# Punishment for Theadshitting etc... **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 28, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punishment-for-theadshitting-etc/504568 "2009-07-28T18:04:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punishment-for-theadshitting-etc/504568/21 "2009-07-28T20:19:12Z")
> [@Seven](#): > > Oh, show signatures was turned off in my UserCP. > > Duh Yeah, computer stuff is _hard_, you have my sympathy. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Xploder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a183cd/32.png) [@Xploder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xploder)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punishment-for-theadshitting-etc/504568/22 "2009-07-28T22:31:48Z")
Seven banned??? Huh? ---
**Author:** ![Xploder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a183cd/32.png) [@Xploder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xploder)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punishment-for-theadshitting-etc/504568/23 "2009-07-28T22:51:49Z")
That’s odd… ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punishment-for-theadshitting-etc/504568/24 "2009-07-28T22:52:38Z")
Ssh! If you don’t watch your step, you might be next! ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punishment-for-theadshitting-etc/504568/25 "2009-07-28T22:53:37Z")
> [@Xploder](#): > > Seven banned??? Huh? So I guess we have our answer. ---
**Author:** ![Xploder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a183cd/32.png) [@Xploder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xploder)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punishment-for-theadshitting-etc/504568/26 "2009-07-28T22:53:39Z")
wah on edit…in response to **Inner Stickler**. ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punishment-for-theadshitting-etc/504568/27 "2009-07-29T06:13:25Z")
I’d like to weigh in a bit seriously on this. Any time someone brings up some idea to reduce stupidity in a community, I cringe. It’s always with good intentions that someone gets the idea to punish people who go off topic, or post stupid things, and it ends up with the people who _really care_ about maintaining the consensus in power, and they use these policies drive off the posters who aren’t as interested in just agreeing with everyone else. It’s one thing to pop someone who stars posting completely unrelated things, or racist rants, or whatever, but this sort of proposed micromanagement seems, to me, to be dangerous. I don’t really trust the moderators to make a decision on someone being “stupid”, and I especially don’t trust other posters to keep a thread “on track”. The idea of removing stupidity really means removing dissent; it gets enforced by the wrong people for the wrong reason. There’s already an ignore function on the board, and “don’t feed the trolls” is a mantra for those who don’t like conflict. The need to punish people even more for daring to dissent speaks more about your problems than any mere “threadshitter”. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punishment-for-theadshitting-etc/504568/28 "2009-07-29T16:52:52Z")
> [@ivn1188](#): > > It’s one thing to pop someone who stars posting completely unrelated things, or racist rants, or whatever, but this sort of proposed micromanagement seems, to me, to be dangerous. I don’t really trust the moderators to make a decision on someone being “stupid”, and I especially don’t trust other posters to keep a thread “on track”. > > The idea of removing stupidity really means removing dissent; it gets enforced by the wrong people for the wrong reason. There’s already an ignore function on the board, and “don’t feed the trolls” is a mantra for those who don’t like conflict. The need to punish people even more for daring to dissent speaks more about your problems than any mere “threadshitter”. Threadshitting is not the same as stupidity, and definitely isn’t the same as dissent. Dissent is a good thing. It gives the boards a lot of their character. But there’s a difference between stating a dissenting opinion and posting random off-topic gibberish or posting “death to kittens” in a kitty pic thread or “Apple sucks” in a thread about organizing music on iPods. Dissent is constructive. It helps to build knowledge and fight ignorance. Threadshitting is destructive. It accomplishes nothing other than making people angry and derailing discussions. ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punishment-for-theadshitting-etc/504568/29 "2009-07-29T20:45:52Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > Threadshitting is destructive. It accomplishes nothing other than making people angry and derailing discussions. I didn’t claim it was a good thing. But I just don’t agree that it’s particularly disruptive, given the ability to ignore, and some sort of penalty box would just give people another tool to enforce their ideals on everyone else. And the posters who complain the most are the exact people that are the type to abuse things like that. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punishment-for-theadshitting-etc/504568/30 "2009-07-29T21:50:45Z")
I understand what you’re saying, **ivn1188** , but I get the impression not too many people actually use the “ignore” feature, as it can make it difficult to follow the flow of a thread. This means that threadshitters can get the discussion off track and make the signal-to-noise ratio pretty ugly. I still feel (speaking personally, _not_ with a mod hat on) that threadshitters are just another form of troll, but that dissenters and ignorant posts add to the discussion and bring out more information in the end. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punishment-for-theadshitting-etc/504568/31 "2009-08-02T00:02:53Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > I understand what you’re saying, **ivn1188** , but I get the impression not too many people actually use the “ignore” feature, as it can make it difficult to follow the flow of a thread. This means that threadshitters can get the discussion off track and make the signal-to-noise ratio pretty ugly. > > I still feel (speaking personally, _not_ with a mod hat on) that threadshitters are just another form of troll, but that dissenters and ignorant posts add to the discussion and bring out more information in the end. Most people on the board know to quote the post they are responding to. So, if the blocked person said anything of interest, you’ll see it quoted. Otherwise, you know you can safely ignore it. If someone didn’t quote the post, you can always unhide just the one post, just that one time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/punishment-for-theadshitting-etc/504568.md?page=1)