# The Ethics of Killing Threads by Opening a Thread titled "The Ethics of..." **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 5, 2000, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-killing-threads-by-opening-a-thread-titled-the-ethics-of/17630 "2000-03-05T23:10:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2000, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-killing-threads-by-opening-a-thread-titled-the-ethics-of/17630/1 "2000-03-05T23:10:00Z")
Just kidding. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2000, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-killing-threads-by-opening-a-thread-titled-the-ethics-of/17630/2 "2000-03-05T23:21:00Z")
Just for the benefit of people who might not get your “joke”: From [Confessions of a Thread Hijacker](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/005383-2.html) **Libertarian** , posted 02-28-2000 01:24 PM > [@](#): > > Gaudere > So you mean, like, when I say that the best way to deal with problems in public schools is to eliminate them, and then get into an explanation of why the whole notion of rights is obfuscated by so-called “public property”? > > Hmmm… > > Maybe when I’m moved to interpret an otherwise mundane issue libertarianly, rather than respond in the mundane debate thread, I could start a new thread for the greater debate. Would that work? **Gaudere** , posted 02-28-2000 01:29 PM > [@](#): > > ## quote: > > ## Maybe when I’m moved to interpret an otherwise mundane issue libertarianly, rather than respond in the mundane debate thread, I could start a new thread for the greater debate. Would that work? > > _Yes._ (Italics hers.) **RTFirefly** , posted 02-28-2000 03:53 PM > [@](#): > > ## quote: > > ## Maybe when I’m moved to interpret an otherwise mundane issue libertarianly, rather than respond in the mundane debate thread, I could start a new thread for the greater debate. Would that work? > > Lib, I think that’s a perfectly reasonable solution! It would not only allow us to be honest, but peaceful as well. (What a notion, huh?) ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2000, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-killing-threads-by-opening-a-thread-titled-the-ethics-of/17630/3 "2000-03-06T03:24:00Z")
Lib, I’m pretty sure everybody got his joke. Well, almost everybody… ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2000, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-killing-threads-by-opening-a-thread-titled-the-ethics-of/17630/4 "2000-03-06T15:03:00Z")
Now, let’s hope that somebody doesn’t open a thread entitled “The Ethics of Killing Threads by Open a Thread titled ‘The Ethics of Killing Threads by Opening a Thread titled “The Ethics of…”’” 😃 (Please note that I got the nested quotation marks right! I’m proud of myself!) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2000, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-killing-threads-by-opening-a-thread-titled-the-ethics-of/17630/5 "2000-03-06T15:11:00Z")
What happened here? I was looking for the Flate Earth thread? I must’ve taken a left at mpsims… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2000, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-killing-threads-by-opening-a-thread-titled-the-ethics-of/17630/6 "2000-03-06T15:31:00Z")
[keeping straight face] In Libertarian philosophy, my thread is **my** property, and neither you nor “society” (whatever that is) has any right to hijack it. [/ straight face] 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2000, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-killing-threads-by-opening-a-thread-titled-the-ethics-of/17630/7 "2000-03-07T06:18:00Z")
As a lower case l-libertarian (I agree with the basic tenets but the Libs I know are far too much the freaks for me ever to identify myself as a cap-L), I think spoke- is guilty of distorting the concept of property rights to serve his own purposes. The SDMB states quite clearly that contributions become property of and copyright to the Chicago Reader, with the limited exception of authors being free to quote their own works elsewhere. Thus spoke- has no claim or property interest and no standing for a complaint of thread hijacking. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2000, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-killing-threads-by-opening-a-thread-titled-the-ethics-of/17630/8 "2000-03-06T19:55:00Z")
Um, Otto? It was a **parody**! (Have you read any of **Libertarian** ’s posts? 😉 * * * –As useless as a one-legged man at an ass-kicking. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2000, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-killing-threads-by-opening-a-thread-titled-the-ethics-of/17630/9 "2000-03-06T22:09:00Z")
Lib, if you need any defending for opening a bunch of threads to discuss a particular issue from your particular libertarian perspective, you’ve got it. That’s what we asked, that’s what you’ve done, and I certainly appreciate it. Sorry I wasn’t as fast to jump to your defense as I normally might’ve been; after debating gun control with some people who kept going straight through the weekend, I was kinda GD’ed out by Saturday afternoon. This morning, I poked my head into one thread we’re both on only because I’d posted there a few days ago, and figured I’d better see what response I got. You’re having a bit of fun poked at you for your thread titles, but what can I say? Your formulaic use of language invites that. (I’m kind of amused at your more or less staking a claim to your philosophy being ‘ethical’; if I’d had it in mind to start a thread, I would have perhaps gone with something like ‘Protecting the Environment - an **Un** ethical Approach’ as kind of a verbal noogie.) Anyhow, it certainly doesn’t bother _me_ that there are a fair number of parallel libertarian threads in GD. Whenever I get back into more of a GD mood, I’m sure I’ll appreciate it a great deal. So keep on doin’ what you’re doin’. And thanks. 🙂 * * * The mark of a truly great mind isn’t whether you’re right or wrong. It’s how well you can weasel out of a jam. - Unca Cecil ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2000, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-killing-threads-by-opening-a-thread-titled-the-ethics-of/17630/10 "2000-03-06T22:26:00Z")
Thank you, and God bless you, RT. Libertarianism, of course, _is_ an ethic — the ethic of noncoercion.