# Overreaction in banning this guy? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 9, 2001, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805 "2001-07-09T10:31:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Diane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2acd7d/32.png) [@Diane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diane)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/81 "2001-07-09T18:05:37Z")
> [@](#): > > What I do have a problem with is dismissing the question the way Gary and the others did. What you are still refusing to accept is that hijacks do say a lot. Whether or not you understand what is being said doesn’t mean it hasn’t been said. Oh, and lighten up already. Sheesh! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/82 "2001-07-09T18:15:10Z")
Great damn, that was nasty shot to the noggin Ichiro took last night . . . ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/83 "2001-07-09T18:21:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diane \* > \*\*I don’t get it. Do you use the lighter to sterilize the needle to to burn out the splinter? I think I would rather have a sliver than a burn. \*\* No, you use the lighter to heat the needle to burn off the germs (except that **wring** says it doesn’t work! And **wring** is always right about these things…). You then let the needle cool (don’t set it down or anything), and use the sterilized needle to dig the splinter out. You don’t want to use a hot needle! Ouch! Fenris ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/84 "2001-07-09T18:35:04Z")
Listen, first and foremost, I don’t have much of an opinion on the O.P. here or the one about **Silo** from a week or so ago. What I have a problem with is the way in which a certain few have decided that since they don’t agree with this thread being here in the first place, they’ll do anything and everything to make sure it won’t be seen or heard through the ‘splinte/tennis’ posts. A certain few have basically said, in my opinion, “Hey, I don’t like this topic so I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure it doesn’t take place.” I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with that approach. Something about it seems all wrong to me. You argue that it’s just one way to show your contempt at these threads, I say it seems more like a heckler at a speech trying to make sure the message, any message, doesn’t get through. That kind of stifling of an opinion has always rubbed me the wrong way. Again, I missed the post made by **Alphagene** back on page one. Had I seen it, or retained it before the tennis/splinter hijack came up, I probably wouldn’t have gotten this angry. Part of that is my fault. I simply didn’t see his post. But I’d suggest that it’s partly the fault of those that were simply interested in confusing this discussion, for the shear purpose that they don’t like it. It was easy to miss in the nonsense tennis posts that were beginning to start at that time. That’s all I taken issue in here, nothing more. ---
**Author:** ![Xerxes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d2c977/32.png) [@Xerxes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xerxes)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/85 "2001-07-09T18:44:20Z")
kabbes said: > [@](#): > > Xerxes - first and foremost, I see a material difference in the two threads you’ve referenced. One of those differences is tone (the cigarette thread was more an incredulous “what are they doing!” kind of question). The second difference concerns the subject matter. This privately owned, loss-making site is particularly fearful of being seen to endorse drugtaking since it is a hotbutton topic. A question about cigarette theft doesn’t have the same impact. Well, we’ll have to agree to differ. At the end of the first OP, **kinsey** explicitly asks where contraband tobacco could reasonably be expected to be sold (and of course by extension, bought). **Doctor Goo Fee** essentially asks where pot might be bought. BTW, I’m not an apologist for either, and I absolutely agree that the mods can set and enforce any kind of policy they want. There have been a number of threads recently essentially seeking clarification of policy. In the vast majority of cases I think they’ve been answered perfectly well, and it may well be that your assertion - > [@](#): > > This privately owned, loss-making site is particularly fearful of being seen to endorse drugtaking since it is a hotbutton topic. is the answer to this. But where does this leave anyone asking about pretty much _any_ criminal activity? It seems that drug-related criminal activity is a no-no, but otherwise it’s ok. Again, if this is policy I really have no beef with it. I am personally interested in how to build a thermic lance (commonly used to cut through concrete and into strong-rooms, I believe). > [@](#): > > Secondly I object to the phrase “arbitrarily hijacking” - there’s nothing arbitrary about it Ok, I might have been arbitrary about the use of the word arbitrary. Or I might arbitrarily object to your objection. Or more likely none of the above. I have no interest in the bannedness/non-bannedness of the protagonists. I was interested only in (a) whether the hijackers would be reasonable if it was done to them (you mention that you would be… good for you) and (b) an apparent discrepancy in how two similar OPs were treated. But on that I take your point that the drug-relatedness of the 2nd put it in a different category. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/86 "2001-07-09T18:51:52Z")
Cnote: > [@](#): > > What I have a problem with is the way in which a certain few have decided that since they don’t agree with this thread being here in the first place, they’ll do anything and everything to make sure it won’t be seen or heard through the ‘splinte/tennis’ posts. Yes, I heard you the first three or four times you said this. Would you care to restate your OP in light of the nonbanning, so that we can know exactly just what it is that you are complaining about which we are hijacking so rudely? ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/87 "2001-07-09T19:20:24Z")
Well I for one am absolutely disgusted. The fascist goat-munging gleet-licking administration around here has had its assheaded moments before in between their marathon skullfucking sessions with dead infants, but this really fucking goes beyond the pale. How DARE they overreact by not banning! They’ve got no goddamn self-control whatsoever, someone comes along and okay sure, maybe acts a little dumb, and yeah it’s their board so they can do what they like, we’ve all heard it before, but just hauling off and not banning someone? Unbelievable, just unbelievable. Yeah, I’m serious! Seriously pissed off! Screw you guys, I’m going home! I am absolutely positively done with this thread! ---
**Author:** ![Diane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2acd7d/32.png) [@Diane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diane)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/88 "2001-07-09T19:25:38Z")
> [@](#): > > No, you use the lighter to heat the needle to burn off the germs . I think the solution would be to use rubbing alcohol so you don’t get that black icky stuff from the flame smashed into the splinter hole. Wring, do you think that it was that black icky stuff that made your son’s eye swell up? I mean, it can’t be good, can it? Now would you kids shush up, I can’t hear the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/89 "2001-07-09T19:32:17Z")
Oh, and one more thing… When I have slivers, I usually dab some hydrogen peroxide on the wound afterwards. It has never been because I’m particularly worried about infections (I never ultra-sanitize my lightswitches and every surface in my home, and grew up in one that likewise was not antibacterialed to death, and therefore have a strong immune system) I just always thought it was really neat the way it foams up. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/90 "2001-07-09T19:50:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diane \* > **[ Wring, do you think that it was that black icky stuff that made your son’s eye swell up? I mean, it can’t be good, can it?** why, yes, that’s exactly what I thought. He’d been hoping to be able to ‘hide’ his eyebrow pierce from me, too. ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/91 "2001-07-09T19:59:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Xerxes \* > **But where does this leave anyone asking about pretty much _any_ criminal activity?** We really wind up playing it by ear. A lot has to do with the topic and how the question is phrased. There is some gray area and we often call each one as we see it. A thread about the pharmacological activity of THC, or about drug laws or about how drug tests work isn’t going to get closed based on its OP. But what Goof did is specifically ask how to perform an illegal act. This is a no-no on these boards. ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/92 "2001-07-09T20:31:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CnoteChris \* > A certain few have basically said, in my opinion, “Hey, I don’t like this topic so I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure it doesn’t take place.” > > I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with that approach. Something about it seems all wrong to me. My turn to chime in. **Cnote** , the first time I was confronted with a _non sequitur_ hijack was in [this thread I started.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=72886) I started a Pit thread to call **Hastur** to task for what I thought was an overzealous use of the label “homophobe”. What I did not realize was that I was re-opening some old wounds and animosities between **Hastur** and several other posters. The thing became a monster, and I was frankly horrified. And it seemed that it was never going to stop - the fucking thing was upwards of 150 posts. But then, a miracle happened. Some posters intervened with a blatant _non sequitur_ hijack - **and the fighting stopped**. I was immensely grateful. I think these hijacks are a useful signal that this ain’t getting us everywhere, and work better than a straightforward “let it go” post, because people in the middle of a hot-and-nasty aren’t going to be receptive to that. In this thread, the hijack came pretty early, admittedly. However, the OP was so blatantly wrong - hell, I clicked the link and immediately noticed that **Doctor Goo Fee** wasn’t banned - that I don’t think the hijack was too early. Sua ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/93 "2001-07-09T21:35:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Wring, do you think that it was that black icky stuff that made your son’s eye swell up? I mean, it can’t be good, can it? ?? I would assume that it’s just carbon, with maybe a touch of unburnt butane residue (or sulpher stuff if you’re using a match). It’s certainly sterile–apart form being black and possibly giving one a teeny little tattoo, I can’t imagine it’d hurt anything or cause infection. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/94 "2001-07-09T21:44:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by andros \* > \*\*?? I would assume that it’s just carbon, with maybe a touch of unburnt butane residue (or sulpher stuff if you’re using a match). It’s certainly sterile–apart form being black and possibly giving one a teeny little tattoo, I can’t imagine it’d hurt anything or cause infection. > > \*\* but how can **butane** be a _good_ thing to insert under one’s skin??? (or that was the point I made to my son) ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/95 "2001-07-09T22:03:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diane \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > No, you use the lighter to heat the needle to burn off the germs . > > I think the solution would be to use rubbing alcohol so you don’t get that black icky stuff from the flame smashed into the splinter hole. > \*\* \ My MOM used the “heat the needle” method and look how I turned out. \ By the way. In The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe Eudmund, when asked by the White Witch to think of his favorite food thinks of “Turkish Delight”\*. EeeewwWwww. Could this be a sign that Edmund is insane? (I’m not complaining that he chose candy as his favorite food, but _Turkish Delight!_ Yuk. What in the world’s wrong with him?) Or is Lewis hinting at the corruption in Edmund’s soul. Remember, after he meets Aslan, he never asks for Turkish Delight again! Fenris \*Turkish Delight is a sort of gooey/jelly-beanish candy. Imagine oh, say…a gumdrop, but not as chewy, and a bit starchier or a really soft fruit-rollup. Make it Rose flavored (like the flower). Make it sweet enough to make your teeth ache. Put chopped up pistachios in it. Cover it with powdered sugar OR chocolate. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/96 "2001-07-09T22:25:22Z")
> [@](#): > > but how can butane be a good thing to insert under one’s skin??? (or that was the point I made to my son) :shrug: Of course it’s not actively beneficial . . . it’s just not necessarily _bad_. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/97 "2001-07-10T05:44:23Z")
I apologize for MY overreaction. I should not have made that post. Various things have been putting me under high stress and I’ve been tending to fly off the handle before I have a chance to think about what I am doing. I may take a vacation from these boards for a while because now they are contributing to my stress, and that’s just fucking stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/98 "2001-07-10T07:25:55Z")
**cnote** , a question: How does a hijack kill a thread? I mean, the reason the OP isn’t being discussed here is because the question has been answered to the satisfaction of everybody reading this thread. OTOH, the hijack lives on alive and well and has, for the most part, usurped the OP as “the thread,” which is to say that the majority of the posts are contributing to what was originally the hijack (or an artist known as “Prince,” either way). Now, since the tennis/splinter thing has become “the thread” we’ll consider your arguments against hijacking the hijack. (FWIW, I only went this route since the tennis stuff came first. You’re welcome to consider the hijacking _issue_ the new thread and the hijacks to be the hijacks.) Now either way you look at it, we have “the thread” continuing on alive and well, coexisting rather well, if under protest, with “the hijack(s).” Both seem to be going well since both are still interesting. As **Diane** noted earlier, a hijack will only _truly_ kill a thread if the OP is on its last legs, or no longer interesting or worth discussing. IMHO, _all_ the “while we were eating dinner” metpahors are invalid since this is a medium in which we can do a fairly good job of ignoring the jibber-jabber that’s going on around us, as if, to return to the dinner metaphor ever so breifly, we had a remote control that could mute any speaker that bothers us. A rather inept metaphor, I’ll grant you, but then again, I think they all are. As far as thread killing goes, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/99 "2001-07-10T07:25:56Z")
Y’know, my mom used to heat up the needle before pulling a splinter. But she never waited for it to cool down, first. I learned at an early age to get my own splinters out. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805/100 "2001-07-10T07:28:35Z")
Oh, and to **Xerxes** (I think it was), pretty much any thread on how to commit illegal activities will be closed. Including, sadly, the how to commit a perfect murder thread which was really quite interesting. And on another note, when the heck do fantasy football signups start? I’ve never played and I figure this is as good a season as any to pick it up. Any tips? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overreaction-in-banning-this-guy/71805.md?page=6)