# Mods, can't you tell Snowboarder Bo to shut up? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 14, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-cant-you-tell-snowboarder-bo-to-shut-up/609483 "2012-01-14T05:02:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 207
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-cant-you-tell-snowboarder-bo-to-shut-up/609483/207 "2012-01-16T14:50:42Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > To support this, I can think of a half dozen or so losers who tried desperately to create board memes and they’ve never, ever, EVER succeeded. > > Board memes happen\* organically. Tossing a random phrase into a conversation that you decided would be your code for another phrase is just gonna piss people off. Already been addressed, in [post#191](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14672470&postcount=191). I’ll repost it for you: > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I already mentioned this in the Pit thread ([post #204](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14669813&postcount=204)), but the exact way you describe it is what happened. > > After the story was told in the Autocorrect thread, several people found it funny and re-used the phrase in that thread. I read that thread, and carried it over to other threads. I can’t see where it makes a difference that I did most of the initial posting of it in other threads vs. several people posting it in other threads; everything starts somewhere. And then, with the Pitting and this thread, even more people posted it or a variation of some kind, just like people do with “burning your dog” or “1920s-style death ray” or “penis ensues”, etc. > [@Fenris](#): > > And it _is_ random to an outside viewer. Even if a noob doesn’t know who Opal is, a noob will soon learn that she’s always number 3 in a list (or correctly, #3 in a list that would otherwise only have 2 items). Same with every other successful board meme. Already been addressed, in [post#181](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14672136&postcount=181). Here, I’ll repost that for you as well: > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > This is a ridiculous argument. If it were true, then there really wouldn’t be a need for that guide I linked to in my last post, would there? > > Before you counter that the majority understands those in-jokes, let me point out that at one time, the majority did not. They had to be created at some time, and people got to know them by seeing them and asking “what the hell are those words doing there?” > > Others then had to link to the obscure reference that produced the joke or otherwise explain it. That’s how ignorance is fought, after all: by spreading knowledge. > [@\[QUOTE=Fenris](#): > > The quarry thing? No way to figure out that is supposed to mean “LOL”. Take this particular example: > There is no indication whatsoever to imply that this means “LOL”. I disagree, but I admit that the way you chopped it all up and presented it as two completely separate posts sure does help you try and make your case more than the unedited quote does. I note that you also removed the links from both quotes, making it harder for people to find them and see for themselves [what was actually posted](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14661085&postcount=10): > [@How did Roger Ebert become the premier film reviewer?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-roger-ebert-become-the-premier-film-reviewer/609312/10): > > > [@How did Roger Ebert become the premier film reviewer?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-roger-ebert-become-the-premier-film-reviewer/609312/6): > > > > Once he absorbed the lifeforce of Gene Siskel Highlander style he became unstoppable. Sadly there were, side effects. 😉 > > Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there! > > I’d say it was Sneak Previews, since it gave him national exposure at a time when it was difficult to get (mid-70s), at least for a film critic. Ddamn near every television set in the country got PBS back then, so he and Gene Siskel were known not just by people in Chicago, where they lived and worked, but by people in New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, etc. And since they were known all over the country, it was possible for Hollywood PR types to include quoted parts of their reviews in advertising campaigns, since it was a “real” name that people could relate to, if not actually read their reviews. It’s obvious that **fiddlesticks** was making a joke; if the words themselves don’t strike you as a joke, the wink smiley (that you removed when you quoted that post) is a sure tip-off. My “Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there!” immediately follows the joke. Clearly it has something to do with the quote from **fiddlesticks**. So there’s the context. Whether or not there’s any way to discern, from that exchange alone, that the phrase means “LOL” is immaterial; there’s no way for anyone to know what “I burning your dog” or “Hi, Opal!” means just from context either. The fact that it has to be explained or sought out really doesn’t matter. The vast majority of “in” jokes have to be explained. Did _that_ really need to be explained? --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-cant-you-tell-snowboarder-bo-to-shut-up/609483)._