# I pit OpalCat - but my heart's not really in it. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 12, 2011, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872 "2011-12-12T03:17:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/1 "2011-12-12T03:17:16Z")
**OpalCat** , I actually kinda like you, but your intellectually laziness makes me bang my head against the wall so much when we exchange posts that I now have a knot on my forehead and blood stains on my drywall. This pit stems from this thread: [News on a much-debated topic: Do wolves kill people?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=634054) The question in the OP mildly interested me, so I did a quick google search and posted “Wikipedia, for what it’s worth, says ..” and put in a link to the wikipedia table for “List of Fatal Wolf Attacks”. Remember that. It took me maybe five minutes to find it. In response from **OpalCat** I get this: > [@OpalCat](#): > > How many fatalities? That’s her response to viewing a table titled “fatal wolf attacks” OK, that’s just fucking stupid. The title of the damn table answers that question. I got a touch snarky and posted “Really, Opal? Would it kill you to actually read the link? It’s a wikipedia article, fer Christ sakes.” I was a bit frustrated because, c’mon. It’s the title of the damn table. I’m really not trying hard at this point - it’s two one line posts on my part and wikipedia link. Then she posts a six paragraph thing telling me she’s been up all day, it would take her 45 minutes to read a one page wikipedia article, she can’t be bothered to read a table and apparently, I’m her mom. > [@OpalCat](#): > > You remind me of my mother. When I’d ask her how to spell a word, she’d make me look it up in the dictionary even though she knew how to spell it. I can understand o have to make that for little kids, to teach them how a dictionary works, but this is when I was in my teens. It’s asking someone to repeat research when you know full and well what the answer is. (Or if you didn’t, you could say that and suggest politely that the wikipedia article might contain that info.) I’m not sure her mom’s teachings took. The above is just a small part of what she posted. She spent more time defending herself for not reading the link than it would of taken her to actually read the link. That’s frustrating. She was called on her intellectual laziness due to her refusal to look around after the link and says: > [@OpalCat](#): > > Well to be fair, it goes to just below the title that explains that is what section it is. Jesus Fucking Christ. I think next time anybody tries to give **OpalCat** a factoid they are going to make airplane sounds because she doesn’t seem to tolerate normal spoon feeding. ---
**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:** [December 12, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/2 "2011-12-12T03:31:44Z")
I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t want to wade through a bunch of tables at 12:39 am to find which ones died in North America, either. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/3 "2011-12-12T03:38:09Z")
I agree with Lute. If someone had already read the article, whatever it’s size and could easily give me the answer, I’d ask them. It seems a reasonable question, and folks getting hot at each other about that sort of thing turns far too many interesting threads into train wrecks. I can understand someone not being eager to read a cite a listed, but how about we just all let this one go? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/4 "2011-12-12T03:40:29Z")
This isn’t really the end of the world. Not sure it deserves a pitting. Still, i did love this bit: > [@News on a much-debated topic: Do wolves kill people?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-on-a-much-debated-topic-do-wolves-kill-people/605406/15): > > I don’t come to MPSIMS to spend 45 minutes on a Wikipedia site trying to piece together the heresay from the verified stuff, etc, or to do lots of reasearch, especially when it looks like someone else already did exactly that and it would be much faster to just ask. She apparently does, however, come to MPSIMS to spend 20 minutes typing about how she doesn’t come to MPSIMS to spend 45 minutes on a Wikipedia site. 🙂 And there’s no such thing as “heresay,” unless it’s some strange new portmanteau of “hearsay” and “heresy.” ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/5 "2011-12-12T03:44:41Z")
**Opal** has a consistent history of asking questions that could easily be answered with only a little more Googling effort on her part than it takes to type the question in to the forum. To demand that information be pre-digested and feed to her like pap because of some supposed childhood trauma (is there ANYTHING that doesn’t cause her trauma?) is intellectual laziness. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/6 "2011-12-12T03:46:59Z")
Huh, I had assumed this Pit thread was going to be about her recent [del]amphetamine[/del] inane posting binge. Anyone who has been on this board for a while quickly learns the futility of trying to help Opal. It becomes sort of fun, actually, watching clueless newbies earnestly offer up advice and assistance, only to be puzzled when it’s all rejected or ignored for not being exactly quite what she was looking for. (I’m pretty sure Opal thinks this board is the computer from Star Trek, where you just tell it what you want and it goes off and figures everything out for you.) But the new avalanche of blah blah is something new and unpleasant. My personal theory is that it has something to do with the recent threads on taking her son’s ADD meds, trying to get prescription drugs from Canada, and having a really high tolerance for pain medication all of a sudden, but that could just be a series of coincidences. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/7 "2011-12-12T03:47:22Z")
I haven’t been to the wolf thread in question, but Opal’s question in the dingo thread ate my baby. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/8 "2011-12-12T03:47:24Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > **Opal** has a consistent history of asking questions that could easily be answered with only a little more Googling effort on her part than it takes to type the question in to the forum. To demand that information be pre-digested and feed to her like pap because of some supposed childhood trauma (is there ANYTHING that doesn’t cause her trauma?) is intellectual laziness. Yeah, but that one time she said that thing! How great would it have been if Perry said commerce, education, and Hi Opal? ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/9 "2011-12-12T03:47:29Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t want to wade through a bunch of tables at 12:39 am to find which ones died in North America, either. It’s one table. One. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/10 "2011-12-12T03:47:41Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > And there’s no such thing as “heresay,” unless it’s some strange new portmanteau of “hearsay” and “heresy.” It’s heresy that someone else tells you about. I know the word because her mom made me look it up in a dictionary during a football game once. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/11 "2011-12-12T03:55:38Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > It’s heresy that someone else tells you about. I know the word because her mom made me look it up in a dictionary during a football game once. Jesus, you sound like Mrs. Puryear, my ninth (or was it eighth?) grade English teacher. By now she is probably bitching at the Devil for announcing upon her arrival to Hell, “I’ts me!”, instead of, “It is I!” and he regrets the day he say her. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/12 "2011-12-12T03:57:17Z")
People, just answer the damn question. Is that so hard? It’s Hungry Like the Wolf, by Duran Duran. Sheesh! ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/13 "2011-12-12T03:58:19Z")
**Giraffe** , I didn’t mention the crazed uptick in posts because really, what’s the point? Everybody sees it, but nobody wants to comment on it because she’ll just offer reason after reason after reason that she’s doing it. What I REALLY enjoy is watching her turn almost every single thread into The Opal Show. Thread from a parent asking for advice about a bullying situation? Opal was bullied, and she’ll tell you ALL about it, in detail, before getting around to a possible relevant point. Thread about a woman escaping from a shallow grave? Why, Opal just happens to have someone in her family that did the exact same thing, what a coincidence! Every damn thread. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/14 "2011-12-12T04:06:27Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I agree with Lute. > If someone had already read the article, whatever it’s size and could easily give me the answer, I’d ask them. It seems a reasonable question, and folks getting hot at each other about that sort of thing turns far too many interesting threads into train wrecks. > I can understand someone not being eager to read a cite a listed, but how about we just all let this one go? 🙂 I’m not letting this go because even though I like her, she really needs to stop this shit. My first post already answered her question. I said: > [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > Wikipedia, for what it’s worth, lists 12 wolf attacks on humans worldwide since 2003, only two of which were in North America. And links to the table of fatal wolf attacks. I honestly don’t know how to answer “how many fatal attacks” better than that. It’s twelve! I said twelve! ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/15 "2011-12-12T04:09:36Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I agree with Lute. > If someone had already read the article, whatever it’s size and could easily give me the answer, I’d ask them. It seems a reasonable question, and folks getting hot at each other about that sort of thing turns far too many interesting threads into train wrecks. > I can understand someone not being eager to read a cite a listed, but how about we just all let this one go? 🙂 This is nonsense. Someone provided a link to a source of information, and we’re supposed to be okay with people saying “I don’t wanna read that. Read it for me, and understand it for me, and then tell me in short words, because my mommy made me look things up and it’s traumatic for me”? And the reason why she keeps doing it is because everybody “lets it go,” because that’s just Opal. Nonsense, I say. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/16 "2011-12-12T04:36:58Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > **OpalCat** , I actually kinda like you, but your intellectually laziness makes me bang my head against the wall so much when we exchange posts that I now have a knot on my forehead and blood stains on my drywall. It’s intellectual laziness. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/17 "2011-12-12T04:38:29Z")
I too like Opal but this pitting is hilarious so far. In the meantime, can somebody PLEASE explain the Hi Opal! meme thing to me? I have tried to research it, but to no avail. A PM would be really nice. Thanks! ---
**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:** [December 12, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/18 "2011-12-12T04:39:02Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > It’s one table. One. In six parts? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/19 "2011-12-12T04:39:39Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > This is nonsense. Someone provided a link to a source of information, and we’re supposed to be okay with people saying “I don’t wanna read that. Read it for me, and understand it for me, and then tell me in short words, because my mommy made me look things up and it’s traumatic for me”? > > And the reason why she keeps doing it is because everybody “lets it go,” because that’s just Opal. > > Nonsense, I say. Eh, she thought the chart was something different then it was and asked for a summary. Its like the worlds most minor misunderstanding, I’m not really sure of the need to spend 10+ posts rubbing her face in it. > [@](#): > > And the reason why she keeps doing it is because everybody “lets it go,” because that’s just Opal. The alternative appears to be 10+ posts trying to psychoanalyze Opal before someone finally moved it to the Pit. I’m not sure thats really an awesome improvement over just posting to clarify things (or if you don’t want to do that, ignore her). But I guess if you really feel its necessary, I wish you’d move it to the pit faster so those of us that aren’t as fascinated with her as you guys are could go back to the original thread without having to wade through all the blah blah. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/20 "2011-12-12T04:43:37Z")
i’ve toyed with the idea of pitting opal myself recently, but frankly found it an overwhelming prospect because there’s just so much to address. so i’ll say a few things here. opal, get help. i’ve expressed this opinion in other threads, but i’ll say it again. you’ve gone on an insane posting binge over the last month, and whether it’s from a manic high or speed or a combination of both, i don’t know, but when you crash, and you will, it’s going to be ugly. you like to say that people are judging you on your past board meltdowns, but really, the only one who brings that stuff up is you. what people judge you on is a clearly established pattern of behavior that you’ve displayed over the years. also, whenever anyone with a non-1999 join date points this out, you blow them off with a “you weren’t here then, so you don’t know what you’re talking about.” sure they do. plenty of people lurk, some for a long time, before joining and posting. you are the attention whore to end all attention whores. and again, when confronted with this fact, your response is simple: “no i’m not” or “i don’t intend to attract attention when i post”. bull-fucking-shit. we’ve been subjected to details of your bowel movements, the fact that you have hair on your nipples, what kind of porn you enjoy, and on and on and on. i realize this board does a lot of TMI type stuff, but you really take it to a different level. the amount of information people who pay attention know about you at this point, from the mundane to major life decisions, is mind boggling. and then there’s this: > [@OpalCat](#): > > You remind me of my mother. When I’d ask her how to spell a word, she’d make me look it up in the dictionary even though she knew how to spell it. I can understand o have to make that for little kids, to teach them how a dictionary works, but this is when I was in my teens. It’s asking someone to repeat research when you know full and well what the answer is. (Or if you didn’t, you could say that and suggest politely that the wikipedia article might contain that info.) this is one of many posts you’ve made recently bemoaning things you endured in your childhood, like when you had to make your own tv dinners or weren’t allowed to talk during sports games. you’re blatantly playing the victim card, over stuff that in no way, shape, or form constitutes abuse. you don’t want to take responsibility for your actions and your issues. never once have i seen you, when confronted with some sort of behavior of yours, admit to any kind of wrongdoing or make any attempt to change. no, you simply defend yourself by blaming your childhood issues or your mental issues or whatever the fuck issues you’re currently harping on about. (by the way, this is not the say i don’t believe you have any kind of issues stemming from your mother’s behavior. i don’t know enough to say that. the stuff you’ve brought up just reeks of “feel sorry for me”) frankly i’m quite amazed that this is only like the second time you’ve been pitted. i’ve seen threads from 2002 that read like they could have been written yesterday, and vice versa. this shit has been going on for years. you’re just more on the radar lately because of the posting spree you’ve gone on. yes, there are many high post count members here, but we’re talking like an average of 50 posts a day, many of which are asking people to do things for you: shop for you, browse web sites for you, read things for you, etc. it’s ridiculous. which makes for a nice segue to: people, quit enabling her. it amazes me that after making such a ridiculous request as “go to [cracked.com](http://cracked.com) and find 5 articles you feel are representative of the site overall and link them here, kthx” that _people actually do it for her._ i do realize that many posters aren’t familiar with her history and her persona on this board, but a lot of you do, and treating her with kid gloves isn’t doing her any favors. i will say it again: get help. for the sake of the child you’re raising, who at this stage in his life needs a strong role model more than ever, please get it. you just love to bitch about the damage your mother inflicted on you- don’t do the same to him. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872.md?page=2)