# Question about a mod note **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 23, 2026, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-mod-note/1029517 "2026-04-23T18:19:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2026, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-mod-note/1029517/61 "2026-04-25T18:26:20Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > has not been answered. Sure, since it wasnt a Warning. A Threadshit on purpose might have generated a warning. The Note also stopped people from replying to your post. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2026, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-mod-note/1029517/62 "2026-04-25T21:45:01Z")
When I posted upthread I hadn’t even seen the original exchange. I just assumed that the OP’s faux pas was basically a bland, “I don’t care.” Seeing subsequent posts, about his post, caused me to look at the link and makes me even more convinced that any action about his response requires a real effort of ascribing ill will. He sees a thread about a subject that brings to mind an amusing quote form _Frasier_. He. I assume, looks up the quote (unless he is equipped with an awesome memory) and posts it in the not idiotic belief that it may amuse others. After all it is from _Frasier_. Now, if the thread had been titled “I am dying of cancer how should my body be dressed for my upcoming funeral?” maybe it wouldn’t be appropriate but, seriously, quoting one of the best written comedy shows of all time is thread shitting. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2026, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-mod-note/1029517/63 "2026-04-25T21:51:23Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > OP: What do you want to wear at your funeral? > Me: I don’t care. There are something like 60 posts in that thread. What would the conversation look like if every poster without an opinion (and we have several hundred active posters) chimed in to describe how little they care about the topic? There would have been no conversation at all because it would have been drowned out. You might say “well, that didn’t happen” and you’d be right. That’s the purpose of the mod note. Everything is working as intended here. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2026, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-mod-note/1029517/64 "2026-04-25T22:30:42Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Seeing subsequent posts, about his post, caused me to look at the link and makes me even more convinced that any action about his response requires a real effort of ascribing ill will. Nobody is ascribing ill will. The mod note wasn’t about ill will. Not every mod note is. Some are just about content, regardless of intent. A hijack, for example, could be done while the person who posted it didn’t realize that it was causing or perpetuating a hijack. (I’ve been guilty of that myself numerous times.) The same goes for a thread shit. It doesn’t need to have the intent of causing an issue, as long as it has the effect of doing so. A mod note in this case has the double effect of informing the poster that the post wasn’t appropriate for the thread and also warning others to not reply to the inappropriate post, while not making the modded post appear to be anything more nefarious than a simple mistake. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2026, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-mod-note/1029517/65 "2026-04-25T23:30:05Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > You might say “well, that didn’t happen” and you’d be right. That’s the purpose of the mod note. > > Everything is working as intended here. Exactly. It was more to stop further posts along that like, or more likely, posters giving MMM a hard time for that post. > [@Atamasama](#): > > Nobody is ascribing ill will. The mod note wasn’t about ill will. Not every mod note is. Some are just about content, regardless of intent. Right. NOT A WARNING- JUST A NOTE!! ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2026, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-mod-note/1029517/66 "2026-04-26T12:10:54Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > He sees a thread about a subject that brings to mind an amusing quote form _Frasier_. He. I assume, looks up the quote (unless he is equipped with an awesome memory) and posts it in the not idiotic belief that it may amuse others. After all it is from _Frasier_. As i mentioned above: > [@puzzlegal](#): > > Also, it was apparently a quote of a TV show. That may well have been relevant to the intent, and people who recognized it may have read the post differently. But this was not a thread about Frasier. A post needs to stand on its own. On its own, I read it as hostile. I understand that wasn’t the intent of the poster, but it was how it came off, apparently to many (but not all) readers. And it really wasn’t that funny, just taken on its own. Maybe it was hilarious in Frasier. In this thread, it felt weirdly over-the-top, and somewhat hostile. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2026, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-mod-note/1029517/67 "2026-05-02T02:12:32Z")
I was all on MMM’s side until I read the quote. Without context, it reads as derisive. And in the context of the show, it is a derisive comment, being made to belittle the caller on the phone. As such, the default reading would be to see it as derisive here as well. I would argue you’d need to specify more if you want to say something like “I’d be dead, so I wouldn’t actually care. I’d leave it up to the bereaved.” And I would say that was perfectly fine to say. I don’t agree that threadshit does not imply intention, but cases like this I think can still apply, due to the implied derision, even if that wasn’t the OP’s intent. That derision is the “shit” part of it. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2026, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-mod-note/1029517/68 "2026-05-06T05:17:57Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Without context, it reads as derisive. And in the context of the show, it is a derisive comment, being made to belittle the caller on the phone. As such, the default reading would be to see it as derisive here as well. Sorry, been away from internet for a bit, but just wanted to say, as a reporter of the post in question, this was _exactly_ why I reported it and not any of the other ‘I don’t care’ posts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-a-mod-note/1029517.md?page=3)