Can someone please explain what exactly is meant by that term ‘threadshitting’
Coming into a thread purely to disparage the topic and/or posters.
Say there’s a thread about a popular TV show.
Threadshitter: “It’s a stupid show. Why do you all waste time watching it?”
It is posting something that belittles or attacks the premise of the thread. I guess a classic example would be an RIP thread for a recently deceased artist in which someone posts “he was a useless hack and a sellout”.
So if I went on …say…a thread about Tom Petty and said ’ I hate his music’ , that is threadshitting? ( I don’t hate his music, really, just an example)
Pretty much.
Acceptable would be “I never cared for his music but I could see the talent and agree that music has lost a giant.”
That’s not enough. If it’s a thread asking your opinion of Tom Petty’s music, you can slag it all you want. It’s only threadshitting if your post implicitly attacks all the posters who are just there to celebrate.
It would also be threadshitting if you entered a thread on Queen just to insult Freddy Mercury as a “fag” or a thread on Middle Eastern cuisine to ask who cares what the “ragheads” eat. And that would be true even if you expressed the same sentiments without the obvious slurs.
Threadshitting has to be a totally gratuitous disruption of the discussion. You can’t pin it down to one particular kind of statement because people are too varied and creative to be limited that way.
Aaarrggghh…I am a little slow on the uptake. I think I get it now. If I do it, feel free to call me out on it. I tend to be alittle mouthy!!
If a rank and file poster, as opposed to a mod, called you out on it, that would be the infraction known as junior modding. 
By the way, there’s a glossary of terms available here:
You can get to it by clicking on the " FAQs - Please Read First - Rules, Guidelines, Etiquette, Technical Issues" sticky at the top of the ATMB forum, then scrolling down a bit.
It contains this entry:
Also note that, like many terms in our glossary, this is not a term that is unique to the SDMB. You can find it used in many places on the internet.
There are threads where an opinion is solicited, but not really wanted. They want the amen corner, and think they are the “host.” Then there is a pile-on among anonymous people to stop the “heresy.”
Music threads I mean.
There’s a big difference between asking for opinions / advice and not getting the answer(s) you expected vs. threadshitting.
To be sure, OP’s often hope to get only the answer(s) they want to hear. They also sometimes hope to steer a discussion down a narrow tightrope avoiding digression into <this> particular obvious nearby rabbit-hole.
Other posters not playing along with the OP’s hopes is not threadshitting. That’s just a discussion moving where and how the members collectively take it. Calling the thread itself into question is threadshitting.
Memorial threads about public figures represent a bit of a special case. “Don’t speak ill of the dead.” has been a cliché for hundreds of years for a reason. Many people get real upset when somebody violates that social convention. IMO, and worth what you paid for it, if a thread is gushingly memorializing some public figure you’re glad to see dead, or at least no longer producing more of their work, don’t post there. Instead start a competing thread giving your POV. Maybe lots of folks will join your chorus of “Ding Dong the witch is dead!!”
Tangentially related case:
It can be sorely tempting to threadshit on an apparent troll. Or to warn the innocent that they’re feeding the troll. Those are also prohibited moves; instead report the troll.
Title edited to indicate subject. Please use descriptive thread titles.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Follow-up question -
Certain threads start off with a provocative post by a provocative poster. Then, very soon someone responds with a cookie recipe (or something similar) in a veiled attempt to belittle the thread subject or poster. Soon enough, many others join in with their own cookie recipes.
Would that be considered threadshitting? If not why not?
The recipe thing is to call out trolls and it’s only in The Pit.
Right. Some rules are relaxed in the Pit. Since disparagement is permitted in the Pit, it would be hard to prohibit threadshitting there.
OK, so the answer is Yes, it is a form of threadshitting, but is allowed under those conditions.
Moderator Action
While threadshitting is a generic term and isn’t specific to this message board, this thread has progressed mostly along the lines of what is and isn’t acceptable here on the SDMB. So, with that in mind, let’s punt this over to ATMB.
Moving thread from GQ to ATMB.
Ah, so you are advocating threadshitting because folks don’t appreciate your heretical genius?
That explains a lot.
I have read the FAQ…but I have been lurking around in old threads and posts, the use of hate speech and cut-downs and general nastiness seems a bit overlooked in some threads and heavily moderated in some. So I was just trying to get a clearer picture of what is acceptable. I have personally been picked-on for punctuation infractions, which I find is kind of a cheap shot.