# the Jupiter effect \[Hijacking threads on hot-button issues\] **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 30, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371 "2015-08-30T03:05:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![anthonymortadella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@anthonymortadella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anthonymortadella)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371/1 "2015-08-30T03:05:16Z")
In the “Is the doom and gloom environmental movement another expression of moral/religious anxiety?” thread on the “In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)” forum, grude started a topic that has only peripherally to do with global warming and I accidentally hijacked it and that’s all the last dozen or so posts have been about. Besides feeling bad about it, I just want to say that maybe people out there could be aware of this and not veer into topics like global warming that are very hot and get everyone talking if the OP is about something else, especially if the OP is about something only slightly different. What other topics does this regularly happen to? If a list could be made, then maybe there could be a protocol where hot topics can be cleaned out and restarted in a new thread, or at least people could be aware and start new threads when a peripheral topic inspires someone to talk about a hot topic. Ultimately, this would make for a more interesting (not to mention neater) forum. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371/2 "2015-08-30T03:34:44Z")
I have edited the title to make the subject of the thread clearer. Basically, it’s up to the moderators to make sure that threads are not hijacked into other subjects. If you believe a thread is being hijacked, then report the post(s). Besides global warming, other hot button topics that are likely to cause a thread to veer out of control are gun control, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, declawing cats, and the Game of Thrones. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371/3 "2015-08-30T04:11:33Z")
Yes, the board has made its peace with SUVs. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371/4 "2015-08-30T04:26:43Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Besides global warming, other hot button topics that are likely to cause a thread to veer out of control are gun control, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, declawing cats, and the Game of Thrones. And melting nuclear reactors. You can’t forget nuclear threads, they always heat up. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371/5 "2015-08-30T17:26:55Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I have edited the title to make the subject of the thread clearer. > > Basically, it’s up to the moderators to make sure that threads are not hijacked into other subjects. If you believe a thread is being hijacked, then report the post(s). > > Besides global warming, other hot button topics that are likely to cause a thread to veer out of control are gun control, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, declawing cats, and the Game of Thrones. You forgot all the “I just don’t get the females” threads. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371/6 "2015-08-30T19:26:02Z")
Did not want to comment here, but since the OP did mention this thread on GD I have to mention that global warming does belong in that thread mentioned by the OP because many deniers out there and even posters on the SDMB **do** continue to use that tired argument about this being based on religion and faith “just like many environmentalists of the past” as many who are misguided do think. IIRC even one poster got a mod note by repeating that accusation many times in a thread when an environmentalist issue like AGW was mentioned in a past discussion. And it had to be noticed too that AGW was mentioned early in the thread pointed in the OP before the poster posted that weird tirade. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371/7 "2015-08-30T21:13:23Z")
> [@Emiliana](#): > > You forgot all the “I just don’t get the females” threads. Or their converse, the “Allow me to explain the Women Algorithm” threads. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371/8 "2015-08-31T04:55:19Z")
So if the OP caught himself accidentally hijacking a thread, is he allowed to junior-moderate himself? ---
**Author:** ![Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371/9 "2015-08-31T05:37:59Z")
> [@Emiliana](#): > > You forgot all the “I just don’t get the females” threads. I just don’t get the females. Seldom have. It’s likely my personality. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371/10 "2015-08-31T15:36:34Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Besides global warming, other hot button topics that are likely to cause a thread to veer out of control are gun control, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, declawing cats, and the Game of Thrones. Would that be the books or the TV show? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371/11 "2015-08-31T15:51:58Z")
Why did the OP choose to call this “the Jupiter effect”? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371/12 "2015-08-31T15:52:30Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Would that be the books or the TV show? Please, no spoilers. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371/13 "2015-08-31T16:15:57Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Why did the OP choose to call this “the Jupiter effect”? Because Saturn was being a doody-head. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371/14 "2015-08-31T16:43:01Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Because Saturn was being a doody-head. I suspect you just pulled that out of Uranus orbit, or maybe trans-Neptunian space. What? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371/15 "2015-08-31T16:46:26Z")
> **[The Jupiter Effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jupiter_Effect)** > > The Jupiter Effect is a 1974 book by John Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann, in which the authors predicted that an alignment of the planets of the Solar System would create a number of catastrophes, including a great earthquake on the San Andreas Fault, on March 10, 1982. The book became a best-seller. The predicted catastrophes did not occur. > Astronomers had long been aware that there would be an alignment of the planets on that date, when Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Nep... ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jupiter-effect-hijacking-threads-on-hot-button-issues/729371/16 "2015-08-31T17:16:00Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > So if the OP caught himself accidentally hijacking a thread, is he allowed to junior-moderate himself? No. If he did then he would have to report himself for abusing himself. Uh oh, now I’ve gone and junior-modded the user who talked about junior modding. I’d better stop that. OH NO, now I’ve junior modded myself for junior modding a user about junior modding. I’d better just shut up. **OH NOOOooooo** …