# Thread shitting? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 23, 2018, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401 "2018-07-23T02:24:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/1 "2018-07-23T02:24:29Z")
Isn’t there a long history of posting recipes in troll posts? So why, then, did I get a warning for this? [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21101605#post21101605](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21101605#post21101605) ---
**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:** [July 23, 2018, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/2 "2018-07-23T02:44:10Z")
I believe it’s only allowed in the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/3 "2018-07-23T03:03:59Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Isn’t there a long history of posting recipes in troll posts? So why, then, did I get a warning for this? > [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21101605#post21101605](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21101605#post21101605) …“troll posts” in the pit. That thread wasn’t in the pit. If you consider the OP to be a “troll post” then the correct thing to do is report it. The OP is a genuine perspective from people outside of the “mainstream” feedback loops. It wasn’t, IMHO, posted to be provocative. Speaking as someone who completely disagrees with everything posted in the OP I will say that your post and many others in that thread pissed me off. (And no I didn’t report it.) If you don’t want to engage with the OP then don’t. Let the thread die. But if you are going to post in the thread at least make an effort. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/4 "2018-07-23T03:20:31Z")
Yeah, I know man. It’s against the rules to shit on some bullshit posted by a Russian facebook agitator, but it ain’t against the rules to post that dumb fucking bullshit in the first place. Try to keep it in perspective. It fucking blows, I know. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/5 "2018-07-23T12:39:35Z")
Good morning. It’s no excuse, but it is the truth- I was in my cups and perturbed last night. Sorry if that response was a bit over the top. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/6 "2018-07-23T12:52:49Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > … I was in my cups and perturbed last night. I had to Google that phrase. LOL ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/7 "2018-07-23T13:20:36Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Isn’t there a long history of posting recipes in troll posts? So why, then, did I get a warning for this? > [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21101605#post21101605](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21101605#post21101605) This practice is limited to the Pit where accusations of trolling are not prohibited. In all other forums it is prohibited to accuse other posters of being a troll or trolling. In addition, the purpose of posting the recipes is in my understanding a way to shout down the target, effectively blocking the thread from actual discussion. Both of those things could be warnable, hence the warning. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/8 "2018-07-23T13:26:04Z")
I have been here for more than 18 years and a moderator for five and this is the FIRST time I’ve ever run into a recipe thing. I admit, I got the report last night and was, frankly, bewildered by it. Like it was some sort of Dali-esque surrealism that was supposed to wrong foot me and make me re-evaluated my stance of things. I’m lucky it didn’t invade my dreams last night. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/9 "2018-07-23T13:30:00Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Isn’t there a long history of posting recipes in troll posts? So why, then, did I get a warning for this? > [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21101605#post21101605](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21101605#post21101605) I think you should get a fat/calorie warning for that recipe of yours. :eek: ---
**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:** [July 23, 2018, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/10 "2018-07-23T14:23:59Z")
I’m just waiting for the first off-topic political screed in a recipe thread. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/11 "2018-07-23T14:34:43Z")
I, for one, appreciated the recipe as it was the only real interesting thing in that thread. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/12 "2018-07-23T16:20:32Z")
How much of my collapsed soufflé was the Democrats’ fault? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/13 "2018-07-23T18:06:14Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > In addition, the purpose of posting the recipes is in my understanding a way to shout down the target, effectively blocking the thread from actual discussion. ‘In your understanding’? Based on what? I hope you’re not discerning a poster’s intent from vague understandings about practices that are done in different ways and for different motivations at different places around the Web. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/14 "2018-07-23T19:11:04Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > ‘In your understanding’? Based on what? > > I hope you’re not discerning a poster’s intent from vague understandings about practices that are done in different ways and for different motivations at different places around the Web. No, it’s solely based on observation of on board activity. [Here’s a fairly recent example](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21062685) that begins at post #40. Rick Kitchen’s contribution is post #59. An older [example is here](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=20188634), starting at post #2, with Rick Kitchen’s contribution at post #32. The trend started before that. [Here is an ATMB topic discussing it.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=823085) I believe this is the first reference I can remember: > [@This Blinky and Pinky numnuts is still around?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-blinky-and-pinky-numnuts-is-still-around/779685/37): > > Back in the old usenet days on alt.folklore.urban people would sometimes respond to blatent trollery with recipes. It actually increased the signal to noise ratio more than argument, plus, who isn’t interested in a chocolate chip cookie variant? A few days later,[it was executed here](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=20019329&highlight=recipe#post20019329) with a specific reference to it in post #7. Rick Kitchen’s participation begins in post #75. Is your understanding different? ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/15 "2018-07-23T20:34:01Z")
Wouldn’t a mod note have been more appropriate? Unless there’s some history with which I’m unacquainted, a warning seems pretty heavy-handed for what was obviously a misunderstanding. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/16 "2018-07-23T20:58:38Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > Wouldn’t a mod note have been more appropriate? Unless there’s some history with which I’m unacquainted, a warning seems pretty heavy-handed for what was obviously a misunderstanding. Typical garden variety threadshitting would probably get a note in the first instance. This however is a type of threadshitting that simultaneously accuses a poster of being a troll or trolling. That’s much further on the spectrum towards warning. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2018, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/17 "2018-07-23T21:48:59Z")
The civility bar seems to have gone up a couple of hundred notches. Trolling accusations aside, there’s a fine line between wisecracks and threadshitting. Trolling accusations inclusive, this indirect insult is pretty damn oblique. I could easily interpret this as an attack on the post, i.e. “Your OP is nonsensical noise pollution: here’s a recipe.” This is the first time I’ve encountered this meme. After I see it 50 times or so, I’ll probably feel a little different. For the present: Is this really where we want the civility bar? I mean, I can defend any civility bar; I’m just suggesting that higher levels curb beneficial humor and rhetorical standards. ETA: Oh yeah. I haven’t had the opportunity to give Bone a general high five for his moderation. I do so here. I just think some discussion of where we want GD and Elections to evolve is warranted. This closer call seems like as good an example as any. ETA2: In basketball, skilled players make judicious use of the elbow. It makes for a livelier game. Thankfully, basketball isn’t American Ice Hockey. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/18 "2018-07-23T22:11:55Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > This is the first time I’ve encountered this meme. After I see it 50 times or so, I’ll probably feel a little different. For the present: Is this really where we want the civility bar? I mean, I can defend any civility bar; I’m just suggesting that higher levels curb beneficial humor and rhetorical standards. Did you happen to see the multiple links I offered in post #14? This tactic has been common place on the board, though if you aren’t a frequent reader of the Pit it’s easy to miss since trollery accusations are not allowed outside the Pit. Rick Kitchen is definitely aware since he has participated in it as I indicated in post #14. In addition, the OP in this very thread acknowledges the practice as responding to posts believed to be trolling. It’s fine in the Pit of course, but perhaps Rick forgot which forum he was posting in. There hasn’t been any change to the civility bar. Where the three of the active GD and Elections mods stack rank, I leave as an exercise for the reader 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/19 "2018-07-23T22:20:05Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > For the present: Is this really where we want the civility bar? …yep. Are you willing any thread in elections or great debates to be hijacked by recipes or haiku’s just because someone doesn’t like the subject matter or considers the OP to be a “troll?” I think the moderation make the line crystal clear which isn’t a bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401/20 "2018-07-23T22:28:47Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > How much of my collapsed soufflé was the Democrats’ fault? It was all due to Hillary Clinton’s thirty-three thousand missing egg whites. Stranger [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-shitting/818401.md?page=2)