# Twickster, a question on a closed thread **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 5, 2009, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073 "2009-12-05T05:14:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/1 "2009-12-05T05:14:02Z")
You closed [PICTURE GALLERY: Girls With Tattoos](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=542590) with the reason that it lacked a point. I thought MPSIMS was intended for pointless threads. It’s a forum for OP’s that say nothing more than “hey look at this”. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/2 "2009-12-05T06:38:21Z")
Not trying to junior mod, but from the sticky at the top of the forum: > [@](#): > > Post-Padding and Truly Pointless Threads > > Even this forum—with its spectacular name—has its limits for truly pointless threads. We will be closing threads which cross that line, or exist merely for post-padding reasons. This includes any post count parties. > > We understand that determining what is or isn’t pointless is a subjective process, but we reserve the right to make the final decision. We will, however, be as consistent as possible, with the caveat that as human beings with families, jobs and other distractions, we’ll probably foul up once or twice. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/3 "2009-12-05T07:45:39Z")
I realize the moderators can close a post for whatever reason they feel like or no reason at all. But personally I’d feel a “truly pointless” thread would be something like “Let’s post the integers in consecutive order. I’ll start: 1.” ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/4 "2009-12-05T07:52:59Z")
Well, **astro** certainly has a habit of starting fairly content-free threads, but it seems to me that this particular one was no more pointless than plenty of threads that get started in MPSIMS. Half of **Siam Sam** ’s threads in the forum ([example 1](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=542612), [example 2](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=540268)) don’t seem to have much more in the way of content. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/5 "2009-12-05T10:49:35Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I realize the moderators can close a post for whatever reason they feel like or no reason at all. But personally I’d feel a “truly pointless” thread would be something like “Let’s post the integers in consecutive order. I’ll start: 1.” Hasn’t there been a thread something like this? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/6 "2009-12-05T12:13:48Z")
Yes, and there have been other ridiculous, cryptic threads about stuff that maybe 12 people “get,” and there have been threads that are interesting to maybe 1 or 2 people and get 3 replies and then just fade away. Girls with tattoos is kind of an interesting topic for a thread so really, I think that one should have been left open. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/7 "2009-12-05T12:52:10Z")
I’ll say what I always say when this comes up: I think it’s up to the user base to decide. If it’s truly pointless, it will get no responses and will fade away, needing no intervention from a mod. If it gets responses, then someone, somewhere sees a point. And these sort of threads \*can \*sometimes end up being a lot of fun. I think it’s a bit school-ma’amish (no offence **twickster** :)) to say ‘Stop it, boys, you’re just being a bit too silly’. Everyone needs to let their hair down sometimes. No harm is being done. I’ll admit that this isn’t one of the most earth shaking issues of our time, but still… ETA: **twickster** : if he had added ‘and what do you think about girls getting tattoos?’, would you have left it open? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/8 "2009-12-05T14:39:26Z")
MPSIMS is, indeed, the place for discussing mundane and pointless stuff, which definitely includes girls with tattoos (though presumably the tattooing process itself involved a point, or at least a needle). Since there is a clamor for this particular bit of mundane pointlessness to be open, I’ll be happy to unlock the thread. The reason I closed – not disappeared – the thread (leaving the link intact, I had no problem with it) was specifically because **astro** started it. He has a very, very bad habit of starting OPs with no actual content (and, frankly, I don’t consider “look at this” to be content), and I am involved in a quixotic quest to get him to stop doing it. He’s outlived plenty of mod careers and shows no indication of being any more responsive to me on this issue than he’s been to anyone else, but a mod can dream. So: it wasn’t about the subject, it wasn’t a value judgment about the worth of the subject, it wasn’t a prediction about the degree of interest that the thread might have or the number of people for whom it would be of interest – it was solely and exclusively part of my ongoing effort to get **astro** to stop starting threads that consist of nothing more than a link and a “yo.” ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/9 "2009-12-05T16:41:57Z")
This has been like the 3rd or fourth time you’ve gotten a comment about it, twickster. It’s amusing to see pretty much every few times this happens another thread like this always seems to appear in ATMB. Keep dreaming the dream though! A Mod’s gotta have hope! ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/10 "2009-12-05T16:50:34Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I realize the moderators can close a post for whatever reason they feel like or no reason at all. But personally I’d feel a “truly pointless” thread would be something like “Let’s post the integers in consecutive order. I’ll start: 1.” 2! (sorry) ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/11 "2009-12-05T17:16:52Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > So: it wasn’t about the subject, it wasn’t a value judgment about the worth of the subject, it wasn’t a prediction about the degree of interest that the thread might have or the number of people for whom it would be of interest – it was solely and exclusively part of my ongoing effort to get **astro** to stop starting threads that consist of nothing more than a link and a “yo.” Out of all the responses I thought you might have made, this was definitely not one of them. A _crusade_? Bring on the trebuchets. I just had to add that when I googled trebuchet to check the spelling, the first ad was for trebuchets at Amamzon. I thought, surely not? Sadly, it was only for books about them. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/12 "2009-12-05T17:39:24Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > The reason I closed – not disappeared – the thread (leaving the link intact, I had no problem with it) was specifically because **astro** started it. He has a very, very bad habit of starting OPs with no actual content (and, frankly, I don’t consider “look at this” to be content), and I am involved in a quixotic quest to get him to stop doing it. He’s outlived plenty of mod careers and shows no indication of being any more responsive to me on this issue than he’s been to anyone else, but a mod can dream. That’s fine, but I don’t think you should be using your mod powers to pursue that quest. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/13 "2009-12-05T17:49:07Z")
The point of MPSIMS is to discuss things. A link without commentary doesn’t start a conversation, it sends people off the boards to look at something else. If you’re using that link as a evidence of a phenomenon you’d like to discuss, or as the inspiration for something you have thought, or are thinking, about that you’d like to hear opinions from others about – fine, great, perfect, exactly what we do around here. If it’s just “hey, look at this” – nope, that doesn’t start a conversation, and I’m going to lock it. I will close threads where I see this happening – it turns out that **astro** does this really consistently, so I’m more apt to check out his OPs to see if he’s done it again, and if he has, lock the thread. It’s not a vendetta or a matter of hostility – he and I are perfectly friendly towards each other – just something he does, frequently, despite knowing that I (am the latest in a long series of mods who) want him to write OPs with a sentence or two of commentary. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/14 "2009-12-05T18:02:16Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > The point of MPSIMS is to discuss things. A link without commentary doesn’t start a conversation, it sends people off the boards to look at something else. If you’re using that link as a evidence of a phenomenon you’d like to discuss, or as the inspiration for something you have thought, or are thinking, about that you’d like to hear opinions from others about – fine, great, perfect, exactly what we do around here. If it’s just “hey, look at this” – nope, that doesn’t start a conversation, and I’m going to lock it. > > I will close threads where I see this happening – it turns out that **astro** does this really consistently, so I’m more apt to check out his OPs to see if he’s done it again, and if he has, lock the thread. > > It’s not a vendetta or a matter of hostility – he and I are perfectly friendly towards each other – just something he does, frequently, despite knowing that I (am the latest in a long series of mods who) want him to write OPs with a sentence or two of commentary. Can you answer the question I asked earlier: if he had put something like ‘what do you think about girl’s tattoos’, would you have left it open? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/15 "2009-12-05T18:03:12Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > The point of MPSIMS is to discuss things. A link without commentary doesn’t start a conversation, it sends people off the boards to look at something else. Yes, and then they come back to discuss what they went to look at. How does [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=542612) start a conversation any more than **astro** ’s did? All of the content from the OP is lifted straight from the link itself. There is not proposition offered by the OP, no argument, no opinion, not a single word that tells us how he feels about the issue. The only difference is that, because **astro** is linking to images, he literally can’t paste them into his OP, and has to send us to look at them instead. I think that maybe next time he should just start a thread with the same link, and simply add something like, “I really like tattoos on women. What do you think?” It would have no more substance than the one you locked, but it might mollify your over-active need to determine what threads people should and should not be able to participate in. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/16 "2009-12-05T18:31:04Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > Can you answer the question I asked earlier: if he had put something like ‘what do you think about girl’s tattoos’, would you have left it open? Yup, probably. Even more so if he had included his own opinion, as **mhendo** suggests. > [@mhendo](#): > > How does [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=542612) start a conversation any more than **astro** ’s did? All of the content from the OP is lifted straight from the link itself. There is not proposition offered by the OP, no argument, no opinion, not a single word that tells us how he feels about the issue. True. I’ll start encouraging **Siam Sam** to provide content in his OPs as well. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/17 "2009-12-05T18:34:47Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Yes, and then they come back to discuss what they went to look at. All I’m asking is that the OP suggest what that discussion should be about. An unadorned link isn’t good enough. (Didn’t someone get banned, eventually, because he wouldn’t stop doing that in the Pit? I’m not planning to start agitating to get **astro** banned over this – I’m just sayin’, I’m not the only mod who’s ever gotten a burr under her saddle about it.) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/18 "2009-12-05T18:36:02Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > Out of all the responses I thought you might have made, this was definitely not one of them. A _crusade_? Bring on the trebuchets. > > I just had to add that when I googled trebuchet to check the spelling, the first ad was for trebuchets at Amamzon. I thought, surely not? Sadly, it was only for books about them. you can get trebouchets at Edmunds Scientific … I just got their catalog =) ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/19 "2009-12-05T18:42:26Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Yup, probably. Even more so if he had included his own opinion, as **mhendo** suggests. My point is then that you post something on a message board where the whole modus operandi is that others respond to the OP. You don’t need necessarily to specify what response you want, as, by linking to photos showing tattooed girls, you’ve introduced the subject. As I’ve said, if it is too pointless, it will get no responses and wither on the vine. You ( **twickster** ) don’t need to make the decision for us. We’ll do it. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073/20 "2009-12-05T18:46:33Z")
I understand your point. I trust you understand mine. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twickster-a-question-on-a-closed-thread/520073.md?page=2)