# :::sigh::: So now talking about pay toilets is forbidden? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 5, 2005, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135 "2005-12-05T05:12:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/41 "2005-12-05T07:52:53Z")
> [@PeterWiggen](#): > > Clearly?!?! I had to use a flashlight to find this because the lights had gone! And so had the stairs! That’s the Display Department. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/42 "2005-12-05T08:01:38Z")
> [@PeterWiggen](#): > > Clearly?!?! I had to use a flashlight to find this because the lights had gone! And so had the stairs! That’s the Display Department. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/43 "2005-12-05T08:13:56Z")
I’m loving this hijack. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/44 "2005-12-05T08:14:05Z")
Are the mods cruising all GQ threads now to see when they have been factually answered? Normally, threads wither and die, if they’re not about scalar weapons. And if they don’t cruise all threads, I think there is another reason why this thread was closed and I want to know why. The mods always go on about the “report bad post” button, meaning that they think that the fora to a large extent should be self regulatory, something I think the SDMB is to a large extent. But maybe there’s a super secret mod memo, saying that they have to close threads ASAP, to save on the electricity bill for the Reader. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/45 "2005-12-05T08:57:11Z")
Man, I’m usually all for the mods and glad they keep folks like the Grapist from hanging around, but this is totally ridiculous. I learned a lot from this thread and this is exactly the reason why I love the SDMB- the chance to learn more than you ever thought there was to know about all kinds of ridiculous topics. If he wants to move the thread, fine, although I think there was still plenty of GQ material here. But if he can’t be bothered to move the thread, he really needs to give up his mod badge. He’s not contributing to the community, he is taking away from it. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/46 "2005-12-05T09:17:44Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > There have been some pretty outrageous lockdowns of late but this isn’t one of them. The General Question had been answered, the thread was well into MPSIMS territory and **Samclem** made a point of saying that anyone was free to start a thread on the subject in the latter forum. No big deal. Yeah, but why not just move the damn thing to MPSIMS himself if he felt that the “factual question had been answered” - not that I’m convinced it had been; I could have contributed some stuff - this closing of threads and saying “Oh well, just start a new one” is plain silly. ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/47 "2005-12-05T10:17:51Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > I could have contributed some stuff Yeah, me too. I opened the thread because it had been closed and I was curious, then found myself just itching to answer someone’s question. But I couldn’t! Because the thread was closed! I guess we’re going to have to live with unfought ignorance… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/48 "2005-12-05T11:22:25Z")
OK, I’ll chime in on this one. I’ve read and agreed with many of these ‘overzealous’ moderator threads, but hesitated to comment. After all, the moderators generally do a fine job of a difficult task, and can be expected to make the occasional mistake. No real harm done. Here, also, no real harm done, but no real good done also. The pay toilet thread was not ‘asked and answered’ – the OP was clearly mystified by the entire concept, and (albeit sometimes anecdotal) facts were still coming. I didn’t see the thread becoming a train wreck, or inappropriate. Bad choice to close the thread, it should be reopened. I’ve got an anecdote or two to contribute, which will add to the general knowledge of the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/49 "2005-12-05T12:11:47Z")
There is no mystery here. SamClem told us that it was asked and answered. He encouraged us to open a thread in a more appropriate forum if we wanted to share anecdotes. In other words, the thread had strayed far from GQ. He never said we shouldn’t or couldn’t talk about pay toilets in a more appropriate forum. ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/50 "2005-12-05T12:21:36Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > Yeah, but why not just move the damn thing to MPSIMS himself if he felt that the “factual question had been answered” - not that I’m convinced it had been; I could have contributed some stuff - this closing of threads and saying “Oh well, just start a new one” is plain silly. Moving doesn’t make much sense because then there would be a GQ style thread in MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![BabaBooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@BabaBooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BabaBooey)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/51 "2005-12-05T12:25:47Z")
If that’s the case, why not just move it to MPSIMS? Starting a new one just forces people to either read two different threads recently diving into the same subject (which would usually lead to a merge or one being closed before it got very long), or make people retell the same story in the new thread. Either way seems less convenient than moving/letting it be. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/52 "2005-12-05T12:29:34Z")
> [@Pedro](#): > > Moving doesn’t make much sense because then there would be a GQ style thread in MPSIMS. The horror. Thank God we have moderators to protect us from such monstrosities. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/53 "2005-12-05T12:31:34Z")
Why don’t those who want to discuss pay toilets simply go ahead, start up a thread in MPSIMS, and move on with it? At the beginning of this, I considered the GQ thread closure to be rather obscure – since the editing and addition of a reason by **Samclem** , all that seems to be left is just to get another thread started up to continue the chat about loos. Just a thought, folks. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/54 "2005-12-05T12:53:41Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Assuming for the sake of argument you are correct (and based on some other arbitrary closings he’s done recently it’s not a bad guess), so freaking what if a GQ thread veers into anecdote? So freaking this: I’m getting tired of General Questions turning into MPSIMS. And just because I close one thread or a dozen, and miss closing some that may have more anecdotal replies, I don’t plan on changing. If anything, I plan on closing more that deserve closing. I just don’t have an unlimited supply of hours in my day. I allow anecdotes. I allow stories, jokes, etc. But it’s gotten out of hand in General Questions. And I’m trying to regain control. What you may interpret as “arbitrary” is just my not being able to read and act on every thread in General Questions in a timely manner. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/55 "2005-12-05T13:09:45Z")
I’ve been around here for a while and can’t say I have noticed any appreciable change in the nature of GQ. Regardless, forum guidelines are just that, guidelines. They should never get in the way of an interesting thread occuring. You enforced a rule for the rules sake and that would be a terrible turn for the moderation on this board if this became the norm. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/56 "2005-12-05T13:11:16Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > There is no mystery here. SamClem told us that it was asked and answered. He encouraged us to open a thread in a more appropriate forum if we wanted to share anecdotes. In other words, the thread had strayed far from GQ. He never said we shouldn’t or couldn’t talk about pay toilets in a more appropriate forum. I presume he edited the bit about asked and answered after this thread was started. The original post just had the joke and the locked comment in it. Why the fuck didn’t you just move it? No pit thread, no hassle. Seriously is it that difficult? ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/57 "2005-12-05T13:12:19Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > If anything, I plan on closing more that deserve closing. I just don’t have an unlimited supply of hours in my day. Please take this in the manner it’s meant, which isn’t confrontational. I used to be a mod myself on some positively huge boards (it was a paid full-time job, believe it or not), so believe me I know what the constant barrage of complaints is like. However, I do think the increase in thread-closings is a genuine departure from what the moderation of this board used to be like, and I don’t think it’s the best idea. At my job, I used to have an editorial policy whereby I had to moderate almost entirely by deleting posts. Communication with users was kept to a minimum (in fact eventually forbidden), and I always used to argue against this, pointing at the SDMB (honestly) as somewhere where moderation was pursued mostly by communication, and with editorial control as a last resort. I really think this remains the best way to do things, and I think just lately things here have moved more towards “close first, answer questions later”. Maybe I’m misremembering, but it seems to me that time was, a mod would simply have posted to that thread saying “it’s getting a bit anecdotal, guys; keep it on track,” and that would’ve been it. Maybe there’d have been a discussion about how much anecdotalism was acceptable, but it would’ve been amicable and productive. I was always impressed by that style, and tried it at my job whenever I thought the powers-that-be weren’t watching, and it always worked much better. I really think it’s a big mistake to take a hard line on thread closings; not because it represents poor choices of when to take action, but because it puts people’s backs up and reduces the chances that they’ll accept the mod input right from the start. By and large, people want to co-operate to make the boards a better place, and the suggestive approach lets them do that without feeling that they’re being scolded. Maybe you’ll argue that people shouldn’t feel like that as a result of thread closings, and maybe you don’t mean them in that way, but it’s pretty undeniable that the natural reaction to a closing is, “hey! What’d I do wrong?” I’m not saying that the moderation has become any less reasonable in itself (as borne out by the number of threads re-opened after discussion). I just think that for whatever reason, thread-closing seems to have gone up in popularity as the main moderation tool, and that I think it’s primarily that which is causing the current bouts of ill-feeling. Anyway, just my 2 cents. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/58 "2005-12-05T13:16:28Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > I’m getting tired of General Questions turning into MPSIMS. … > I allow anecdotes. I allow stories, jokes, etc. But it’s gotten out of hand in General Questions. And I’m trying to regain control. Well, in your perfect world, I can only assume that a general question thread should only result in one or two replies with direct factual answers. Pray, tell me what is the downside when a GQ thread expands into an anecdote and free discussion (while still on topic) following conclusion with an actual answer? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/59 "2005-12-05T13:31:56Z")
The worst bit is that the OP wasn’t answered at all. \*\*Psycat90 \*\*tried to clarify twice that s/he was asking about the legality and technology of pay \*toilets \*- as in the porcelin units, not pay toilet stalls. No one answered whether coin operated toiilets exist, have existed or are illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135/60 "2005-12-05T14:37:03Z")
> [@treis](#): > > The horror. Thank God we have moderators to protect us from such monstrosities. :rolleyes: I don’t agree with the lock down and I don’t think that is the solution, but if the mods understandably don’t want GQ to turn into MPSIMS, it also stands to reason they don’t want MPSIMS to turn into GQ. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-so-now-talking-about-pay-toilets-is-forbidden/334135.md?page=4)