# MPSIMS name change? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 20, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203 "2009-01-20T20:31:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/61 "2009-01-21T20:50:05Z")
I keep reading it as The Water Cooter which, upon reflection, isn’t so bad either. That or Stuff I Must Share both work for me. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/62 "2009-01-21T21:15:57Z")
I’d call it just plain “Other” or “Other Stuff.” ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/63 "2009-01-21T21:18:19Z")
“Stuff I must share” Gets my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/64 "2009-01-21T21:22:48Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I’m sure this has been discussed before, but three threads in the last week have been making me think about it. We’ve heard about the death of a longtime poster, about the death of a longtime poster’s husband, and about life-threatening conditions of two senior government officials, all under “Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share.” I must have missed those threads. Links, please. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/65 "2009-01-21T21:26:32Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I must have missed those threads. Links, please. [My husband died last night](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=502513) [Sen. Ted Kennedy and Sen. Byrd collapse at inaugural luncheon](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=502724) [Remembering Reeder](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=501650) Also: [My brother committed suicide](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=499544) ---
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/66 "2009-01-22T00:11:40Z")
I like it the way it is. “the water cooler” sounds even more mundane and pointless, judging by the water cooler gossip at my office. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/67 "2009-01-22T06:22:57Z")
I find “mundane” and “pointless” to be delicious irony. I doubt any other names could reach that height. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/68 "2009-01-22T07:45:45Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > MPSIMS for me. I don’t think about the word mundane or pointless. In my mind its just Mip-sims. Surely you mean em-pee-sims! ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/69 "2009-01-22T08:17:22Z")
I’ve considered the other suggestions put forward, which are quite nifty – but I still vote to keep it MPSIMS. It’s trad, we know what it is, all the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/70 "2009-01-22T10:37:49Z")
> [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](#): > > Surely you mean em-pee-sims! What are you, some sort of commie? ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/71 "2009-01-22T10:49:12Z")
I’m agreeable with whichever majority on this, but I’ve always wondered why we didn’t have a separate forum (don’t anybody yell at me!) for important-type announcements. Yes, I realize then we get into the whole debate about what constitutes important, but I think at least questioning that goes a ways towards addressing what **LHoD** is talking about in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/72 "2009-01-22T12:24:36Z")
I’m behind “Miscellaneous/Personal Stuff I Must Share.” Same acronym, more broadly applicable word choice. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/73 "2009-01-22T12:46:14Z")
> [@Gadarene](#): > > I’m behind “Miscellaneous/Personal Stuff I Must Share.” Same acronym, more broadly applicable word choice. Having read this thread carefully, this makes the most sense, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/74 "2009-01-22T12:53:00Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > I’m agreeable with whichever majority on this, but I’ve always wondered why we didn’t have a separate forum (don’t anybody yell at me!) for important-type announcements. We honestly don’t have that many compared to the more lighthearted stuff. The whole point of MPSIMS is that it’s a mix. If we had a whole forum just for births, deaths, illnesses and engagements it wouldn’t get that much activity. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/75 "2009-01-22T14:35:10Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > As an old AOLer who was around when the original MPSIMS thread was started, I’d miss it horribly if it went away. As someone who signed up a month or two after the SDMB went to UBB, I agree. The only change that I would make would be to make it more of a party. The forum really seems to have tamed down over the years. Maybe we could institute a two drink minimum (Yes, I’m just kidding.) ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/76 "2009-01-22T20:24:48Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > We honestly don’t have that many compared to the more lighthearted stuff. The whole point of MPSIMS is that it’s a mix. If we had a whole forum just for births, deaths, illnesses and engagements it wouldn’t get that much activity. Ah **Marley** , you’re undoubtedly right. It just seems like, to me, that with all those things you mention plus Dopefests and other sorts of get-togethers / causes, there have ended up being quite a lot after all. But regardless, thanks for your answer and upon reflection, I think I’ll also throw my vote behind “Miscellaneous / Personal Stuff I Must Share” as the best descriptor. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/77 "2009-01-23T05:40:19Z")
I vote to keep MPSIMS, for reasons that others have laid out. I dislike “Water Cooler” because it seems like such a dated, even cliched image. Did people ever really stand around a water cooler, chatting? The SDMB of the 21st century should not be channeling New Yorker cartoons from 1962. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/78 "2009-01-24T11:41:40Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > I don’t care what the name of the forum is, but can posters stop putting MPSIMS crap in the Pit? Please? Bonus if the mods could bother to move threads (and/or) warn habitual abusers. I don’t know - can you start contributing anything useful to those threads? Why does it matter so much to you? Are the current Pit threads not vitriolic enough for your taste? If you have a problem with a post or thread report it and let the mods take care of it. Of course, if you do and the mods _don’t_ have a problem with it you’re SOL, aren’t you? Hurts to know your opinions aren’t universal, doesn’t it? OK, now that that is out of the way - I have no objection to the MPSIMS name, but there are a significant number of threads in the forum that are neither mundane nor pointless. Maybe what we don’t need is a name change so much as a separate category for things like deaths, catastrophes, and other items of large importantance that are not debates and not factual questions. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/79 "2009-01-24T12:38:25Z")
As a long time lurker who recently de-lurked to post about the death of my alcoholic husband in MPSIMS, I say keep it as it is. It’s always been that, I knew that was the right place to post, and regarded the fact that what I was sharing was neither mundane nor pointless as fitting irony. The Water Cooler, however, would have felt wrong. Would you really stand round the water cooler in an office environment going “Hey guys, you know what, my estranged alcoholic husband was found dead in his flat and I’m having difficulty dealing with it”? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203/80 "2009-01-24T12:52:18Z")
Oddly enough, I do recall something like that happening around a water cooler at work once… And my condolences on the deceased ex and your issues surrounding his demise. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mpsims-name-change/482203.md?page=5)