# Please explain where jerk lines get crossed. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 27, 2015, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669 "2015-09-27T04:20:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669/41 "2015-09-28T18:33:53Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > As for Shodan’s annoying habit I have a suggestion for the mods. > > [Here are the rules for signatures](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7697069#post7697069) > > [snip quote] > > > [@](#): > > > > \*\*I like to sign my name at the end of each of my posts. Is that OK?\*\*You can do a simple signoff of the form: > > > > [complimentary close - optional] > > [your name] > > > > … at the end of each post. By “complimentary close” we mean some brief valedictory such as “regards,” “peace,” etc. Please don’t push the envelope. > > ISTM that by the rules, he is allowed to sign off however he likes, but only once per thread. You misread. That comment is specifically after a question about a close at the end of each post. And it reiterates “at the end of each post” in the explanation. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > Underlining mine. > > It appears the rules you quoted \*don’t \*support your contention. **Shodan** ’s behavior is in fact specifically supported by a rule provision. One which looks almost tailor-written just for him. It was added after a previous kerfluffle over **Shodan** ’s closure. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669/42 "2015-09-28T19:01:26Z")
Oh man, that is priceless. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669/43 "2015-09-28T20:02:10Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Hijack: Why is there such hatred for the comic sans font? Because for some people there is an inverse relationship between the importance of an issue and how worked up they get over the issue. Therefore, font choice - which is about as insignificant an issue as can be imagined - can become a matter of life and death. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669/44 "2015-09-28T20:15:19Z")
It’s decisions like this that makes me wonder: is being a jerk disobeying board rules and then disobeying a mod OR is being a jerk doing something that annoys a member that happens to be a mod and then ignoring them when they capriciously mod it? ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669/45 "2015-09-28T20:44:05Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > It’s not a offensive or controversial statement, and he didn’t start using it to inflame others. Back in 2012, there was the belief that he was trying to initiate a meme. Then SB denied that. The problem is the denials of somebody who does something that he knows is annoying and of limited humor lack credibility. At any rate, I see that his alleged early attempts might be close to gaining some traction, albeit not in the manner that he anticipated. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > It’s decisions like this that makes me wonder: is being a jerk disobeying board rules and then disobeying a mod OR is being a jerk doing something that annoys a member that happens to be a mod and then ignoring them when they capriciously mod it? Neither. Some mods found the behavior annoying, some found it insufficiently annoying. They conferred and decided to let it slide. Being a spammer is being a jerk. There are many ways of being a jerk, one of which is disobeying moderator instructions. It’s not hard. I suppose Snowboarder Bo may have put himself on the radar with this particular stunt. But he’s otherwise a decent poster, and so has managed to stay on the correct side of the ban-hammer. I say that’s fine: there is a range of material that should be handled via mod action and another range that belongs in the pit. This is a beef that lots of folks have with SB’s automated tic. Pitting it is appropriate and not especially noteworthy: a pitting every 2 or 3 years sounds about right. That some think that this is a big troll-burn is their issue: they can express such feelings in the pit as well. Or even in this thread, with civility. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669/46 "2015-09-28T21:57:02Z")
Thinking about **Colibri** ’s explanation (which again I appreciate) I think part of the issue is using colored and unusual fonts is something that the staff could easily imagine many of the TMs doing and doing often, whereas SB’s automated tic habit, is not something they feel they imagined others adopting. Of course if people _did_ it would ruin the look/feel/experience of the board even more than colored font does. Imagine this board with some having it set such that whenever they type “IMHO” the text “The agnostic dyslexic is not sure if he believe in a dog.” appears, and another that whenever they type the letters “INA” (no matter what follows) the text “The manager kicked the bragging chess masters out of the empty lobby … he can’t stand chess nuts boasting over an open foyer.” appears. Another group replaces “NSFW” with the complete words of the poem The Jabberwocky … Paradoxically, the fact that no one else sees any appeal to having an automated tic (or at least enough to do it themselves), that most just see it as, well not positively, that no one can even imagine that having an automated tic would become a popular thing to do, is precisely why it requires no moderation. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669/47 "2015-09-29T01:18:20Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Thinking about **Colibri** ’s explanation (which again I appreciate) I think part of the issue is using colored and unusual fonts is something that the staff could easily imagine many of the TMs doing and doing often, whereas SB’s automated tic habit, is not something they feel they imagined others adopting. Of course if people _did_ it would ruin the look/feel/experience of the board even more than colored font does. > > Paradoxically, the fact that no one else sees any appeal to having an automated tic (or at least enough to do it themselves), that most just see it as, well not positively, that no one can even imagine that having an automated tic would become a popular thing to do, is precisely why it requires no moderation. [Note my post #28 above] So now the battle is between whether some potentially disruptive board meme is potentially liable to be _spread_ or not, and not whether said disruptive behavior is an inherent act of jerkishness on the part of a single poster, on its own? That’s utterly absurd. I started adding my own ridiculous catchphrase after the last Pitting 3 years ago, but after a day or so I lost all enthusiasm for it. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669/48 "2015-09-29T03:13:41Z")
Your post #28 is duly noted. I am not so sure it is absurd. Something that is only a bit jerky on its own (but easily ignored by most, like the automated tic or colored font in a post) can be very disruptive if many do it. The odds of many doing does not seem unreasonable to include in deciding what its disruption potential is. The staff felt that the risk of many posting in color was real. (Though they had allowed that Grapist for a long while in the past and no one ever imitated him/her.) The automated tic is unique to **SB**. Its been years now and no one else has been inspired to act jerky in that particular way. You even tried. A couple have intimated in that Pit thread that are going to start now but I doubt any will carry through. And while the idea of starting every post, or even every tenth post, or even replacing every IMHO or FAIK with: “'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.” then proceeding with whatever I was going to post does amuse me, in concept, I wouldn’t be jerk enough to do it. But yes, I am sure you are right: if a bunch of posters did start to do similar automated tic behaviors it would be stopped toot suite. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669/49 "2015-09-29T03:56:22Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > (Though they had allowed that Grapist for a long while in the past and no one ever imitated him/her.) For the record, the posting career of the **Grapist\_: )** lasted all of 22 minutes from his first post until his banning (7:26 to 7:48 PM, 21 March 2004). Other people have occasionally imitated him as a joke for a few posts, but as they were joking it was overlooked. The instance of the poster who was posting in green text was the most recent one, but in the past I have had posters turn up and start posting in bright blue or red. I’ve told them to knock it off as being disruptive. That was not in the least controversial (except for the poster who was doing it). The dark green was not that bad, but bright blue or red text is even if only a single poster does it. The problem is that if we allow dark green text then we either have to allow other colors, or make some arbitrary decision on which colors are disruptive and which aren’t. Excluding them all is the simplest solution. Of course, we still allow people to post in different fonts and colors if they do it occasionally as a joke or for emphasis. The problem arises when someone posts entirely in a different color. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669/50 "2015-09-29T04:46:25Z")
Ah. Their jokes were lost on me. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669/51 "2015-09-29T04:52:20Z")
Still, if what would happen, do you think, if as **John DiFool** and I imagine, multiple posters started replacing “IMHO” or “FAIK” a verse from Jabberwocky as our automated tic? Would it depend on how often we tended to call up our demon scripts by typing those acronyms? How many of us there were? If we used a whole verse or just “'Twas brillig …” Not asking for a ruling but do wonder what your informed speculation would be. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669/52 "2015-09-29T14:54:14Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Still, if what would happen, do you think, if as **John DiFool** and I imagine, multiple posters started replacing “IMHO” or “FAIK” a verse from Jabberwocky as our automated tic? > > Would it depend on how often we tended to call up our demon scripts by typing those acronyms? How many of us there were? If we used a whole verse or just “'Twas brillig …” > > Not asking for a ruling but do wonder what your informed speculation would be. I’d rather not deal with hypotheticals in ATMB, especially not one that has so little prospect of actually happening. (I will, however, say that we will probably take a dim view of people who take this as a challenge to test our tolerance of something like this. ;)) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669/53 "2015-09-29T19:13:41Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Because for some people there is an inverse relationship between the importance of an issue and how worked up they get over the issue. Therefore, font choice - which is about as insignificant an issue as can be imagined - can become a matter of life and death. For all your typesetting needs: The Ransomizer > **[The Ransomizer](https://www.ransomizer.com/)** > > A css-based ransom note generator by Melvix. ETA: Since, thanks to I think LSLguy, I know to use the word “chonson,” I extra appreciate the “shut the fuck up Donny” option on that site. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669/54 "2015-09-29T19:31:10Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > For all your typesetting needs: The Ransomizer > [http://www.ransomizer.com](http://www.ransomizer.com) I think I’m going to start using that for warnings. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669/55 "2015-09-30T00:50:34Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > For the record, the posting career of the **Grapist\_: )** lasted all of 22 minutes from his first post until his banning (7:26 to 7:48 PM, 21 March 2004). Other people have occasionally imitated him as a joke for a few posts, but as they were joking it was overlooked. That must have been a reappearance that was quickly quashed. Even without Powers-o’-Moderation™ to see disappeared content, I can find mentions of him from a year before that. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669/56 "2015-09-30T01:44:22Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > That must have been a reappearance that was quickly quashed. Even without Powers-o’-Moderation™ to see disappeared content, I can find mentions of him from a year before that. You’re right. Checking back, his first appearance was actually on 7 May 2003, when it took him 46 minutes to get banned. The first few mentions, however, are to not to the troll, but to a character mentioned in this [this Onion article](http://www.theonion.com/article/mcdonalds-drops-hammurderer-character-from-adverti-127) on the supposed MacDonald’s character the Hammurderer. > [@](#): > > The Hammurderer is quickly becoming regarded as the worst-received advertising mascot since Kool-Aid’s 1989 discontinuation of “The Grapist,” a huge purple monster who sodomizes thirsty children. He would have been banned on the name alone, even without graping people’s posts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-where-jerk-lines-get-crossed/732669.md?page=2)