# Qin Shi Huangdi, what is your pupose? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 28, 2010, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562 "2010-12-28T00:52:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [December 28, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/61 "2010-12-28T18:58:40Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I don’t understand why anyone is bothered by this. He asks some questions, posts some polls. Who gives a shit if he doesn’t come back to his threads much? It can get irritating when you are responding directly to a statement in the OP and the OP never acknowledges it, it can feel like you’re talking to a wall. It would be different if it were just a straightforward question-and-answer situation. But when you are trying to address fallacious statements or ask for clarification and there is no substantive response, it is irritating. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/62 "2010-12-28T19:05:45Z")
While I’m not really “bothered” by this, I have to say that I am often puzzled at how easily someone can walk up to the mechanical organ, turn the crank, and make the monkeys dance around here. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/63 "2010-12-28T19:30:19Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > That’s a fair question, and i admit that my comment about it was based on the impression i had from a few recent threads, rather than from any sustained and methodical observation. > > So i went and had a look at his last 50 GD threads and his last 50 IMHO threads. It seems that he does, in fact, participate in most of the threads that he starts, especially in GD, which is where i think it’s most important. > > Here are the numbers of posts made by **Qin Shi Huangdi** in his last 50 threads. > > Great Debates: > > 1 post - 8 threads > 2 posts - 6 threads > 3+ posts - 36 threads > > In My Humble Opinion: > > 1 post - 16 threads > 2 posts - 8 threads > 3+ posts - 26 threads > > In GD, he was often the most frequent contributor, and in quite a few of his threads he had 10 or even 20 posts. He was was prone to making an OP and never returning in IMHO, but i don’t think it’s really a problem in that forum, especially because that is where polls go, and polls often don’t require the OP to return. > > So, it appears my impression was wrong. Thanks, that is a pretty good analysis. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/64 "2010-12-28T19:34:27Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > While I’m not really “bothered” by this, I have to say that I am often puzzled at how easily someone can walk up to the mechanical organ, turn the crank, and make the monkeys dance around here. It’s the little hats, does something to us. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/65 "2010-12-28T19:44:46Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > While I’m not really “bothered” by this, I have to say that I am often puzzled at how easily someone can walk up to the mechanical organ, turn the crank, and make the monkeys dance around here. Well, once you discern a pattern in someone’s behavior, it’s pretty easy to avoid the person. Thus my attitude to **Qin** , **ralph** , and **Jinx**. But if you haven’t run across that person before, and don’t know about his or her penchant for trolling or stupidity, it’s really quite understandable that you would take the OP’s question at face value and make a good faith effort to respond to it. Plenty of people posts a silly thread now and again, and plenty of people, on occasion, post an OP and then never return to the thread. I’m usually not willing to put someone on my “Don’t bother to respond” list until they demonstrate a pattern of behavior; one or two threads isn’t usually enough for me to give up on someone. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/66 "2010-12-28T20:23:09Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > While I’m not really “bothered” by this, I have to say that I am often puzzled at how easily someone can walk up to the mechanical organ, turn the crank, and make the monkeys dance around here. Did you take a wrong turn? I’m-so-above-it-all snobbery is being discussed a couple of threads over. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/67 "2010-12-28T20:25:13Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > While I’m not really “bothered” by this, I have to say that I am often puzzled at how easily someone can walk up to the mechanical organ, turn the crank, and make the monkeys dance around here. First day on the Internet? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/68 "2010-12-28T20:27:32Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > It can get irritating when you are responding directly to a statement in the OP and the OP never acknowledges it, it can feel like you’re talking to a wall. It would be different if it were just a straightforward question-and-answer situation. But when you are trying to address fallacious statements or ask for clarification and there is no substantive response, it is irritating. Maybe it’s more like he walks up to a bar and tosses in a question tied to a rock. No, wait, it’s more like he has a loudspeaker, and he asks controversial questions over it while we’re all sitting around drinking and chatting. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/69 "2010-12-28T20:45:14Z")
I kinda like the rock analogy better. Because that way, everybody stops buying drinks and chatting, and just stares there at the rock… ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/70 "2010-12-28T20:57:45Z")
When I see his threads, I’m reminded of the advice the character Lana gave to Joel in the film _Risky Business_ (which I’ll bet he hasn’t seen, although it might help). “Go to school, Joel. _Learn_ something.” ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/71 "2010-12-28T20:58:29Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Here are the numbers of posts made by **Qin Shi Huangdi** in his last 50 threads. Huh. Well, I guess I have to admit that my impression is wrong. ---
**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:** [December 28, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/72 "2010-12-28T21:06:41Z")
The numbers aren’t a definitive rebuttal of anything, really. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/73 "2010-12-28T21:56:09Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > And I think I have heard of Asian skinheads. Yeah, I knew some skinheads when I was living in Tokyo. Let me tell you, there’s nothing funnier than a floor full of Japanese skanking to Screwdriver. I don’t think most of them were the racist sort, though–they just liked the music and the style. 'Course we didn’t talk politics much, either. > [@kidneyfailure](#): > > The original skinhead movement was multi-racial and based around reggae and ska music in post-war Britain. Yup, “skinhead” doesn’t necessarily equal “racist.” > [@acsenray](#): > > The numbers aren’t a definitive rebuttal of anything, really. Indeed. Even for a basic numerical analysis, you’d have to look at other people’s posting habits: e.g., how many posts your average person has in threads they start, either as a total number or as a percentage of the total posts to that thread. IME and IMO, \*\*Curtis \*\*is a socially retarded teenager who uses this board at least partially as his own personal soapbox. As soon as you attempt to address him in any way that challenges his worldview, he disengages. And because many of his OPs deal with issues where his opinion is skewed by a huge lack of experience, information, or empathy, that means that a lot of his threads end up with him ignoring most everybody in them. Maybe everything that’s said and every question he’s never answered is percolating away in the back of his brain somewhere, and ten years from now he’ll sit bolt upright at three in the morning shouting, “MY GOD, I WAS AN OBNOXIOUS TEENAGER!” But it’s just as possible that he’ll grow up into another **Starving Artist** , shoving his fingers into his ears and loudly babbling nonsense syllables every time anybody points out that he’s just plain wrong. I wish they’d just make \*\*Curtis \*\*change his name back so that everybody’s who’s learned to avoid him can just stay the hell out of his threads, so eventually he has to just deal with the fact that nobody will want to talk to him anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/74 "2010-12-28T22:01:17Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > And Asperger’s really isn’t an excuse. No, it isn’t. However, it provides a perspective I didn’t have before, which helps me to understand the singular focus of most, if not all, of **Curtis’** posts. > [@Bosstone](#): > > It’s a useful diagnosis in understanding why a person may act the way they do, which can help in deciding how to react to a post, Hence my response above. > [@Bosstone](#): > > but it doesn’t absolve the afflicted of responsibility. They still have full control over their own actions, actions which are made with the knowledge they have Asperger’s provided they’ve received a legitimate diagnosis. It’s entirely possible for someone with Asperger’s to still act in bad faith, and it’s entirely appropriate to hold them accountable for that. Is it though? I’m not necessarily disputing you, and don’t want to derail the thread, but perhaps what you consider his acting in bad faith is one of the ways **Curtis’** Asperger’s manifests itself. Perhaps he doesn’t engage posters the way we would like, or at all, because he is unable to. I know it sounds like I’m excusing **Curtis’** actions; I don’t mean to. Believe me, I’ve rolled my eyes at so many of his threads and posts, and his seeming mindless repetition with absolutely no regard to contrary evidence presented by others, I’m surprised they’re still tethered in their sockets but, I’m sorry, Asperger’s, if he’s truly been diagnosed with it, puts a different light on things for me. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/75 "2010-12-28T22:17:35Z")
Aperger’s doesn’t make you stupid–just socially awkward. And anybody should be able to figure out the simple rule of “respond to questions when people ask them of you in regards to your OP.” And it’s a very clear pattern, to me–\*\*Curtis \*\*almost exclusively fails to respond to people who’re pointing out logical or factual flaws with his arguments. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/76 "2010-12-28T22:19:16Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Is it though? I’m not necessarily disputing you, and don’t want to derail the thread, but perhaps what you consider his acting in bad faith is one of the ways **Curtis’** Asperger’s manifests itself. Perhaps he doesn’t engage posters the way we would like, or at all, because he is unable to. Then he needs to understand that about himself. My closest friend (yeesh, I know, bear with me) is Aspie, but she deals in good faith. She either is constantly doublechecking her behavior and reactions with trusted friends to see if maybe she’s mistaken about a confusing situation, or if she’s in a situation where she knows she can’t operate effectively, she removes herself from it. It’s exceptionally rare that she operates without self-knowledge. I’ll grant that she’s not a teenager. Teenagers are still working out their own self-awareness. But, yes, I consider someone who doesn’t one, acknowledge that they have an impediment to normal social interaction and two, work to mitigate it, to be acting in bad faith, particularly if they know yet do nothing about it. Each person can only ever control their own actions. It’s nice when a person communicating with the Aspie makes an effort to understand and cooperate – lord knows I’ve put myself through hell working on that with my friend – but the Aspie can’t rely on or expect that. Someone with a broken leg can’t assume strangers will be glad to support them while they hop along to wherever they need to go, so they have to get a crutch. It’s really no different. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/77 "2010-12-28T22:22:51Z")
Exactly. At the point at which it has been explicitly stated to them, repeatedly, that starting a thread and then not responding to anyone who replies is a bad idea, there’s nothing in Asperger’s that prevents you from going, “Oh, okay, I understand now. I’ll work hard at only starting threads where I’m actually interested in sticking around to discuss things going forward.” ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/78 "2010-12-28T22:47:27Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Exactly. At the point at which it has been explicitly stated to them, repeatedly, that starting a thread and then not responding to anyone who replies is a bad idea, there’s nothing in Asperger’s that prevents you from going, “Oh, okay, I understand now. I’ll work hard at only starting threads where I’m actually interested in sticking around to discuss things going forward.” Or even writing a post that says “interesting, thanks” every 50 posts or so. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/79 "2010-12-28T23:01:33Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Here are the numbers of posts made by **Qin Shi Huangdi** in his last 50 threads. > > In GD, he was often the most frequent contributor, and in quite a few of his threads he had 10 or even 20 posts. He was was prone to making an OP and never returning in IMHO, but i don’t think it’s really a problem in that forum, especially because that is where polls go, and polls often don’t require the OP to return. The thing is, the sheer numbers of times he posts in his own threads doesn’t contradict that it’s extremely rare for him to substantively participate in his threads past the OP. Most of the time, his posts within the thread are one line long. He largely and often completely ignores attempts other posters make to engage him on the topics he introduces, INCLUDING in Great Debates. Most especially anyone who asks him questions about holes in his reasoning, or for clarification on his position. If he was ignoring people who were simply trying to get a rise out of him or set him up for a smackdown, that would be one thing. usually, though, he ignores people who are genuinely trying to have a conversation. Very frustrating. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2010, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562/80 "2010-12-28T23:07:51Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > I figure the dope might be his equivalent of ‘smart friends he can argue with’, combined with ‘people who challenge his ideas’ with **a soupçon of ‘girlfriend from Canada’**. What does that mean?? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/qin-shi-huangdi-what-is-your-pupose/565562.md?page=5)