# What is the point of threads like this? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 12, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-threads-like-this/791051 "2017-07-12T00:20:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-threads-like-this/791051/1 "2017-07-12T00:20:11Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=830820](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=830820) I’m sure this will be closed any minute, but what purpose does it serve in the first place? It isn’t advertising illicit streams or anything. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-threads-like-this/791051/2 "2017-07-12T00:26:54Z")
It’s already gone. What was it like? ---
**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 12, 2017, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-threads-like-this/791051/3 "2017-07-12T00:32:48Z")
Spam precursor. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-threads-like-this/791051/4 "2017-07-12T00:53:52Z")
On some boards, new members can’t post links in their first post, as a countermeasure against spam. As a counter-counter-measure against that, some spammers create a meaningless first post, and then edit it to put in the link. The thread title, meanwhile, is a clipped version of some thread that already exists in the forum: I think the idea behind that is that it camouflages it, but that if the thread title were exactly the same, board software might catch it. If you ever see another thread like that, and **running coach** hasn’t already beaten you to it, go ahead and report it, and we’ll nuke it from orbit. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-threads-like-this/791051/5 "2017-07-12T00:57:16Z")
Thanks Chronos. > [@kayT](#): > > It’s already gone. What was it like? The thread title was a few words clipped from the title of a thread I happened to have just looked at, and the text in the first post was the same as the title. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-threads-like-this/791051/6 "2017-07-12T01:15:59Z")
\*\*What is the point of threads like this? \*\* For some reason I read that as a song title…then I read the rest of the thread as a 80’s song/power ballad. Not too bad, you might try it if you’ve nothing better to do. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-threads-like-this/791051/7 "2017-07-12T01:43:17Z")
Sometimes those posts have titles that would have made interesting threads. What was that one recently about disappearing hats? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-threads-like-this/791051/8 "2017-07-12T01:51:54Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Sometimes those posts have titles that would have made interesting threads. What was that one recently about disappearing hats? Any thread where you lose your hat? Iz not a goot thread. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-threads-like-this/791051/9 "2017-07-12T02:32:08Z")
The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind; the answer is blowing in the wind. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-threads-like-this/791051/10 "2017-07-12T02:40:26Z")
“How many roads must a man walk down?” “42.” ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-threads-like-this/791051/11 "2017-07-12T03:14:46Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > What was that one recently about disappearing hats? Yeah! I loved the [hats without men](https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/84/233295584_f6fcd25e14_b.jpg) thread, I was so hoping the mods would let that one stick around. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-threads-like-this/791051/12 "2017-07-12T09:45:55Z")
Do they actually put out more of these threads at night, or is it just that you guys aren’t hear to cornfield them right away? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-threads-like-this/791051/13 "2017-07-12T12:10:20Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Do they actually put out more of these threads at night, or is it just that you guys aren’t hear to cornfield them right away? Day shift in India. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-threads-like-this/791051/14 "2017-07-12T12:14:03Z")
Probably the latter. I know that we do cornfield plenty of them during the day. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-threads-like-this/791051/15 "2017-07-12T13:17:00Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind; > the answer is blowing in the wind. From Designing Women: The ants are my friends They’re blowing in the wind The ants, sir, are blowing in the wind