Man, do I feel silly now. Consider ignorance fought.
Fair enough. Full marks to you for chivalry, I suppose.
Personally, I’m astonished that the thread has gotten up to three pages already (or at all). I’ll be candid. I lasted through about six of the OP’s posts before I decided I had better things to do with my internets time. As to the Dope’s characteristic detailed countering of the off-beat idea, well, not everything is really worth the effort.
I’m pretty sure that if Jack Dean Tyler were to come back with another pitch for the Tug-Ahoy, he wouldn’t get the deluxe treatment, either.
Some things are just too stupid to merit a reasoned response. There is little qualitative difference between that OP and the Troofers, the Moon Hoaxers, or the Birthers.
He’s getting a reasoned response. At least during the first two pages. He isn’t responding to any of it, but nobody expected that he would.
But come on - it is (as you mention) like debating someone who is convinced that Obama was born in Kenya. Once you point out that his birth certificate says otherwise, as does his birth announcement, what is there left to say when the other side persists? IRL you shrug your shoulders and walk away. On the SDMB, we show off how clever we can be in our responses.
It’s not fish in a barrel, nor a sitting duck, on the SDMB - it’s the latest thing in bazooka target practice.
Regards,
Shodan
In that case, “Ya, boo. Your argument is teh rubbish” is setting a very low standard.
If I had gone for style points and said something like “Your theory is madder than Mad Jack McMad, the winner of this year’s Mr. Madman competition,” wouldn’t that have been more insulting?
Regards,
ElvisL1ves
What I want to know is why Marley couldn’t have been bothered to answer it there. A simple, “Attacking the post, not the poster, etc. etc. and if you have any further comments, you may start a thread in ATMB.” wouldn’t have been out of line in my opinion.
Possibly, but that would have had the merit of being funny, at least.
I went back and counted, and Marley23 had made 7 posts giving reasons why the hypothesis was not valid and asking for evidence before the post you object to. If you want even the most specious and unevidenced of arguments to be treated with the utmost respect, even after their proponents give absurd justifications, you can watch the MSM those who pushback at nutcases are rare and precious. GD is better than that.
You’ve been here over 4 years and you think a response there would have ended with one post? Interesting.
Well why wouldn’t it? Are you trying to suggest I cannot take a hint? Or am averse to reason in some way?
I could have. My experience is that the discussion usually doesn’t end there. Egmond Codfried and ivan astikov had both asked about my choice of words and I didn’t want the thread to go off-topic, so I thought it was better to skip to the ‘take it to ATMB’ step.
Um, moderators don’t always need to be wearing the moderator hat when posting in threads. Marley’s response didn’t break any rules and frankly his comment is spot on.
This is a silly thread.
No it isn’t. I got the acknowledgement that Marley could have handled things differently and that his “Your argument is garbage” comment wasn’t quite his best work, regardless of whether he was wearing his mod hat, or not.
You keep using those words. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Hand to hand, but not in a shaking hands kind of way, I thought.
OMG Marley didn’t live up to some arbitrary standard in your mind.
This thread is garbage.
You just want me to pit you too. I’m sorry, but all my ire has been expended on Marley23. 
Do you really think anyone needed an explanation of why that guys argument sucked?