What thread on the Dope most surprised you with its responses?

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

It doesn’t matter if it’s a thread you started or not.

A few months back, I started a thread entitled For $1,000,000, would you forgo all human contact for one year. I expected most of the responses to be like this one:

That’s certainly how I feel, and I thought I’d be typical. Anyone even willing to consider it, I thought, would surely be looking for loopholes and/or ways to cheat.

I was quite wrong. The first two responses were

and

and much of the thread was people claiming that they would find a year without the company of other Homo sapiens a thing of beauty and joy, and that they’d rather try to extend their time rather than game the system. Not at all what I was expecting.

But that’s just me. What threads have most surprised you, during your time on the Dope?

#2

What’s the correct way to deal with this situation (food smells in common areas)? started by Hippy Hollow.

Majority opinion seemed to be that Hippy Hollow was the one in the wrong and should be more considerate about people finding the smell of his cooking unpleasant. I was taken aback enough by the views expressed (I had only been reading the board for a short time) I discussed it with my flatmate, who shared in my bemusement.

Upon reading it again, now I’m more familiar with the SDMB and some of its members, the responses are not so surprising to me.

#3

A couple spring to mind …

The one about the lady who ordered milk in a fancy restaurant.

The first one about “shoes off or on?” in the house.

#4

The Newcomb’s Paradox thread, where the vast majority would take only one box.

#5

The thread I had started which was linked to a list of people who had donated money to defeat SSM in California. I thought there’d be righteous indignation toward the people on the list. Instead, it became a debate about making their names public.

#6

I was also really surprised by that one.

#7

The one based on the Twilight Zone episode, “Button Button”. I was pretty shocked at how many people were willing (or willing to admit) to have a stranger die for cash.

#8

This one that I made about drinkers. I just wanted to blow off some steam and maybe get a rise or two, but I underestimated the amount of people who seemed to feel mortally attacked by me refusing to drink. It’s my most popular topic.

#9

This one about women changing their sexual habits if abortion became illegal. About 1/3 of respondents said they would definately be more careful which surprised me.
I’ve always been pro-choice and when pro-lifers made the argument that women had abortions out of convenience I always gave them the ol’:rolleyes:.
To hear that 1/3 of women would change their habits said to me that there are acutually women out there whose current habits consist of “well, since abortion is legal I can be somewhat careless, cause if I do get pregnant I can just get an abortion.”:eek:
Just a real eye-opener.

#10

It’s hilarious that that’s what you think happened in that thread, dude.

#11

Really? Would you be equally shocked to learn that people would be less likely to skydive if there were no parachutes?

#12

I was coming in here to post this one, too. I was also shocked at how blase they were. One poster even had the gall to say that if we don’t donate all our money to people dying overseas in Africa, we’re pretty much responsible for them dying so we might as well kill a random stranger. WTF? To my mind, it’s exactly the same as shooting someone for their money, only you’re much more far removed.

Yeah, I think that’s how I see it, too. I don’t go around having unprotected sex, but in the back of my mind is the thought that, “Okay, if something goes absolutely wrong as things on occasion do, I have that safety net–it’s not all over if the condom fails, for example.”

#13

Why?

#14

See, I didn’t take it this way at all. It was more like “the real-world implications of having a back alley abortion or having to be forced through unwanted pregnancy are so great that it would be worth being abstinent, as much as that would absolutely suck, rather than take the risk”. To me, it doesn’t say “I’m using abortion as birth control” but rather “Yes, I want the freedom of having abortion as a hypothetical last resort, because even the best birth control doesn’t have 100% success rate, and I’m not comfortable with even a 1% risk of unwanted pregnancy”.

#15

Yeah, I think you put it best. If abortion were illegal everywhere and it was either be abstinent or give birth/have a back alley abortion, then I’d be abstinent. The abortion gives you that safety net, though. Everything isn’t over if I get pregnant. No, I don’t want to get an abortion–who does? It’s like getting excited over a root canal. But if I absolutely have to, I can.

#16

I’m just amazed that anyone would interpret that thread as meaning women have abortions out of convenience. An abortion is a serious medical procedure, with all sorts of risks to the woman . . . especially when it is done illegally, in a back room. If I were a woman, and if abortions were illegal, and if I didn’t want to have a child, I would do ***whatever is necessary ***to avoid getting pregnant. That is not at all the cavalier attitude you describe.

#17

How did I miss that thread? I could have written every word, except the part about coffee.

#18

Go read it as if somebody else were writing it. People weren’t mad at you for not drinking, people were mad at you for assuming everybody else has a huge drinking problem and is a giant drunk asshole.

#19

You could read it the way I did, with a comma between “drunk” and “asshole,” and I think it would be more appropriate.

#20

The threads about whether it’s ok for non-military folks to wear military uniforms. I was surprised anyone had a problem with this. Others have expressed that they were surprised anyone could possibly think that this was ok.