# Some threads on this board seem like a goldmine. (Not a lovefest thread)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-threads-on-this-board-seem-like-a-goldmine-not-a-lovefest-thread/970847>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 2, 2022, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-threads-on-this-board-seem-like-a-goldmine-not-a-lovefest-thread/970847 "2022-09-02T22:41:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-threads-on-this-board-seem-like-a-goldmine-not-a-lovefest-thread/970847/1 "2022-09-02T22:41:01Z")

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There are a few that come to mind but the main one I’m thinking of right now is the “Stupid republican idea” threads.

Say you’re a writer, and you’re doing research for a documentary on the GOP. How valuable would that thread be?

We here on the Dope have collectively documented nearly every controversial (stupid) thing the Republicans have done for years. And it’s in a linear timeline complete with links and sources.

So wouldn’t that thread be a goldmine for such a journalist? I’m not an academic type. So I don’t know. But it sure seems like it would be.

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2022, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-threads-on-this-board-seem-like-a-goldmine-not-a-lovefest-thread/970847/2 "2022-09-03T01:11:20Z")

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Possibly the timeline would be useful for a narrowly focused article.

However, as a historian who has searched through untold thousands of newspaper articles, magazines, books, websites, and every other type of media to sift for usable nuggets, I would handle a listing called “Stupid Republican Ideas” with ten-foot tongs. Just at the minimum, what is not said is often as important in writing about something as what is said.

Bad journalism and history cherrypicks. Using a cherrypicked list might save an unscrupulous writer from needing to do work. I wouldn’t regard the end product much higher than I would a college essay cut-and-pasted from Wikipedia. And I use Wiki as a first step all the time.

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**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2022, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-threads-on-this-board-seem-like-a-goldmine-not-a-lovefest-thread/970847/3 "2022-09-03T03:11:41Z")

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Yeah, Pit threads tend toward the polemic, and a journalist or PR consultant looking to craft some anti-Republican polemic could doubtless find such a thread very useful. People attempting to do more broadly focused journalism or history, not so much.