What is "threadshitting" v.2?

[Whack-a-Mole]

In this thread:

Help me keep my hostage alive

Please don’t threadshit. If you think a thread is inappropriate, report it.

@Colibri claimed that I and another poster were “threadshitting.”

I completely understand what @Colibri was trying to moderate and I agree. This is NOT about moderating the board.

I am curious about the use of “threadshitting.” All of the definitions I see are nothing like what happened in that thread:

Threadshitting is threadjacking with intentionally vile content which includes extremely NSFW images… SOURCE

And…

threadshit

threadsh-tting is threadjacking with intentionally vile content which includes extremely nsfw images such as tubgirl, g–ts-, genital mutilation, murder and anything else that a mature, sane person would find offensive and/or disgusting. SOURCE

[kenobi_65]

In SDMB parlance, threadshitting seems to be definied more broadly than the definitions you found. AIUI, we use the term any time someone makes posts intended to sidetrack the discussion or be obnoxious. An example would be when someone makes a post in an RIP thread to criticize the dead celebrity.

[Colibri]

I’m not sure why you didn’t link to the definition of threadshitting used on the board, which I informed you of when we corresponded by PM.

Threadshitting – Do not threadshit. Threadshitting is belittling the topic or the people discussing it. It typically takes the form of a dismissive comment, like “Who cares?” or “This is stupid!” or similar. The implication of the threadshitter is that discussion of such a topic is beneath them, and should be beneath everybody else. If you really do think that a discussion is inane or pointless, the appropriate thing to do is to not participate in it. And, of course, if you see someone threadshitting, please do not respond with personal insults or accusations: instead, REPORT the post to a Moderator.

Saying that the question in that thread was “creepy” was belittling the topic, and fits the board definition.

You are evidently nit-picking the fact that the definition used on the board for several decades does not match a few other definitions you found on the internet. At the risk of threadshitting , I don’t see how this is particularly useful. We are not going to change our definition.

[Whack-a-Mole]

@Colibri

I’m not sure why you didn’t link to the definition of threadshitting used on the board, which I informed you of when we corresponded by PM.

I didn’t link it because it is your own made-up definition that does not comport with the what the whole rest of world thinks that means.

[AlsoNamedBort]

@Whack-a-Mole

I didn’t link it because it is your own made-up definition.

You are aware that Urban Dictionary is ALSO made-up, right? Anyone can submit a definition.

[Atamasama]

On the SDMB, the only definition that matters is the one that the SDMB made up.

That’s like going to a foreign country and refusing to speak their language, or even acknowledge it, because most of the rest of the world doesn’t speak it either.

[Whack-a-Mole]

Sure but it is reflecting the common understanding.

[AlsoNamedBort]

Look at the thumbs-up and thumbs-down. More people disagree with that definition then agree with it.

[Colibri]

@Whack-a-Mole

I didn’t link it because it is your own made-up definition.

I didn’t make it up. It was originally formulated long long before I became a moderator. As I said, it has been the definition used on this board for probably at least 18 years.

[Whack-a-Mole]

Sure…their board…they can do whatever they want.

But on a board that usually cares about definitions you’d think this would count too.

[AlsoNamedBort]

Look, this one has more thumbs-up and matches SDMB definition:

Urban Dictionary: thread-shitting

[DCnDC]

It was funny that Colibri admonished the threadshit, but then immediately agreed with it.

[Whack-a-Mole]

@Colibri

I didn’t make it up. It was originally formulated long long before I became a moderator. As I said, it has been the definition used on this board for probably at least 18 years.

And as we have found on this board with arguments over definitions of things like “decimate” we learn that words change. They go in the dictionary and no amount of, “But it used to be otherwise” gets you anywhere.

The definition has changed assuming it was as you say it was 18 years ago.

Of all places the SDMB should get that.

[Colibri]

@DCnDC

It was funny that Colibri admonished the threadshit, but then immediately agreed with it.

No I didn’t. The threadshit was to say the thread was creepy. I did not express any agreement with that. Given that two people had already backhandedly insulted the OP I added instructions that anyone who felt that way should take it to the Pit. That did not mean I myself thought the OP should be Pitted.

[Colibri]

@Whack-a-Mole

The definition has changed assuming it was as you say it was 18 years ago.

Cite?

I’m saying that has been the definition on this board since it began being used on this board.

You have shown there are other definitions, but completely failed to demonstrate they are the only ones.

[Thudlow_Boink]

In a code of laws or list of rules, definitions are prescriptive, not descriptive.

[Whack-a-Mole]

@Colibri

You have shown there are other definitions, but completely failed to demonstrate they are the only ones.

How do you propose that I prove they are the “only ones?”

And do you really need a lesson on how language changes and definitions change?

[Colibri]

@Whack-a-Mole

How do you propose that I prove they are the “only ones?”

Actually, you can’t, since it has been proved that they aren’t. Nor have you shown that definitions have changed.

[Whack-a-Mole]

We usually go with the common vernacular. Which I have shown.

You want to use an archaic form.

[kenobi_65]

Dude. It’s the definition that this community has had for the term for a long time. Regardless of whether or not it’s how the term is used elsewhere, it’s still valid here.

Your argument is like if you went to a town where they call a submarine sandwich a “semi”, and where that’s the term that they’ve used for decades. Locals know what a “semi” is, and even if that term isn’t used anywhere else for a sub, it’s still entirely valid there. Telling the people in town “that’s not the definition for that word” is incorrect, in that town.