# Threadspotting **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 22, 2001, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/threadspotting/83223 "2001-09-22T18:22:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/threadspotting/83223/1 "2001-09-22T18:22:03Z")
**TubaDiva** Just wondered whether I had violated protocol somehow when I e-mailed my recent suggestion for thread spotting. Maybe I failed to include some vital info or something. The effort underway in MPSIMS to turn God Hates Fags into an AIDS charity is truly a good cause and an interesting approach to fighting their ignorance. Which is why we’re here. I thought maybe you didn’t get the e-mail, but then I thought that maybe when you decline a nomination, it is simply by not answering. So, in the hope that you didn’t get it (or its follow-up), I’m asking here. (By the way, I saw your thread about your brother, and stopped to pray as soon as I posted my good wishes. I hope he’ll be fine.) ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/threadspotting/83223/2 "2001-09-23T01:37:51Z")
From experience, Tuba doesn’t usually answer emails about Weird Earl’s / Threadspotting, except by posting them. It’s mostly (I assume) a matter of volume and priority, rather than ignorance or malice. Here’s hoping your (worthy) cause makes Threadspotting pretty soon; in the meantime, for those who don’t know, it’s [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=87507). ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/threadspotting/83223/3 "2001-09-23T02:32:36Z")
Exactly, Some Guy. Thanks for 'splaining it so nicely. your humble TubaDiva Administrator always tickled when Dopers do it for themselves ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/threadspotting/83223/4 "2001-09-23T05:37:55Z")
I never for an instant assumed either ignorance or malice, but I swear I must have cooties. Witness: “Exactly, Some Guy” rather than “Some Guy’s right, Lib.” ☹ ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/threadspotting/83223/5 "2001-09-23T07:19:29Z")
I don’t see the difference. I still think you’re a great guy, though. Better? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/threadspotting/83223/6 "2001-09-23T12:31:12Z")
Yes, of course your thoughts are greatly appreciated and certainly meaningful. But here’s the difference. One addresses _me_, as though I were the one who asked the question — whaddaya know, I was! The other addresses _someone else_, as though I’m not here — it is a _double_ whammy: no response to me when I e-mail and no response to me when I ask in this thread. Perhaps you’ve never found yourself in the position of being persona non grata. Or perhaps you have, and you feel your circumstance was somehow meaningfully different. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/threadspotting/83223/7 "2001-09-23T20:45:24Z")
Libertarian, I’m sorry you got your knickers in a twist over your Fred Phelps project, but we will not bullied into playing along. That’s not how you get support, regardless of how well intentioned or well meaning the project might be. We have special concern when people try to make things appear as if they come from the Straight Dope management or the Chicago Reader. While SD management and the Reader has often been a supporter of worthy causes, it’s always better to ask first. I hope that you can get over yourself enough to see the position that you put us in and why it was a bad idea. Are you fighting a good fight? Absolutely. But being overzealous, even in a good cause, is not useful. It has certainly not served you well here. your humble TubaDiva Administrator