# Maybe a dingo ate your baby

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [January 3, 2007, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524 "2007-01-03T12:42:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 10

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**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/181 "2007-01-04T14:37:12Z")

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[QUOTE=jsgoddess]  
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

We can only handle one pit bull thread at a time!  
[/QUOTE]

And still not a single one about Argentines.

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**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/182 "2007-01-04T14:51:43Z")

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[QUOTE=Liberal]  
NThey demand reasons for her actions, and then no reason is good enough. Even the compromise I offered a page back was summarily trashed.  
[/QUOTE]

Thank you for responding to my post, and despite your evaluation I do think it helped many people to understand the situation more. Of course there are some who still find fault in your daughter’s actions, but you really have to expect an argument on a topic like this in the Pit when on a board with so many animal lovers. Though the added clarity did not deter everyone, it prevents us from lumping you and your daughter in with posters like **Unregisterd Bull** who are as vehemently anti-animal rights as other posters here are pro.

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**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/183 "2007-01-04T14:52:35Z")

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**bobkitty** does indeed win the thread. My main objection with this thread is that it smacked of Trumpesque attention seeking and could have been headed off long before someone felt a need to bring out a sock troll.

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**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/184 "2007-01-04T15:05:55Z")

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**sharx35** , welcome to the SDMB. By posting only in this thread, and furthermore only posting inflammatory responses in this thread, it appears that you are trolling. Please desist, as trolling is grounds for banning on this forum.

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**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/185 "2007-01-04T15:10:48Z")

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Fair enough, **bobkitty**. My objection was to the idea that is quite prevalent around here that everyone should post every single detail before they dare to post anything. But you are correct in that **Liberal** had plenty of opportunities to defend himself.

I do feel that when one is under attack, one sometimes forgets to post relevant details and gets in a huff…but that shouldn’t be the case for [B}liberal\*\*; as you said, he’s kind of used to it. So I agree with you on the posting extra information thing.

I still feel that no one can know what truly happens with a newborn better than the parents. Yes, there are parents who dump the animal without thinking twice as soon as they are pregnant…but I’ve noticed things lacking in the way they take care of their kids, too. I refer to people who genuinely think it through and realize they simply can’t handle another pet and do their best to find a new home. For example, in my BIL’s case, we got the BIL’s frogs. 😃

All in all, I think this thread has wound down as much as it could, barring Mr. Friendly Bridge-Dweller over there.

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/186 "2007-01-04T15:40:10Z")

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[QUOTE=kambuckta]  
\<snip\>Y’know, it seems to me that the calibre of trolls lately on the board is on the decline. I mean, whatever happened to the **classy** ones who could string us along for at least a few bloody _hours_ before being sniffed out and cast out?? 😃  
[/QUOTE]

I dunno - I give him full marks for being incredibly energetic. I don’t get that worked up over, well, anything.

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**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/187 "2007-01-04T15:57:20Z")

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I am going to add my story and then take cover for the potential attacks.

I had a great cat. Best cat that ever lived. He was loving to me and moved with me a few times, each time happy as long as he could continue to curl up in my hair on my pillow at night. He was big by anyone’s standards, 24 pounds of tomcat and when he was an outdoor cat he would rule the neighborhood with an iron claw.

Sadly he never liked children. Wasn’t a problem for me, I was a pre-teen when we got him and he quickly adopted me. He was my confidante, friend and loyal companion. He also adopted my husband and caused arguments about which one of us the cat loved more. (ME)

The I got pregnant. At first he was fine, then my growing belly crowded him off my lap. When my daughter was born he began peeing on her clothes and blankets, showing his displeasure in the most obvious way. We tried hard to get him to “take” to her, but no dice. He was not accepting of this little attention hog. He began roaming the hall at night, yowling and would sit in the basement and cry and cry, obviously lonely. He began throwing up and stopped grooming himself. The vet tested him for everything that was testable without general anesthesia, everything was negative. He was probably just depressed.

I tried hard to re-home him. He wouldn’t take to anyone else, clawing and biting. Homes with children were disasters. I ran out of options. I checked out the no-kill shelter, but putting him in a tiny cage seemed like a horrible punishment for a (now very senior, he was 14) potential long wait.

I made the terribly painful choice to [put him down](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=189280&highlight=Poysyn). Four years later I am still tearing up while typing this. I still miss him.

Don’t always think that anyone has “dumped” their animal. Some people may do so, but for others it was a painful decision that still haunts us.

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**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/188 "2007-01-04T16:09:41Z")

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[QUOTE=bobkitty]  
I realize that I’m about to do something very, very ill-advised, but I’m going to try anyway. Here we go.  
[/quote]  
I suppose that, after your victory dance, you just couldn’t help yourself.

> [@](#):
>
> Okay.. here’s what **Lynn** said, and I quote:

Yes, I know what Lynn said. In fact, I linked directly to her post in the OP.

> [@](#):
>
> Now, seven hours and four posts later, you come in NOT with a link to a pit thread,

Odd. I was refreshing the page every twelve seconds, ignoring phone calls from my CEO, putting my work at bay so I could not fail to catch any breaking news. Or else I went to sleep, and posted again when I got up. Given your penchant for leaping from antecedant to consequent, I reckon you hadn’t counted on the latter.

> [@](#):
>
> OR a throw-away sentence like “Gee, I didn’t mean to shit in this happy thread- there were a lot of extenuating circumstances in my daughter’s case,”

Right. The shitter isn’t the one who posted at 4:43 PM, arising as the first to cast aspersion on my daughter (also linked in the OP). Rather, the shitter is the one who _responded_ to the shrill and sudden attack, two hours after which, Lynn posted.

> [@](#):
>
> but rather this gem:

That gem, we now know, was tempered, quiet, brief, and if I may say so again, in response to the post which is conspicuosly absent of any mention in your ill-advised but helplessly executed trial.

> [@](#):
>
> therefore continuing the hijack against **Lynn’s** expressed moderation.

The hijack? 😃 Nothing like a nice poison well to start the day. I mean, nervermind that the OP herself brought up the topic of people giving their cats to the shelter, and nevermind that my response was, you know, a _response_. I guess the easiest thing for you to do was come up with a term that you could easily pin on Lib. And of course, you will not see your own forray into this thread, amounting to nothing more than baiting and arguing with me, as any sort of hijack.

> [@](#):
>
> Twelve posts, and over **24 hours later** , after **Boscibo** took your bait

Yeah, but see, you forgot about Boscibo’s original post. You must have forgotten, because you did not mention it here. I mean, maybe I took Boscibo’s bait. Maybe that would be a fair analysis. But to say that Boscibo took my bait is to say that his attack on my daughter was not baiting, but my response to him was. And even as much as you’ve enjoyed high-fiving yourself because some poster dropped in to declare you some sort of winner of something, why even you wouldn’t be able to spin the baiting business without leaving out Boscibo’s post. Which, of course, is exactly what you did.

> [@](#):
>
> (notice that it was one of twelve happy posts,

Yeah, I did notice that. Did you notice my perky nipples? How about my choice of font? I mean, a man who takes upon his shoulders the arduous task of breaking apart minute by minute a discussion in which he did not participate would be expected to notice every minute detail. Your unfortunate oversights (I’m sure that’s all they were) only make your efforts all the more endearing.

> [@](#):
>
> and you were “arguing” with one person,

Suppose, just hypothetically, I called your daughter a slut in a thread with twelve happy posts. Would you term your one single solitary four-word response to me an “argument”? I didn’t think so.

> [@](#):
>
> therefore it would have been just as simple to take it to email

Not so simple, since I don’t expose my email to the board or to any of its members, except by my choice. And I especially don’t expose it to a wild boar who stampedes his way into a thread just to respond to a portion of my post by making uninformed and amphibolous remarks about my daughter.

> [@](#):
>
> and avoid the attention-whoring that inevitably follows your Pit threads),

Where you’ve inevitably found yourself. As you can see, this thread is full of many (possibly most) posts supporting my position. Not once did I respond to any of them with “YES!! :: pumping fist in air ::” Maybe I don’t understand what an attention whore is, but it certainly sounds like someone who would wrestle away people’s attention onto himself, and then do a happy-dance when someone gave him some recognition. It seems to me that the description of attention whore, thread whore, or what-have-you whore fits you quite nicely.

> [@](#):
>
> you decide you absolutely need to defend your daughter’s honor

What father would not defend his daughter’s honor? You’ve been critical of quite much — all sorts of tiny details. But frankly, I’m surprised that even you would criticize a man defending his daughter’s honor.

> [@](#):
>
> in a Pit thread. So, off to the pit.

Yeah. Opening a Pit thread to hash out a difference is such a rare occurence that I’m surprised it caught your attention.

> [@](#):
>
> Where you decide you STILL don’t need to clarify your position-

No, see, a decision has to be a conscious thing. You know, you have to go something like, “Hey, I think that what I will do is deliberately not tell nosy people details about my daughter’s decision that they have already made clear are not acceptable anyway.” For me, it was more like, “What the hell is wrong with these people who couldn’t accept her aversion to the risks?” You know, the explanation that I had already given about how she had solicited help from every source she could, how she felt the risks to a helpless infant were unacceptable — the sort of information that surely would satisfy even the most salivating malcontent. Or in your case, not so much.

> [@](#):
>
> despite the fact that it is quite clear that **Boscibo** ASKED FOR CLARIFICATION

Got it. I’m arguing with a single post, and he’s asking for clarification with his second one. In the post you left out, Boscibo specifically said, “There are ways to keep cats & babies separate, if one so chooses.” His argument … sorry, his “clarification request” … then proceeded to call my daughter’s fear of harm to be, and I quote “no good reason”. He also decided to nitpick between stopping smoking for the term of the pregnancy and stopping smoking permanently.

> [@](#):
>
> - but rather take veiled pot-shots. What on earth did you expect was going to happen?

Veiled pot-shots? There were four words: “Wrong on both counts.” What did you imagine I was shooting? His math abilities?

> [@](#):
>
> Let’s say I post a pit thread about getting into a car accident, and due to my inability to convey simple information it appears that the accident was my fault, even though I am insisting it wasn’t. When I get not sympathy but vitrol, and respond in kind, do you think PERHAPS I may have had some responsibility in the misperception when I reveal two pages later that the other person was driving while putting on makeup while eating a five-course meal and talking on a cell phone?

Except that I didn’t get any vitriol until I had woken up the next day and saw you and your buddies. Before that, here was some of the “vitriol” hurled at me:

“I’ve had several friends get rid of cats because they’ve scratched and bitten their infants. This is NOT an unreasonable assumption.” — Snipe1978

“However, I cannot fault Liberal’s daughter for what she did. People simply abandon cats all the time for with considerably less justification. She made every effort to re-home the cat.” — Contrpuntal

“I’m sorry for the loss of your other grandchild, Liberal.” — Fessie

“I see. Thank you.” — Rilchiam (in response to a clarification made at his request)

“I’m with the OP.” — Anaamika

“I am also with you OP.” — Foxy40

“In a family that has already known the loss of a newborn, I can’t blame them for eliminating a possible risk.” — StuffLikeThatThere

“I understand whichever way your daughter goes. I can’t fathom going through what she went through.” — Auntbeast  
Etc…

Lord, I could barely stand the heat.

> [@](#):
>
> Twice you feel the need to point out that you’re a cat lover, that- in essence- you’re not a monster.

Feel the need? It is in fact, um, a fact that I’m a cat lover. That’s why I have three. Well, two now, but still… I told about my cats in a thread about cats.

> [@](#):
>
> You pointed out in both threads that there is a history of loss in your family,

Damned if I do and damned if I don’t, eh? Before, you were demanding that I provide information that you believed to be pertinent. And now, you’re bashing me for providing the information that I thought to be pertinent. As far as my wife and I were concerned, anything my daughter did to reduce the baby’s risk was plenty reason enough. And as you can see from the quotes above, it was enough reason for others as well. It’s just that it isn’t enough reason for you and some others.

> [@](#):
>
> and indeed from my recollection you’re not too healthy yourself.

An understatement, unfortunately. But I do appreciate your asking about it. Or something.

> [@](#):
>
> Pointing out again, in essence, that you’re not a monster.

I’m not. Really.

> [@](#):
>
> Why would you do this, if not because you anticipated a controversy?

Anticipated? The controversy was already underway. Perhaps you delved so deeply into time-stamp details that you missed the forest for the trees.

> [@](#):
>
> If you are indeed so concerned about having to post lengthy exposition, or reveal all motivations behind the actions of your family, why include heart-warming stories of your three cats?

What? I posted five paragraphs (two of which were one sentence) in a thread about cats saying in essence (if I may borrow your phrase) that I had some wonderful cats, that my daughter had to let hers go in a manner similar to what the OP had mentioned, and that I applauded what the OP did. Is there something fucking wrong with any of that?

> [@](#):
>
> I don’t have a history of giant, pages-long flameouts, or begging to be suspended because I can’t keep myself from posting.

😃 You certainly have balls. I’m a dick for mentioning the loss of my grandchild as the reason I’m glad my daughter made the decision she did, but you proudly boast about your even keel and your perfect history? Dude, your chutzpa is awesome.

> [@](#):
>
> Therefore, you are welcome to scour my posts, but I think you’ll find that I tend to not get into an awful lot of scuffles involving my inability to communicate vital information, or bringing in said information pages later.

Cool. You’ve found something you can point out in others that isn’t wrong with you. I can only aspire to do that.

> [@](#):
>
> And I was actually leaning toward “brainless accident of DNA.”

Obviously.

> [@](#):
>
> You’ll see that I asked **Ogre** for CLARIFICATION of his position before I ascribed a meaning to it.

Yeah. I did. Will you be asking me for any clarification? Or was your latest inspection and manifesto the end of it?

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**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/189 "2007-01-04T16:12:28Z")

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[QUOTE=Poysyn]  
I am going to add my story and then take cover for the potential attacks.

[…snip…]

I made the terribly painful choice to [put him down](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=189280&highlight=Poysyn). Four years later I am still tearing up while typing this. I still miss him.

Don’t always think that anyone has “dumped” their animal. Some people may do so, but for others it was a painful decision that still haunts us.  
[/QUOTE]  
My heart aches for you, dear. Only the jerkest of jerks would attack you. The OP you linked was truly heart wrenching.

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**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/190 "2007-01-04T16:21:23Z")

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[QUOTE=Kraut]  
Wow, I never thought this thread would turn otherwise intelligent and thought-provoking people into complete fucking lunatics.  
[/QUOTE]

Welcome to the SDMB. Just as a heads-up, this is pretty much a given when the subject turns to cats.

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**Author:** ![Beaucarnea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@Beaucarnea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beaucarnea)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/191 "2007-01-04T17:13:31Z")

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You could have adopted your daughter’s cat and helped her avoid the moral dilemma.  
But since you didn’t, you could have avoided this ugly debate by apologizing for putting a defensive and negative point of view in the MPSIMS thread. For every happy, good news, or congratulatory story there is someone who will come along and wreck it. **Liberal** , you don’t have to be that guy.

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**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:** [January 4, 2007, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/192 "2007-01-04T17:22:48Z")

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**sharx35** , as much as we love having guests drop by and troll the crap out of threads here, I’m not as optimistic as the lovely and ever-patient **fluiddruid** about your chances for improvement. Please fuck off and die. Thank you.

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**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/193 "2007-01-04T17:37:07Z")

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😃 Giraffe, you are certainly the wittiest of the mods. If you don’t write for a living, you should.

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**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:** [January 4, 2007, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/194 "2007-01-04T17:44:37Z")

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[QUOTE=Liberal]  
😃 Giraffe, you are certainly the wittiest of the mods. If you don’t write for a living, you should.  
[/QUOTE]  
Aw, shucks. Twern’t nothing.

::digs toe into ground shyly::

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**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/195 "2007-01-04T17:50:56Z")

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[QUOTE=Beaucarnea]  
You could have adopted your daughter’s cat and helped her avoid the moral dilemma.  
But since you didn’t, you could have avoided this ugly debate by apologizing for putting a defensive and negative point of view in the MPSIMS thread. For every happy, good news, or congratulatory story there is someone who will come along and wreck it. **Liberal** , you don’t have to be that guy.  
[/QUOTE]

I asked about his adopting the cat in post 109. Liberal would rather scream persecution from his cross than answer that, it seems.

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**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/196 "2007-01-04T17:58:03Z")

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I’ve only gpt time for a partial reply.. I’ll be back later for the rest of it.

[QUOTE=Liberal]  
Yes, I know what Lynn said. In fact, I linked directly to her post in the OP.  
[/quote]

And yet you yourself didn’t follow her ruling, which is why I felt it needed another posting.

Look, it comes down to this, and it’s very, very basic.

- S&D posted her OP.
- You felt like she was overlooking the possibility that the cat’s former owners had good reason to put their cats in the shelter, so you posted.
- Boscibo took (relatively mild) offense, and commented on your post.
- Featherlou suggested folks take it elsewhere.
- Lynn agreed.
- You ignored both of them and posted your throwaway bait to Bobisco.
- Bobisco (admittedly also ignoring Lynn and Featherlou) took the bait.
- You finally came to your senses and started the Pit Thread.

My point is that your daughter’s spotless reputation could have remained untarnished, and this whole thing reduced to “wow, that situation utterly sucks,” if you had done one of a couple of things:

1. Put the apparently vital information about the cat’s issues in your MPSIMS thread.
2. Taken the whole thing to email.
3. Put the apparently vital information about the cat’s issues in your Pit OP.
4. Answered the question posed in post #2 of the Pit Thread.

But I want to make sure, since you’ve always been someone to whom attention to minute details is important, that I provide information to support my theory. And so..

> [@](#):
>
> Odd. I was refreshing the page every twelve seconds, ignoring phone calls from my CEO, putting my work at bay so I could not fail to catch any breaking news. Or else I went to sleep, and posted again when I got up. Given your penchant for leaping from antecedant to consequent, I reckon you hadn’t counted on the latter.

Or perhaps you were busy elsewhere. Let’s look, shall we?  
Your original post in the MPSIMs thread was at 4:14pm on the 1st. **Bobisco** replied at 4:43; **Lynn** ruled at 6:02.

You came back into the thread at 1:28AM on the 2nd, _after_ **Lynn’s** ruling, and posted what I referred to as bait, despite your apparent aversion to all things that do not follow mod rule. Why do I refer to it as bait? Because it was quite clear that **Lynn** suggested taking the topic elsewhere, yet you chose not to. Then you proceeded to post twenty-three times in the hours between 1 and 3AM, 7:30 and 10:30AM, 1:30 and 3:30PM, 7 and 9PM, and beginning at 5:30AM on the 3rd through to 7:42AM when you posted this thread.

Now, **Boscibo’s** request for clarification in MPSIMs came at around noon. So, if we were to give you the benefit of the doubt, we’ll focus on the time you spent on-line between noon on the 2nd and 7:43AM on the 3rd. And if we do so, we’ll see that you posted 15 times, and had a total of (rounding here) six hours during which you posted (now, I’ll grant that you may or may not have been on-line for those entire six hours, but to say that you were off that entire time doing other things is clearly a lie).

> [@](#):
>
> Right. The shitter isn’t the one who posted at 4:43 PM, arising as the first to cast aspersion on my daughter (also linked in the OP). Rather, the shitter is the one who _responded_ to the shrill and sudden attack, two hours after which, Lynn posted.

No, the shitter is the one who continues the fight after a mod ruled to take it elsewhere. What is so difficult to understand about that? Boscibo posted prior to Lynn’s ruling, he was not bound at that time to follow a ruling that didn’t exist. _You_ chose to come into the thread hours later and instead saying “To the Pit with you and all others who denounce my daughter!” you played Mr. Passive-Aggressive.

Boscibo is not blameless in taking your bait, but you chose to toss it out there.

> [@](#):
>
> The hijack? 😃 Nothing like a nice poison well to start the day. I mean, nervermind that the OP herself brought up the topic of people giving their cats to the shelter, and nevermind that my response was, you know, a _response_.

Your _first post_ was a response. Everything after that was a hijack, and your “Nah nah, you’re wrong” post was clear baiting.

And the OP bringing up people giving their cats to the shelter was, y’know, and important part of the story. At least she appears to understand the concept of telling the whole story at once.

> [@](#):
>
> Yeah, but see, you forgot about Boscibo’s original post. You must have forgotten, because you did not mention it here. I mean, maybe I took Boscibo’s bait. Maybe that would be a fair analysis. But to say that Boscibo took my bait is to say that his attack on my daughter was not baiting, but my response to him was.

No I didn’t. But you seem to keep ignoring the fact that Boscibo, until Lynn came into the thread, had EVERY RIGHT to post what he did. If you think it’s baiting, fine. But the fact remains that once the ruling came down, anything following that is just a pissing match.

> [@](#):
>
> I mean, a man who takes upon his shoulders the arduous task of breaking apart minute by minute a discussion in which he did not participate would be expected to notice every minute detail.

_Dude_, I’m a girl.

> [@](#):
>
> Not so simple, since I don’t expose my email to the board or to any of its members, except by my choice.

And there’s no such thing as anonymous email hosting. Gee, I wouldn’t want you to compromise your security or anything.

> [@](#):
>
> What father would not defend his daughter’s honor? You’ve been critical of quite much — all sorts of tiny details. But frankly, I’m surprised that even you would criticize a man defending his daughter’s honor.

Let me see if I can make this clear. YOU CHOSE TO PUT YOUR DAUGHTER IN POTENTIAL HARM’S WAY. You defended yourself right from the beginning, both in MPSIMS and the Pit. You CHOSE to limit the information you gave us about your daughter, after being super-careful about painting yourself as a saintly cat owner, and then you freaked out when that information was misinterpreted. If you don’t want to have nosy people thinking your daughter is a fucktard, then here’s a thought.. DON’T BRING HER UP IN POTENTIALLY CONTENTIOUS DISCUSSIONS. Or be prepared to deal with the fact that people may say bad things about her, and take the opportunity to respond to them with clear information.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/197 "2007-01-04T18:01:11Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=Beaucarnea]  
You could have adopted your daughter’s cat and helped her avoid the moral dilemma.  
[/QUOTE]

This is actually the thing I was wondering about too…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/198 "2007-01-04T18:09:50Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=alice\_in\_wonderland]  
This is actually the thing I was wondering about too…  
[/QUOTE]  
We already had three cats. We could not accomodate another.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/199 "2007-01-04T18:36:44Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=Liberal]  
We already had three cats. We could not accomodate another.  
[/QUOTE]

Well, if you say so.

I have a severe cat alergy, and inability to take anti-histamines, asthma, and a dog and realisticly can’t accomodate ANY cats, and I’m still taking my best girlfriend’s cat in when she moves so she knows it has a good home and doesn’t have to worry about it.

I suppose that makes me a chump. Or something. YMMV and all that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maybe-a-dingo-ate-your-baby/386524/200 "2007-01-04T18:39:39Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=Liberal]  
We already had three cats. We could not accomodate another.  
[/QUOTE]  
Well for fuck’s sake, you should have called **jsgoddess**. What does she have, eight? Hell, she won’t even notice another.  
I think everyone in this thread who thinks that A) Cats raised in a loving home should be re-homed at all costs, and B) Adopting a cat is no big deal, to go to their local animal shelter _right fucking now_ and adopt a cat. Put up or shut up. This is from a nutjob animal lover who has three dogs, wants about seven more, and can’t have cats because his dogs would kill them; who sleeps with his dogs and talks to his dogs, and much prefers their company to the company of men and women, in general.

I don’t think so, but maybe, just maybe you could construct a beef with \*\*Liberal \*\*about his comment in the MSPS thread. Maybe. But crticizing his daughter? Or him for not adopting the cat? Please.

I’ll be expecting ‘new kitty’ pictures ASAP.

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