speech” rule. Certainly, something like, “Kill all the Jews,” would not have passed muster, even in the Pit. I think a good argument could be made for ruling either way there. My view was that the thread, while offensive, was clearly hyperbole, an over the top way of saying, “we’d be better off with no religion at all,” which is certainly not an uncommon sentiment on the boards. It’s an edge case for sure, though. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/31 "2012-06-12T16:42:24Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The intent of the rule was to prevent fights between posters from breaking down to the point where they’re shouting death threats at each other. We’ve generally allowed an exception for rants about a group of people, who might be represented on the Straight Dope, and therefore, technically targeted, but aren’t called out by name or otherwise directly implicated in the rant. “All telemarketers should be shot,” would not be a violation of the rule, even though we do have some posters who are telemarketers. Similarly, a poster advocating that we should bomb Iran would not fall afoul of this rule, even if we had Iranian posters who would theoretically be killed by the bombs. “Kill all religious people,” is of a kind with that, particularly the first example. > > Now, one could reasonably ask why that thread didn’t take a hit under the “no hate speech” rule. Certainly, something like, “Kill all the Jews,” would not have passed muster, even in the Pit. I think a good argument could be made for ruling either way there. My view was that the thread, while offensive, was clearly hyperbole, an over the top way of saying, “we’d be better off with no religion at all,” which is certainly not an uncommon sentiment on the boards. It’s an edge case for sure, though. This might be the best explanation of anything by a Mod that I have ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/32 "2012-06-13T13:08:00Z")
Kudos Miller! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/33 "2012-06-13T13:45:40Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [This warning](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15155928&postcount=106) He did not target a person. Just a group of people who are included in the straight dope. How is this different than the thread about wanting to actually kill religious people? ---
**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/34 "2012-06-13T14:32:29Z")
> [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](#): > > He did not target a person. Just a group of people who are included in the straight dope. How is this different than the thread about wanting to actually kill religious people? Because, unlike Iranians, telemarketers, and all religious people, the group in this instance is comprised entirely of Dopers (not to mention they are being targeted specifically for their comments on the SDMB). ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/35 "2012-06-13T15:54:21Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I retract and demand an objection! > [@Hamilton Burger](#): > > Well, I’ll object to that, your honor. It’s incompetent, irrelevant, immaterial, and improper cross-examination, and it covers facts not in evidence. Also, my shoes hurt. Quoting from memory, I may have that just a little off. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/36 "2012-06-13T18:45:10Z")
> [@akennett](#): > > Because, unlike Iranians, telemarketers, and all religious people, the group in this instance is comprised entirely of Dopers (not to mention they are being targeted specifically for their comments on the SDMB). You’re right. It should be okay to wish death on Dopers as long as you include someone else. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/37 "2012-06-13T21:07:34Z")
> [@akennett](#): > > Because, unlike Iranians, telemarketers, and all religious people, the group in this instance is comprised entirely of Dopers (not to mention they are being targeted specifically for their comments on the SDMB). I think it’s the latter point that’s most important; if one were to read the thread which spawned the comment, one could easily identify exactly which posters TriPolar is referring to, and because of this, it’s considered wishing harm toward specific posters (just as if he’d called them out by name). Not everyone in that thread “goaded” Quasi, not everyone directly interacted with him, not everyone was worked up by his differing opinion… only the select few that TriPolar singled out. It would be like me going into the Workplace Griping thread, saying that everyone who worked in a warehouse with Shredder Guy should be covered in stinky cheese and locked in the Rat King’s lair to be eaten alive by the Rat King’s offspring in a horrible, painful, lengthy manner, and _not_ expecting all the regular posters to that thread to know exactly who I was talking about. I would rightly be warned for wishing harm on that poster. ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@Clark\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_K)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/38 "2012-06-14T05:42:40Z")
If the rule is “Do not threaten harm or wish death on another poster,” then, technically, TriPolar didn’t violate it. He or she did not threaten harm toward anyone (eg "I’ll break your neck for talking to me like that!) nor did he wish _death_ on anyone (eg "I hope you die a slow, painful death). He wished physical and/or mental deterioration on others. No threat and no wish for death = no rule broken (unless the rule is “Don’t be a jerk.”) ---
**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/39 "2012-06-14T12:45:37Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > You’re right. It should be okay to wish death on Dopers as long as you include someone else. Don’t be looking at me to defend the rules around here\* but that’s been a fairly consistent interpretation\*\* for the last while. Wishing harm on a large group that happens to include Dopers = okay. Wishing harm on specific groups of Dopers = not okay. \*Seriously, “I’m gonna punch your stupid ass for calling me a douchebag” isn’t any worse than “You’re a douchebag.” \*\* And really, we know we’re not going to get rid of the truly retarded rules that have been implemented, so a consistent application is the best we can hope for. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843/40 "2012-06-14T13:05:20Z")
> [@akennett](#): > > Don’t be looking at me to defend the rules around here\* but that’s been a fairly consistent interpretation\*\* for the last while. Wishing harm on a large group that happens to include Dopers = okay. Wishing harm on specific groups of Dopers = not okay. I do assume that it’s pointless, but this is the place to pursue the pointlessness of the rules. Never-the-less, this has nothing to do with my situation, I did not state that I wished harm on anyone. Whether or not that would be a violation of the rules, or consistently enforced is therefore irrelevant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-object-and-demand-a-retraction/624843.md?page=3)