# KGS: sad. SDMB: sadder. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 23, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107 "2008-11-23T16:04:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/141 "2008-11-29T18:01:38Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > She is? Hmm…she argues like a man. Oh well, it happens. > > (And she could still have a wife, you know.) Your aura reading ability can’t suss out something so fundamental as a person’s gender? ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/142 "2008-11-29T18:04:25Z")
Not to harp on this, but how many dudes have imaginary magical friends named ‘Nathaniel’? ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/143 "2008-11-29T18:19:50Z")
> [@Ensign\_Edison](#): > > Not to harp on this, but how many dudes have imaginary magical friends named ‘Nathaniel’? What would you name yours then? ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/144 "2008-11-29T18:21:19Z")
Sebastian. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/145 "2008-11-29T18:44:42Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > It’s unlikely that someone with as much training in psychology as a teacher would have would fail to see those statements as being over the line for someone just out of a mental hospital. How ironic – I find your statement far more offensive and ignorant that anything **Rubystreak** ever said. Do you really think that someone from a so-called “mental” hospital is inferior by design? Because that’s what you’re implying. > [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Your aura reading ability can’t suss out something so fundamental as a person’s gender? Of course not – auras are an extension of someone’s psychology, not their biology. We all have masculine and feminine sides, after all. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/146 "2008-11-29T18:48:55Z")
> [@Ensign\_Edison](#): > > Sebastian. Nice choice! Classy, with a touch of the rake about town. I like Arthur, myself.\* - Me speaking, personally and such. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/147 "2008-11-29T19:10:10Z")
Well, my dog calls me “Albert” sometimes. But he’s not crazy, that’s just his sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/148 "2008-11-29T19:19:45Z")
If Hamadryad and jsgoddess, who are not charter members of my fan club, and KGS, whom I’ve supposedly humiliated, are defending me, Zoe, then I think perhaps a person possessed of as much wisdom as you claim to be might consider the wrongness of her position. I am able to separate my life in the SDMB Pit from my life as a teacher. You, however, cannot separate reality from your little grudge against me. You are making yourself look stupid. You can stop anytime. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/149 "2008-11-29T20:12:51Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > You are making yourself look stupid. You can stop anytime. I have my doubts that she can. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/150 "2008-11-30T00:27:07Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Of course our schools are full of teachers these days that shouldn’t have received a high school diploma. Standards have deteriorated terribly Wow, now I shouldn’t have received a high school diploma, much less a teaching certificate, because I made Zoe mad on the SDMB. Thank god she’s an irrelevant, bitter old nutcase whose only outlet is posting nasty shit on the internet, and not someone who gets to make these decisions out in the real world. > [@](#): > > Now with the other person accused of not being a professor, that was not a matter of being psychic. That was a matter of not being ignorant. Ah, but you WERE ignorant, because he IS a professor, and apparently you have chosen to remain ignorant and are still insisting that you’re right about this. There’s no hope for you, then, as you will ignore reality and distort it to suit your own uninformed opinion. Turnabout is fair play: if you think you’re conducting yourself up to snuff with professional standards based on what you’ve posted in the Pit, then you’re just about as deluded as you claim KGS is. And I have to tell you, as much as I think he’s full of shit, he’s got a hell of a lot more class than you do. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/151 "2008-11-30T08:00:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **Zoe** > Of course our schools are full of teachers these days that shouldn’t have received a high school diploma. Standards have deteriorated terribly. > [@](#): > > **Rubystreak** : Wow, now I shouldn’t have received a high school diploma, much less a teaching certificate, because I made Zoe mad… Not everything is about you, Rubystreak. And I couldn’t have been referring to you anyway. I was talking about teachers. I don’t think of you that way. And you haven’t made me mad. Why would I be mad? Have I done any name-calling? It is just an opinion. If you will notice, I haven’t asked you any of the questions that would separate the sheep from the goats. I’m not interested in proving my opinion to be a point of fact. And you know that I bear you no ill will. The last thing that I said to you before you posted this was to wish you happy holidays spent with those that you love and I wished you peace. You just want someone to batter around. That can be addicting, you know. Standards for _beginning_ teachers really are lower now. The National Teachers’ Exam hasn’t been required in decades. Standards for students are lower too. These facts don’t mean that there aren’t excellent teachers and students still found in public schools. > [@](#): > > **Rubystreak** : …then you’re just about as deluded as you claim KGS is. Where have I claimed that KGS is “deluded”? > [@](#): > > **Rubystreak** : …then I think perhaps a person possessed of as much wisdom as you claim to be might consider the wrongness of her position. Where have I claimed to be possessed of this wisdom you refer to? > [@](#): > > **KGS** : Do you really think that someone from a so-called “mental” hospital is inferior by design? Because that’s what you’re implying. No, KGS. I don’t think that people who have been hospitalized for mental illness are inferior. I didn’t imply that; you inferred it. I don’t have any idea what I said that you inferred it from. I have been an advocate for the mentally ill at the SDMB for the last six years. Most mental illnesses have physical causes anyway. I am aware that for many patients (not all) the period shortly after they leave the hospital is a very vulnerable time. There is a higher incidence of suicide during that period than at other times. If you were offended, it is because you misunderstood. Since **Rubystreak** knows that I’m not actually mad at her and since **jsgoddess** likes to snip at my heels wherever I go, but does no harm and I don’t know most of the others, I’m not going to remain present in this thread to defend myself. I don’t need to for those who matter to me. I love the holidays too much to ruin them with pretend battles. As I’ve said to **Rubystreak** before, I think she places too much value on my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/152 "2008-11-30T08:52:32Z")
I have a sinking feeling that this thread may extend to 15 pages too, just as its parent thread. The crux of the matter is that these braindead farts _enjoy_ being pitted (see **KGS** ’s gleeful bragging upthread). And the OP has sock written all over him. ---
**Author:** ![Aswan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Aswan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aswan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/153 "2008-11-30T15:24:22Z")
So I am a “sock” or a “troll” because I ask for common decency in what I see as brutish behavior on what is otherwise a fairly civilized message board. After two or three pages, everyone knew what was going to happen. Fifteen pages was an obscene orgy of self gratifying flagellation. It reflected poorly on the SDMB and I pointed that out. But apparently to this board, I was just trying to “stir things up” and bring attention to myself. Sad. Full disclosure: had I seen the thread earlier, I would have posted to it directly. In hindsight, this would have been more appropriate. And I do apologize for breaking the de facto rules of the pit. I did not resort to profanity, vulgarity, invective, personal attacks, name calling, or word twisting to suit my own purposes, as did most of the thread respondents. Someone states an opinion and is vilified because it does not fit the group mentality: this is fighting ignorance? I merely stated an observation and pointed out what might have been a more suitable response from the SDMB. My bad, I suppose, for misjudging the reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/154 "2008-11-30T16:11:07Z")
> [@Aswan](#): > > So I am a “sock” or a “troll” because I ask for common decency in what I see as brutish behavior on what is otherwise a fairly civilized message board. You’re by no means the first new poster who has decided on a quixotic mission to improve the Pit. You won’t be the last. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/155 "2008-11-30T16:55:13Z")
[QUOTE=Aswan] And I do apologize for breaking the de facto rules of the pit. I did not resort to profanity, vulgarity, invective, personal attacks, name calling, or word twisting to suit my own purposes, as did most of the thread respondents. Someone states an opinion and is vilified because it does not fit the group mentality: this is fighting ignorance? I merely stated an observation and pointed out what might have been a more suitable response from the SDMB. My bad, I suppose, for misjudging the reaction. [/QUOTE] There, there, Aswan. I don’t think you’re a troll. I think you’re a sanctimonious ass. You came blaring into the Pit, your major point being your own moral superiority. You flung yourself, metaphorical arms wide, in defense of someone who neither needed nor wanted it. You made a fool of yourself. Which would be okay because it goes along with being human. Your problem is chronic self-righteousness. Take, for example, your asinine pseudo-apology quoted above. Not a word of truth in it. The Pit is the one forum where certain rules are relaxed, i.e. it’s the only forum where flaming is allowed. There are no de facto rules about “profanity, vulgarity, invective, personal attacks, name calling, or word twisting to suit my own purposes.” You didn’t “post an observation”, you fatuous twit. You started a Pit thread specifically to dress down other posters for behavior you don’t like. You picked the fight, bunky. Some posters, KGS demonstrably among them, enjoy heated, toe-to-toe arguments. Your delicate sensibilities would be best suited to the kitten threads in MPSIMS. And Zoe has officially wigged out. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/156 "2008-11-30T17:25:46Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > I have been an advocate for the mentally ill at the SDMB for the last six years. Most mental illnesses have physical causes anyway. Well, that’s a scary statement. Typical, but scary. Seems like nobody wants to bother “curing” so-called mental illness anymore. Freudian psychology has fallen out of favor, replaced by chronic medical management – it’s far more profitable, after all. Not to mention the self-satisfaction it gives so-called “mental advocates” who parrot these lies and think to themselves, “At least I’m not like them.” You should try spending 72 hours in county lockdown someday. The nurses don’t even respect you as a human being there. Some do, but most don’t. Maybe some of the patients there have genuine issues, but for quite a few (like myself), it seems more like they were hospitalized because their Jesus Freak parents felt they were an inconvenience, or they posed a threat to their familial status quo. It happens far more often than you’d think; for all I know, you see these cases every single day, and choose to ignore them. ---
**Author:** ![Aswan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Aswan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aswan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/157 "2008-11-30T17:27:38Z")
Sanctimonious ass. Okay, if that’s what it’s called here. > [@TVeblen](#): > > The Pit is the one forum where certain rules are relaxed, i.e. it’s the only forum where flaming is allowed. There are no de facto rules about “profanity, vulgarity, invective, personal attacks, name calling, or word twisting to suit my own purposes.” Amusing. Your difficulty is in reading comprehension. Posters typicaly apologize for \*not \*using such devices because they are \*expected \*in the Pit. I didn’t and similarly apologized for it. But then, I’m a sanctimonious ass so you have that expectation going in. I don’t have delicate sensibilities, by the way. I simply don’t believe the person who can shout the loudest is necessarily right. Merely obnoxious. And Frank, I agree. But sooner or later, there will be. More likely, though, the latter rather than the former. Quixotic is the perfect word. As Damon Runyon put it, “The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong—but that’s the way to bet.” ---
**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 30, 2008, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/158 "2008-11-30T17:31:52Z")
> [@Aswan](#): > > I simply don’t believe the person who can shout the loudest is necessarily right. Merely obnoxious. Damn, **Aswan**. That’s profound. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/159 "2008-11-30T17:41:45Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > You should try spending 72 hours in county lockdown someday. The nurses don’t even respect you as a human being there. Some do, but most don’t. Maybe some of the patients there have genuine issues, but for quite a few (like myself), it seems more like they were hospitalized because their Jesus Freak parents felt they were an inconvenience, or they posed a threat to their familial status quo. It happens far more often than you’d think; for all I know, you see these cases every single day, and choose to ignore them. I thought you were hospitalized because you were in a mania, stopped eating, drinking or sleeping and your friends were worried for your life. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107/160 "2008-11-30T17:46:00Z")
> [@Ensign\_Edison](#): > > I thought you were hospitalized because you were in a mania, stopped eating, drinking or sleeping and your friends were worried for your life. I find that frequently, past explanations change based on current perceived needs. Or there were different reasons for different involuntary holds. Or both. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kgs-sad-sdmb-sadder/474107.md?page=9)