# Octopus here's your own thread to shit all over **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 6, 2018, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550 "2018-06-06T15:40:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 37
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/724 "2020-11-24T03:39:52Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I’ve never understood why you imagine that any reasonable person would believe your accusations that the SDMB constitutes “a bubble or a hive”. > > I mean, the “bubble” concept is absurd on its face: Every other minute around here there’s somebody starting a thread on some claim or other by Fox News or even Breitbart or QAnon, as well as all the cites from publications across the spectrum of the mainstream from the Guardian and the Nation to the Economist and National Review. The idea that SDMB members as a group have no awareness of what people whom they disagree with are thinking and saying is ridiculous, full stop. > > And the “hive mind” whining is pretty nonsensical too. We’ve got a huge variety of divergence of opinion among posters on these boards. > > We’ve got Democrats and Republicans, socialists and libertarians, Christians and Jews and atheists and agnostics and Buddhists and Muslims. We’ve got GMO advocates and GMO opponents, nuclear-power enthusiasts and anti-nukers. organic farmers and organic-farming skeptics. We’ve got posters who think that Israel/Palestine problems are primarily the fault of the Palestinians and posters who think they’re primarily the fault of the Israelis. We’ve got posters who believe that anti-transgender prejudice is currently more of a societal threat than transgender activism and posters who believe the opposite. We’ve got posters who are free-speech absolutists and posters who argue that free-speech absolutism is fostering a resurgence of oppression. We’ve got posters who advocate for gun rights and posters in favor of repealing the Second Amendment. We’ve got posters concerned about “cancel culture” and posters concerned about “cancel culture” concerns being a reactionary scam. And so on and on and on and on. We can’t even achieve consensus on whether it’s okay to put ketchup on hot dogs. > > Where we are all in agreement (or at least in enforced compliance) is limited to just two basic principles: > > Board administration rules against hate speech, racial bigotry, doxxing, and other specific forms of antisocial behavior. Nope, you can’t come around here expecting to throw around racist slurs or misogynistic insults and get away with it under the banner of “free speech”. Those are the nonnegotiables; if you don’t like them, you’re free to fuck off over to Parler or other internet shitholes that cater to such behavior. > > Overtly and obstinately anti-factual positions are not considered worthy of debate or respect. We are not welcoming to any factually baseless conspiracy theories or woo of any kind. > > If you show up here spouting anything that’s just flat-out bullshit about vaccines causing autism, or the earth being flat, or homeopathic medicines curing diseases, or the existence of confirmed conclusive evidence for deities or angels or extraterrestrial aliens or a genetic basis for racial disparities in measured IQ, or climate change being a hoax, or Covid-19 being a hoax, or 9/11 or the moon landing or the Newtown school shooting being a hoax, or Donald Trump being a reliable and honest human being, or white people being the result of a selective breeding program by an evil scientist 6000 years ago on the island of Patmos, etc. etc. etc., you are going to get your dumb forensic ass kicked from hell to breakfast on every forum on these boards, by posters of all different political and ideological persuasions. > > Don’t be a jerk. Fight ignorance. Those are our rules. If you think that abiding by those rules makes the SDMB a “hive mind” despite our active conflicts of opinion on pretty much everything else in the universe, well, like I said, you’re free to fuck off out of here. You’re on a roll lately. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/725 "2020-11-24T03:48:15Z")
Ok, where did the bee thing come from? Edit: Oh. Hives. Never mind. /Emily Litella ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/726 "2020-12-04T21:29:17Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I mean, the “bubble” concept is absurd on its face No, it’s not _absurd_. You mentioned that we don’t allow “antisocial” or "jerk"ish behavior here, which means we have a bubble. For example, if there is a lot of racism in the real world, but no racism on the Straight Dope Message Boards, then discourse about race on the boards would not reflect discourse about race off the boards: the boards _are_ a bubble because they offer insulation, for better or worse. I would not want to _live_ in a bubble 24/7 and would probably judge people who do so; however, (perhaps unlike **octopus** ) I see the obvious appeal of spending _recreational time_ in an environment insulated from jerkish behavior and opinions. I also say, if you visit the SDMB on anything but your own leisure, you are doing it wrong. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/727 "2020-12-04T22:33:43Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > No, it’s not _absurd_ . You mentioned that we don’t allow “antisocial” or "jerk"ish behavior here, which means we have a bubble. For example, if there is a lot of racism in the real world, but no racism on the Straight Dope Message Boards, then discourse about race on the boards would not reflect discourse about race off the boards: the boards _are_ a bubble because they offer insulation, for better or worse. Hmm, I think of “bubble” in the sense of “information bubble” as meaning that people inside the bubble are not merely following different practices from those of people outside the bubble, but actually unaware of what the practices outside the bubble are like. The people in the bubble are cut off from information about extra-bubbular reality. That is most certainly not the case here on the SDMB. We may have rules against bigoted or antisocial or jerkish behavior, but we exchange information and views all the time about instances of such behavior beyond the Boards. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/728 "2020-12-04T22:51:18Z")
It’s the same argument which redefines ‘manners’ as ‘political correctness’, pretty much. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/729 "2020-12-04T23:04:36Z")
I assume **octopus** uses “bubble” as a synonym for “safe space”, not true bliss. As evidence I present his [numerous charicterizations](https://boards.straightdope.com/search?q=%40octopus%20%22safe%20space%22) of these boards, or of people’s hopes for these boards, as a “safe space”. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/730 "2020-12-04T23:51:47Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > I assume **octopus** uses “bubble” as a synonym for “safe space”, not true bliss. Well, what he said was > [@octopus](#): > > What’s the appeal of living in a bubble or a hive? I understand it for the emotionally fragile and damaged but functional adults ought to seek multiple sources of information and multiple points of view. I interpreted that as implying “bubble” = lack of diversity of information and “hive” = lack of diversity of opinion. Neither of which, as I noted, is applicable to the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/731 "2020-12-05T00:03:36Z")
He comes to this place to shit all over it because he can’t win a discussion with the typical lies and falsehoods which characterize the modern conservative discourse. That’s all. No need to analyze it all that much. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/732 "2020-12-05T00:19:18Z")
If you put 5 seconds of thought into trying to determine what he means by “hive” or “bubble”, you spent 5 seconds more than he did. He parrots words he thinks are insulting, he doesn’t think about their meaning. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/733 "2020-12-05T01:42:30Z")
Groupthink isn’t a virtue. And the efforts the hive mind puts forth to ban dissent are cowardly. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/734 "2020-12-05T01:49:56Z")
You, my friend, are a complete fucking joke. And you know it. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/735 "2020-12-05T01:51:38Z")
That’s not kind. You should strive to be nice if you don’t want coal in your stocking. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/736 "2020-12-05T01:58:03Z")
Fuck off potty mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/737 "2020-12-05T02:11:22Z")
I think the idea that there’s a huge diversity of perspective here right now is suspect. It’s pretty true historically, but I really don’t think if you did a broad survey of active posters in the last month, or whatever, you’d find anything like the diversity of political opinion that Kimstu suggested. I think the problem with Octopus’ complaints about the “hive mind” isn’t that he’s wrong that the vast majority of the SDMB generally agrees about most things. The problem is that he’s wrong about pretty much everything else, so unanimous disagreement with him isn’t evidence of anything. I still think it’s fair to describe the SDMB as a kind of bubble. Very conservative and radical left wing spaces do plenty of posting center-left neoliberal ideas and articles for the purpose of ridiculing them, but that doesn’t make them not bubbles. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/738 "2020-12-05T02:23:21Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > so unanimous disagreement with him isn’t evidence of anything This may surprise you, or it may not, but I agree with **octopus** on many issues. Not everything, but a _lot_. His opinions are closer to mine than most of the people I debate. That being said I sometimes read his posts in the voice of drunk Rick Sanchez. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/739 "2020-12-05T14:28:07Z")
I’m sorry you have to find out like this, but that means you’re wrong about a lot of things. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/740 "2020-12-05T16:34:03Z")
Any messageboards less bubbly and cowardly than this one, **Octopus**? ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/741 "2020-12-05T23:18:00Z")
They’re not diverse enough for him. Less bubbly and cowardly traits pushes them into hive mind territory, and he can’t abide that. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/742 "2020-12-05T23:47:25Z")
I’m sure there are. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/743 "2020-12-06T00:58:42Z")
I’ll (oh no!) bet there aren’t. Disprove with a cite. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550.md?page=36) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550.md?page=38)