# Manny, why was this a bad thread? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 25, 2000, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manny-why-was-this-a-bad-thread/38258 "2000-10-25T14:51:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manny-why-was-this-a-bad-thread/38258/21 "2000-10-25T21:46:30Z")
> [@](#): > > While Free Speech rights do not exist from the board to the members, they DO exist to the Reader from the government. Perhaps one of the lawyers on the board could explain that a bit better than I can, but I think the “legal doo-doo” argument doesn’t wash here. IANAL, but there are an awful lot of situations where the 1st Amendment Protections of the press and speech are waived or superceded. While that’s fine in cases of child pornography, say, it sucks that it also holds true for other crimes, including drug crimes. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manny-why-was-this-a-bad-thread/38258/22 "2000-10-25T21:47:56Z")
And **Silo** , if you can come up with a hard and fast set of posting guidelines that allow the kind of expression we value here and that eliminate all gray areas, I’d love to see it. No, really. I’m all ears. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manny-why-was-this-a-bad-thread/38258/23 "2000-10-25T21:50:45Z")
Bah! I say, close 'em all, and let Tuba sort 'em out!! ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manny-why-was-this-a-bad-thread/38258/24 "2000-10-25T21:58:41Z")
I closed the thread because it seemed to me that the OP was soliciting more a buyers’ guide and less actual ignorance eradication. If it had read something like “I read in _Time_ about the differing strength of marijuana by region, and I’m curious to know if there are reasons beyond quality of cultivation – i.e., climate, soil conditions, etc. that may influence the amount of THC in each plant,” I probably would have let it go. (But, wiseguys, I won’t if you open one in the next week or so!) But it didn’t. It had a flavor of “hey, dude, what’s the best weed?” Even if we tolerated that kind of thread, it would belong in IMHO. When I say that with different phrasing I might have left it open, I mean that I might have left it open at least until its inevitable hijack by the people who prefer that there be _no_ drug threads in GQ (that’s my interpretation of why someone would be so stupid as to take a thread down a track that will obviously make me close it). For example, I left [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=43154), about the relative potency of cocaine by method of ingestion, open until people started chiming in with “Hey, if you _really_ want to get stoned, try it this way.” It’s posts like that that make me edgy about _any_ thread having to do with illegal matters. Please feel free to drag folks to the Pit when I close a thread because it has wandered in an improper direction. The distinction I’m trying to draw holds for the hooker thread (I assume; I didn’t read it). “I’m hiring a hooker; let’s talk about it” is permissible (in MPSIMS, please). “What methods or entrapment are legal for the police to use” is permissible. “Help me find a good ho without getting busted” will get closed. It’s a judgment call, of course. Having reviewed the thread again, I stand by my decision. ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manny-why-was-this-a-bad-thread/38258/25 "2000-10-25T22:08:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by manhattan \* > \*\*I closed the thread because it seemed to me that the OP was soliciting more a buyers’ guide and less actual ignorance eradication. [snip] > > The distinction I’m trying to draw holds for the hooker thread (I assume; I didn’t read it). “I’m hiring a hooker; let’s talk about it” is permissible (in MPSIMS, please). “What methods or entrapment are legal for the police to use” is permissible. “Help me find a good ho without getting busted” will get closed. > > It’s a judgment call, of course. Having reviewed the thread again, I stand by my decision. \*\* Fair enough. I disagree with your decision, but I accept the rationale. It comes down to a matter of interpretation of the offending thread, and hey, yer the mod, so I have no problem with defering to your interpretation. Pax, Sua ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manny-why-was-this-a-bad-thread/38258/26 "2000-10-25T23:55:22Z")
Hey, uh, I’m in Troy, New York. Anyone know where I can score some weed around here? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manny-why-was-this-a-bad-thread/38258/27 "2000-10-26T00:10:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by waterj2 \* > \*\*Hey, uh, I’m in Troy, New York. Anyone know where I can score some weed around here? > > 😉 \*\* Go to 255 57th Street, Apartment 704. Ask for Lupe. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manny-why-was-this-a-bad-thread/38258/28 "2000-10-26T00:17:27Z")
manhattan, Did you say the best weed had a flavor? Sorry, I’m hard of hearing. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manny-why-was-this-a-bad-thread/38258/29 "2000-10-26T00:41:22Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Satan_ > **But you didn’t return my e-mails, Alpha!** Heh. Here’s a tip. Don’t accuse someone of being a dirty hippie if your own hairstyle vaguely resembles that of the flute player from Jethro Tull. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manny-why-was-this-a-bad-thread/38258/30 "2000-10-26T12:45:34Z")
That’s “Ian Anderson”, Alpha. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manny-why-was-this-a-bad-thread/38258/31 "2000-10-26T14:57:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > **Cecil, Little Ed,** and **manhattan** are led out of the Cook County Courthouse in iron chains and leg-shackles, to labor in the ice-and-salt mines beneath Lake Michigan forevermore. Well, at least we’d know for sure that **Cecil** and **Ed** are two different people… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manny-why-was-this-a-bad-thread/38258/32 "2000-10-26T15:50:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SuaSponte \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by waterj2 \* > > \*\*Hey, uh, I’m in Troy, New York. Anyone know where I can score some weed around here? > > > > 😉 \*\* > > Go to 255 57th Street, Apartment 704. Ask for Lupe. 😛 > > \*\* Don’t listen to **Sua**. He’s nuts. You can get the best weed in Troy by going to 55 State St. Ask for “Sarge.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manny-why-was-this-a-bad-thread/38258/33 "2000-10-26T19:28:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Da Ace \* > > **Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan > > The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered As a Downhill Motor Race** > > Ya stole these from J.G. Ballard, you stinker! \*\* Jeez, **Uke** , is there any literary reference you _don’t_ get? Just once, I’d like to hit one out of the park… ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manny-why-was-this-a-bad-thread/38258/34 "2000-10-26T19:50:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Da Ace \* > > [BJeez, Uke, is there any literary reference you _don’t_ get? Just once, I’d like to hit one out of the park… \*\* Ya stole that from [Bob Costas](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767904656/o/qid=972589787/sr=2-1/103-0349852-4815816), you stinker! * * * Yer pal, [Satan](http://www.members.tripod.com/jmspoofe/sdmb/satan.jpg) \*I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR: Six months, two weeks, three days, 17 hours, 55 minutes and 18 seconds. 8029 cigarettes not smoked, saving $1,003.73. Extra life with Drain Bead: 3 weeks, 6 days, 21 hours, 5 minutes. **I slept with a REPUBLICAN moderator!** \* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manny-why-was-this-a-bad-thread/38258.md?page=1)