I believe we’re only supposed to use our signatures once per thread, no?
Oookay.
Is that actually a rule? I’ve never seen it followed; everyone I’ve seen who uses a sign-off posts it after virtually every post.
Completely false and cannot be supported by any stretch of the available evidence. I’ve explained in this thread, in the Pit thread, and in an MPSIMS thread from last month what the origin of the phrase is and why I use it. I do not, and never have, used it randomly nor in every post I make. You are wrong, and your characterization of me doing so is wrong.
Do cocktail parties typically have a room where people file in only to berate and demean each other?
Not quite. A similar phrase was from The Office. Someone a poster knew used The Office phrase to replace LOL on their boss’ computer. The poster told the story here and that’s where Snowboarder Bo read it. The phrase to mean LOL had nothing to do with The Office.
I find it mildly annoying, but not much worse than other things people post. The biggest annoyance is its obscurity. Every thread it’s used has an explanation hijack.
The origin of the phrase has neither jack nor shit to do with why your use of it annoys some people. If you don’t want to be thought of as an annoying goober who parrots a one-liner from The Office like a 4 year old who just heard his first knock knock joke, you could try posting something that has some semblance of original thought.
I maintain that my characterization is spot on.
A specific room? Probably not. But if you think one of those conversations isn’t a couple of catty women talking smack about every other woman’s dress, then you and I clearly go to different cocktail parties. 
It’s right down the hall from the Argument Clinic. DON’T get them confused, if you know what’s good for you.
Yes, but the mods have made it clear that sign offs are treated differently to signatures. Rightly, in my opinion, but that’s a different debate.
Bo’s catchphrase is annoying and disruptive, and it would be better for everyone if he stopped. It’s only a matter for the mods if it actually ends up derailing threads, though.
I’d have no issue with it, if you were actually using it that way. But you’re not. A quick look at your posts shows that you’re saying it in every thread, whether or not there’s any actual discussion or evidence of Republicans subverting democracy.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14668363&postcount=106
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14668375&postcount=34
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14668378&postcount=101
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14668385&postcount=249
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14668370&postcount=4169
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14668379&postcount=34
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14668311&postcount=58
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14668382&postcount=244
I’ll grant that there are a few times when the comment can be said to have some relevance to the discussion, but your statement of intent in this thread, and your use of your phrase without any appropriate context, such as in the Pit thread about me, belies your true purpose: you’re annoyed and so you are (in your own mind) “counter-trolling”.
Why you would decide to do that rather than just put me on ignore is baffling.
By the way, congrats on using your phrase 1/4 as much as I’ve used mine in just over an hour. It took me weeks to get where I am, you should be there by supper time.
I enjoy the byplay here.
Perhaps I should create a by-line of my own.
How about, “Hey Lady!!!”
What do y’all think?
Fake ETA: No, really I think I will adopt “What do y’all think?”
What do y’all think?
You’re wrong, and cannot support your characterization with facts. If you want to remain annoyed based on incorrect facts, that’s your business, of course. But the claim that I am “essentially running around to every conversation, sticking his head in the circle and going “Catchphrase!” before chuckling to himself and running off to the next group to do the exact same thing” cannot be supported, by any stretch of the imagination, with anything that has actually happened.
Wait…what’s the distinction we’re drawing between sign-off and signatures? I used the former term to differentiate the manually-included “regards,” best," and the like from the ones automatically attached to the bottom of every post, which can be hidden by those who don’t want to see them (such as myself).
The latter I never see due to the aforementioned hiding, but the former I see multiple times per thread by the same folks.
How is what I write disruptive? It isn’t.
What is disruptive is other people deciding to hijack a thread to bitch about it. I’m not responsible for their decision to post displays of acrimony, especially when there’s already a Pit thread about it, and now this one. Frankly, I can’t believe that even tho the board has an Ignore feature, this thread got opened at all.
You want to make me shut up? Put me on Ignore. Then I’m shut up, for you.
The difference is between signing one’s name, as in the infamous “Regards, Shodan”, and in including a few lines of a quotation, or whatever is put in a signature. The first is a standard part of written communication, although not functionally necessary on a message board, and the second is not.
I don’t think the issue is whether it’s typed each time or added as a sig file, though.
The threads you mention are the evidence of the disruption you’re causing. There’s also the references to it in other threads. You may feel entitled to cause this disruption, but don’t be disingenuous and claim you’ve not noticed it.
Maybe it’s not your responsibility that people objected in the first place, but now that it’s been pointed out that it’s objectionable, if you post it again you do so knowing it will cause disruption.
It’s my opinion that you’re doing it for attention in the first place, as it’s not funny enough to bear repeating, and certainly adds no actual content to the threads you post it in.
A curious thing about long posts is that by the time I read them, I don’t remember who was writing them all of the time. Having a signature or closing isn’t irritating to me because then I don’t have to scroll up to remember who was posting. I don’t think of it as irritating or an affectation to sign your posts with something like ‘mmm’.
But, just randomly tossing in ‘European or African?’ when the discussion is about politics or religion is something that SHOULD be funny in the context of the conversation (such as it is… thanks Chronus).
That is the same with this catchphrase.
After all, y’all, the whole point we are ‘here’ is because we want to talk with each other. If the signal to noise ratio gets too low, then we risk losing what you have all built here. This is (IMHO) why a significant of provably sane and long-term posters are freaking out about.
So, given that, I suggest even though if it seems unfair that Snowboarder Bo only use his catchphrase in context. Given its obscurity, that seems unlikely. But the same can be said for ‘European or African’, except that Holy Grail is arguably one of the funniest movies ever, and the Office… uh… not so much.
I guess it all depends upon the gestalt of the board which seems about 75% against Snowboarder Bo.
Do we vote around here? Somebody here said that elections were nonexistent. Are these binding resolutions?
I’m pretty sure it is; anyone who dislikes sigs can turn them off. The sign-offs cannot be, short of putting someone on ignore.
I am merely a guest here, sponging off the rest of you, so I don’t have signature abilities.
nm