Oh, so it has to do with** subjective tastes ** of two moderators of what joke threads are OK? You can see how I might have been confused that the closing would have been on some blanket statement like “no joke threads” instead of capricious opinions of what is or isn’t kosher.
They both can only get halfway up, before they blow.
Are you trying to say that you don’t think the mods should be able to exercise their discretion on what jokes are appropriate? That if any jokes are permitted, then all jokes should be permitted? What if someone did a thread full of derogatory racial jokes?
I can see someone arguing that these jokes weren’t offensive enough to warrant closing the thread, but arguing that no jokes are offensive enough to warrant closing a thread seems ridiculous.
You betcha. That’s how moderating sometimes works. When jokes cross the line into being distasteful it’s our choice as to whether we want to close the thread. It’s not the first time it’s happened on the SDMB and it won’t be the last.
Whoa! My first closed thread!
Perhaps my mistake was putting in the jokes themselves. I was just commenting on the phenomenon. People I knew in other places I lived (Nebraska, California, Massachusetts, and now Hawaii) all knew those jokes the next day.
I didn’t think there was anything to debate, so no GD. Nor did I think it would have a factual answer, so no GQ.
It was not intended to be a Challenger joke repository. But I see most answered my question; except the other one I wanted to ask: why wasn’t I in school that day?
I guess I won’t be asking if anyone in Philadelphia and South Jersey heard of the alleged Jerry Pennacoli & gerbils incident in the 80s or how that spread. I saw him on some E! show (or something) recently, and it made me laugh.
Personally? I’d say “Oh look! Jokes!” And then laugh or not. Read the thread or not.
And I disagree. I laugh my ass off at offensive humor. It touches on what is construed by some to be the taboo topics and sparks conversation in some cases.
Wait, distasteful is now a pre-requisite too? I just checked the rules and didn’t see “distasteful”. I saw: false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, threatening, invasive of a person’s privacy, or violative of U.S. law, but not distasteful. I hope uncomfortable, unpleasant, and mediocre are next to slide down this slippery slope of subjectivism in regards to jokes too. Ya know, just to make sure all parties are safe here. :rolleyes:
Yeah, distasteful. In the past threads have been closed for that very reason; it’s likely future threads will be closed for the same reason.
I’d love a schedule of this for the joke threads. Ya know, organize protests, make banners, hand out fliers and whatnot.
A tight, hot O-ring?
So the board rule is you can discuss distasteful phenomena in the abstract, but you shouldn’t offer examples?
Better get your crayons out, 'cause we’re planning on closing another one tonight at 6:01 P.M., sharp. Look forward to seeing you there!
Ah, Tubadiva worried that it’ll look bad on her job app. again??
No, examples are fine. Discussions about subjects less than appetizing are discussed on the SDMB every day; yet sometimes certain threads don’t live up to their promise and, instead, become little more than a collection for unsavory sayings. If it gets to that point, we have the option of shutting down the thread.
OK your perogative. On the other hand I was interested to see the examples. I’d only ever heard the one horrible joke I happily shared, and never had a clue there was a whole genre. I find both the topic and the examples interesting. Even if I’m not young enough anymore to find them (very) funny.
I always thought this was a board where curiosity trumps good taste. In fact I thought that’s rather the point of Cecil’s column.
Personally, I think this thread was one of our strongest moments as a community.
Hah, reading that challenger thread made me look that one up for a re-read too! 
And you can’t seriously suggest that the people who were complaining about it, unless they are in fact related to a member of the Challenger crew, are having so much difficulty coming to grips with it that they can’t bear a few tasteless jokes.
At the time, I was in elementary school in Oakland, CA, a district rather infamous for having a lot of teacher strikes and persistent budget problems. The day of the Challenger accident was one of several during the year that the students had off, but the faculty was at school having meetings about who-knows-what.
Well, in a post-9/11 world, obviously someone realized that Challenger jokes weaken America and give aid and comfort to our enemies.