# The tree of liberty needs to be watered with the blood of school children **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 15, 2018, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854 "2018-02-15T02:32:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 30
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/581 "2018-02-24T22:22:28Z")
> [@](#): > > {…} Changing user names is allowed in the Pit, as you should well know as I’ve been addressing you with appropriately wimpy names and primarily the Librarian one for going on fifteen years now. {…} > [@](#): > > **Revised Forum Rules for the BBQ Pit: read this before posting** > {…} > **Quoting: do not alter words within quote tags beyond fair usage standards** > > Do not change quotes of other posters or off-board citations beyond fair usage standards. If you delete material, use either ellipses or descriptive tags (e.g., \, [material deleted], etc.) to indicate you’ve done so. To add non-editorial explanatory material, use square brackets, which means things like [sic] or replacing a pronoun to make a partial quote clearer. If you add formatting for emphasis, please indicate you’ve done so, either in square brackets within the quote or immediately after the quote. Quote tags are for actual quotes only - don’t use them to paraphrase another’s argument or make a joke. > {…} > **No harassment of other posters** > > If you have a quarrel with a poster in a particular thread, fine. If you follow that poster from thread to thread and attempt to pick fights, that’s harassment and may get you warned or banned. > {…} CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/582 "2018-02-24T22:32:07Z")
Didn’t alter his message, only his user name. Which is not only permitted in the Pit but has been indulged in by me and others for years. I don’t imagine for a moment you don’t know this. But when grasping at straws any straw will do I suppose, honesty and personal integrity be damned, eh? ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/583 "2018-02-24T22:34:17Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > And the drunk driverwas law abiding he wouldn’t have plowed into the minivan and killed an entire family. We shouldn’t bother with drunk driving laws, I guess. You are not making sense. Someone parodied the law abiding gun owner statement. Well, you aren’t law abiding if you are shooting up a school. I’m not talking about not having laws and having an anarchy. Duh. I’m saying that satirizing that particular statement was nonsensical. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/584 "2018-02-24T22:36:59Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Didn’t alter his message, only his user name. Which is not only permitted in the Pit but has been indulged in by me and others for years. > > I don’t imagine for a moment you don’t know this. But when grasping at straws any straw will do I suppose, honesty and personal integrity be damned, eh? Which part of > [@](#): > > Text inside a quote box, **including the username** , should not be altered. Do you not understand? ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/585 "2018-02-24T22:39:04Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Jus’ being playful, something you wrongheaded liberal types can’t seem to get a handle on because the world isn’t perfect and you’re outraged. > > Hmm…more ageism. I’m pretty sure Quincy Jones could and probably does say that without any problem whatsoever. So that makes you both an ageist bigot and a racist bigot. So, one step above Hitler, right? Maybe? > > Oh, wait, I forgot, bigotry is okay against old white guys. Carry on. (Hard to keep track which of you guys’ hypocrisies gets a pass and which doesn’t.) Hee hee… who can’t be playful now? Quincy Jones can pull it off. You can’t. Where do you get the idea you speak for all old white men? You’re only 12 years older than me, and the same skin color. Our beef against you has nothing to do with your age. You resort to accusations of ageism when you can’t counter any of our points, with a little dash of [Godwin’s Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law) on the side. > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Anyway, you’d be surprised. They call me J-Dawg and Jimbo Slice at the local 7-11. (Albeit I’ve been warned that my cycling tights occasionally put my street cred in jeopardy. ;)) Normally, I’d say pics or it didn’t happen… but I’ll pass this time. 🙂 > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > And yet there’s no shortage of such people around here who feel entitled to tell me exactly how it was. Which, since they’re the victims of historical revisionism with an agenda, bares scant resemblance to reality. What, you mean when they link actual studies and research? It’s always “historical revisionism” when it proves you wrong. C’mon SA, aren’t you willing to learn anything new? That’s what this board is all about. And in case you missed (or most likely ignored) it the first time, [here’s the poll](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=849895) I set up to see if any Dopers had educators who tried to influence them politically. So far, more of them are responding that their \*conservative \*educators did so. How about that? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/586 "2018-02-24T22:40:11Z")
Sorry, but the time has come when I must say adieu for the evening. Talk later. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/587 "2018-02-24T22:40:28Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > You are not making sense. Someone parodied the law abiding gun owner statement. Well, you aren’t law abiding if you are shooting up a school. I’m not talking about not having laws and having an anarchy. Duh. I’m saying that satirizing that particular statement was nonsensical. You are law abiding when you decide to kill your classmates. you are law abiding when you purchase the gun with which to kill your classmates. You are law abiding when you purchase the ammo that you will use to kill your classmates. You are law abiding when you go to the range and practice to kill your classmates. You are law abiding when you ride an uber to the school to kill your classmates. You only break the law when you actually start shooting up the school. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/588 "2018-02-24T22:41:59Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Didn’t alter his message, only his user name. Which is not only permitted in the Pit but has been indulged in by me and others for years. 😕 How do you reconcile that assertion with the [ATMB moderator decree](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19907683&postcount=10) that I quoted and linked to just a couple posts above yours? > [@Colibri](#): > > > [@John Mace](#): > > > > But, can you alter a person’s name inside a quote box in the Pit? > > No. Text inside a quote box, including the username, should not be altered. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/589 "2018-02-24T22:44:18Z")
See, that’s the SA MO- his experience is universal and contrary experiences mean the you haven’t figured out truth yet (marriage is a scam) or you’re lying to yourself (remaining attracted to your long time spouse) or that’s it’s a lie (his version of the 50s and 60s is truth, any other version is revisionist history). Hi experiences are his and he’s entitled to them. But this idea that everyone must share them or be wrong, is loco. I eagerly await the multi quote reply denying this, but it’s been his pattern time and time again. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/590 "2018-02-24T22:46:10Z")
Maybe those cycling tights are cutting off the blood supply to his brain? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/591 "2018-02-24T22:48:41Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Sorry, but the time has come when I must say adieu for the evening. Talk later. I remember back in the 50’s, when it was the norm for people to run away in a cowardly fashion. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/592 "2018-02-24T23:11:57Z")
In my understanding of the rule, changing a user name when addressing them in the pit is just fine. Not so much changing their name in the quote box. Of course, I may be wrong. But SA was equally convinced that changing a quote box to read “blah blah blah” was also OK, because reasons. He was wrong about that, but maybe he’s right this time. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/593 "2018-02-24T23:14:26Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > In my understanding of the rule, changing a user name when addressing them in the pit is just fine. Not so much changing their name in the quote box. Of course, I may be wrong. Nope, you’re correct. That’s the rule. > [@](#): > > But SA was equally convinced that changing a quote box to read “blah blah blah” was also OK, because reasons. > > He was wrong about that, but maybe he’s right this time. 😕 You just articulated the rule that he broke. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/594 "2018-02-24T23:23:37Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Nope, you’re correct. That’s the rule.😕 You just articulated the rule that he broke. I was just saying perhaps this time, for once in his lifetime, maybe he is right about changing a user name. I doubt it, as he was so wrong about the last rule, but maybe. Probably not, though. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/595 "2018-02-25T00:42:34Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > 😕 How do you reconcile that assertion with the [ATMB moderator decree](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19907683&postcount=10) that I quoted and linked to just a couple posts above yours? I hope you are reporting that. Since he’s on my Ignore list, I’d have to go into his actual post to report it myself, and I’m simply not going to. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/596 "2018-02-25T01:21:05Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Didn’t alter his message, only his user name. Which is not only permitted in the Pit but has been indulged in by me and others for years. > > I don’t imagine for a moment you don’t know this. But when grasping at straws any straw will do I suppose, honesty and personal integrity be damned, eh? You’re wrong [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19907683&postcount=10](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19907683&postcount=10) ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/597 "2018-02-25T03:16:37Z")
Gee, I can’t imagine why senility jokes are being made. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/598 "2018-02-25T03:22:16Z")
Interestingly, in the thread already quoted, there is a link to a thread from 2006, when Giraffe was mod, that says: > [@FYI: changing usernames to insult people in the Pit](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fyi-changing-usernames-to-insult-people-in-the-pit/338910/1): > > There has been some confusion about whether or not there is a rule against changing someone’s username in order to insult them. I want to clarify that there is no such rule in the Pit. > > I suspect the confusion originated when **Liberal** changed his username from **libertarian** , and another poster pledged to follow him around the board using his old username. The mods at the time felt this was inappropriate and made a rule against that behavior, for that situation. That rule was never meant to be a blanket prohibition on writing anyone’s username inaccurately. > > So, go nuts. It’s the Pit. If we let you call each other twats and ass-lickers, it seems silly to warn you for changing **Poster** to **Postard** or whatever. > \*\* > I would ask, however, that you refrain from changing usernames in quote attributions. I don’t know what the mod consensus would be in terms of warning such behavior, but it’s certainly borderline, so better not to do it. Cool?\*\* My bold added. So even back in the unfettered days, it was considered borderline. Huh. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/599 "2018-02-25T04:09:52Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Hard to know which countries you’re speaking of as you people seem to think _everyone_ is better than America, but I’m assuming you would count Norway as among those enlightened countries who ‘give a fuck’ about their residents. Why then did they not simply counsel or mentor [this asshole](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/23/world/europe/23oslo.html) into not killing five times as many people as Cruz? I really don’t know. Could it be because he flew under the radar and weren’t reported? > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > On the plus side though he got only 20 years, so clearly they give a fuck about their murderers and who knows, he might even become a ‘productive citizen’ some day and able to carry on like nothing happened. And won’t the family and friends of the 80 people he killed be grateful for that? :rolleyes: Get your head out from where you’re pulling your “facts” and at least try to relate to reality, you diarrhoetic asshole. He didn’t get a 20 year jail sentence, he was sentenced to preventative detention. Which will be extended as long as he’s considered dangerous. And what you’re rolling your eyes at, is the consequence of a judicial system that results in a recidivism rate which is just a fraction of what you guys, with your sick need for revenge and punishment has. But hey, as long as you can get a hard-on reading about how those bad guys are treated as subhuman, why should you care about reducing crime? After all, if crime rates went down, you would have to consider that maybe, just maybe the world had progressed since your precious 50s. Jerk. Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/600 "2018-02-25T07:31:56Z")
So I’ve done a little searching and found threads going back at least to 2006 where I used **Hector’s** name in the quote box, including one where I got corrected by him for doing so **outside the Pit**. Here’s how it went down on this occasion. I used the old term for him outside the Pit and mistakenly called him **Hentor the Contrarian** (note that I got at least part of his name right). In response he wrote: > [@](#): > > I thought modifying someone’s handle was not acceptable **outside of the pit**. [Link](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10948904&postcount=119) To which I responded: > [@](#): > > "True. Mea fuckup. I was so concentrated on not spelling it “ **Hector the Librarian** ”, as I usually do, that I forgot “Contrarian” was one of my previous subs for Barbarian. > > So, unlike your buddy tom, I hereby fall on my sword and admit error and apologize. [Link](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10948959&postcount=120) To which he responded: > [@](#): > > **No problem**. It was actually more amusing than your other efforts. [Link](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10949041&postcount=121) [All bolding mine] So here we have an incident from nine years ago in which **Hector** states flat out that he thought changing his name [in a quote box, clearly, since that was where it appeared] was not acceptable outside the Pit. He then further went so far as to reply that my having done so in error was “no problem”. Now he’s acting for all the world like I violated one of the board’s most sacrosanct rules by changing his name in a quote box in the Pit, the very place he previously admonished me for not doing so. Further, in not one of those instances going back to 2006 did I receive so much as a mod note. Clearly **Hector** thinks he’s found a vulnerability he can exploit in the aftermath of the Derleth issue which did draw a mod note, and upon which he appears to be hoping to piggy-back his sudden conversion to the belief that changing his name in a quote box is not allowed in the Pit. This despite no previous mod activity in the past and despite his own acknowledgement to the contrary nine years ago. None of this surprises me. **Hector** is one of the board’s most stupid and dishonest posters and has shown many times that there is no level of dishonesty to which he will not stoop if he’s sufficiently angry or humiliated. In light of all this combined with the fact that I’ve never been so much as mod noted for having done so, I continue to stand by my assertion that changing a poster’s name inside the quote box is and always has been permissible in the Pit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854.md?page=29) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854.md?page=31)