# What was going on in GQ? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 20, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-in-gq/613429 "2012-02-20T16:22:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-in-gq/613429/1 "2012-02-20T16:22:22Z")
This morning, a bunch of threads with stupid topics (e.g. Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?) started by various long time posters appeared in GQ. They got some answers, then were locked and finally disappeared. Were accounts being hacked? ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-in-gq/613429/2 "2012-02-20T16:24:01Z")
I saw 'em, too, but I thought they were all from a new poster. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-in-gq/613429/3 "2012-02-20T16:25:09Z")
Nope, one was supposedly by Alessan, and one by Laggard. The others were names I recognized too. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-in-gq/613429/4 "2012-02-20T16:27:26Z")
Guessing some interesting hack… ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-in-gq/613429/5 "2012-02-20T16:29:22Z")
No, they were all started by the same poster. I’m guessing the mods deleted the poster and all his posts, leaving the threads there with people’s responses - and then the threads were later deleted. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-in-gq/613429/6 "2012-02-20T16:31:32Z")
I absolutely saw experienced posters names as the OP, which confused me because of the inanity of the questions. Didn’t get a screenshot though. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-in-gq/613429/7 "2012-02-20T16:33:12Z")
Just out of curiosity, what’s the policy on “disappearing” a thread? What could be so bad that it must be erased from our collective memory? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-in-gq/613429/8 "2012-02-20T16:34:40Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > What could be so bad that it must be erased from our collective memory? A sockpuppet looking for attention. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-in-gq/613429/9 "2012-02-20T16:47:11Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > I absolutely saw experienced posters names as the OP, which confused me because of the inanity of the questions. Didn’t get a screenshot though. If you delete the original OP, then the second post and poster shows as the first. That’s what made it appear that those posters had started the threads. I suspect that a mod zapped all posts by the sockpuppet, then later on noticed that left a lot of weird orphan threads. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-in-gq/613429/10 "2012-02-20T16:54:59Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Nope, one was supposedly by Alessan, and one by Laggard. The others were names I recognized too. [From the FAQ:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9034110#post9034110) > [@](#): > > If you have a question about a thread or poster who “disappeared,” please DO NOT post an inquiry. In probably 95% of such cases, the thread (or poster) that vanished was an attention-seeker – a spammer , sock, or troll. They’re out for any attention, even negative attention, and we don’t want to give it to them. They disappear, as do their posts. And as do posts about them. The reason that some long-term posters appeared as the OPs of those threads is that I initially just moved the OPs rather than the entire threads, leaving the first replies as the OPs. Once I realized that’s what happened, I moved the rest of the threads out of sight as well. You’re quick. They were there like that for only a few minutes.😉