# What were you THINKING? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 13, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532 "2023-10-13T19:36:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 142
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3076 "2024-07-15T20:49:13Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > The problem is that those citations are only as good as the citation itself. That seems just a tad tautological. > [@asterion](#): > > It also has a problem with what’s been coined as citogenesis: That is caused by Wikipedia editors not following the project’s policies correctly. Wikipedia is not itself a trusted source. That is a principle that the site holds. Therefore, any source that just regurgitates Wikipedia’s info is also not a trusted source and should not be used. Citogenesis is a cute idea but it’s wrong. It’s not an inherent problem with Wikipedia. It’s nothing more complicated than the fact that not everyone follows the rules properly, and when that happens of course you have a problem. That’s why those rules were there to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3077 "2024-07-15T20:56:29Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > That seems just a tad tautological But true. Considering that, once again, Wikipedia doesn’t accept primary sources, the concept of the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect should be in constant mind. Especially for anything that isn’t solidly in the hard sciences. Their citations are always secondary sources and journalists are often completely wrong in what they write. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Undeposable\_Hand](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_undeposable_hand/32/8502_2.png) [@The\_Undeposable\_Hand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Undeposable_Hand)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3078 "2024-07-15T21:02:05Z")
My god, the victimhood. It never stops. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3079 "2024-07-15T21:08:29Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > But true. Of course it is, that’s what tautological **means**. It’s also redundant and meaningless to say that a citation is only as good as a citation is good. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3080 "2024-07-15T21:09:13Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I was told I was threads hitting and I don’t think I was. > Or maybe I was, like about 100 other posters. I’m following the thread. Uncalled for jokes are still being made, as well as clear outright thread shits. > My so-called TS was about Trump and what happened at the time of the shooting. > I still think it qualifies as being on-topic. > Some nit-picker flagged me, Mods were already riled up about the thread and very harried, I’m sure. Makes me the big loser. > Again. [Moderating] If you want to dispute a mod ruling, the place for that is ATMB. Arguing moderator actions in the Pit is against board rules. Do not bring this subject up again in this forum. No warning issued. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3081 "2024-07-15T21:43:31Z")
Yessir. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3082 "2024-07-21T18:46:16Z")
I’m only getting the non-ignored half the convo, but it seems a certain Southern miss is doing her "pay attention to me " routine again in the “taxonomic names are being revised because of racism”. Putting it here because y’all suckers seem convinced she’s not a troll, but when half the posts in a science thread aren’t actually about the topic of _scientific_ names, but instead about whatever hick name for Black Eyed Susans she’s talking about, I personally don’t really see much difference. ---
**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 21, 2024, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3083 "2024-07-21T19:12:47Z")
Black-Eyed Susans? _Oh_, you mean _Nigger Daisies_! That’s just what they are there. No one cares. If anyone was mad about it she’s sure she would have heard about it. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3084 "2024-07-21T19:17:31Z")
I also have that poster on Ignore, but I read through the thread including that poster’s comments. My take is that they got started along a path for which at least a little support or agreement was hoped, got uniformly ridiculed instead, and then spent the rest of the time flailing around trying to get out while still getting the last word, in the processing just digging a deeper and deeper hole. So in my view not a troll per se, just an idiot who can’t stand to have anyone criticize them without making a stinging retort. Everyone would find this poster a lot less annoying, in my opinion, if the poster would just get over that and stop posting in a thread where they are being roundly roasted. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3085 "2024-07-21T19:19:06Z")
Hey, what thread and in what forum? ---
**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 21, 2024, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3086 "2024-07-21T19:22:40Z")
Taxonomic names to be revised because of racism, MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3087 "2024-07-21T19:25:35Z")
If it is in MPSIMS, hardly trolling. Terrible forum for science discussions in my opinion. The Pit would be better. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3088 "2024-07-21T19:41:39Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > If it is in MPSIMS, hardly trolling. What, you can’t troll in MPSIMS? It was an interesting breaking news/current best practice in science thread until it became another episode of _Everybody Kinda Tolerates Becks_. MPSIMS wasn’t where _I’d_ have started it, no doubt (I’d have gone for IMHO), but that doesn’t mean it 's a free-for-troll forum, either. > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > So in my view not a troll per se, just an idiot who can’t stand to have anyone criticize them without making a stinging retort. Making _another_ thread into the Becks show is, if not trolling, at least troll-adjacent. MPSIMS or not. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3089 "2024-07-21T19:44:20Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > but that doesn’t mean it 's a free-for-troll forum, either. Not free to troll, but it is pretty much free to digress and post barely related thoughts. In general that is not considered trolling. But hey, I’m the one that has given her warnings of late for hijacks in the P&E/GD where she was trying to treat threads like they were in MPSIMS. So we’re aware of the issue and trying to curb it in the serious forums. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3090 "2024-07-21T19:44:54Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Making _another_ thread into the Becks show is, if not trolling, at least troll-adjacent. MPSIMS or not. Back into the discussion of how much motivation counts in considering someone a troll. In this case, the poster’s motivation for their first post in the thread might have been trolling, or not. Most of the rest is just the “you can’t say that about me and get away with it” mindset, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3091 "2024-07-21T19:49:18Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Making _another_ thread into the Becks show is, if not trolling, at least troll-adjacent. MPSIMS or not. Becks is the most self-centered person here at this board, hands down. Back when she stayed in the threads she started herself, it was easy to avoid, but since then she started to appear in threads all around the board and all forums, and immediately makes every fucking thread she posts in about herself. But instead of the “ME, ME, ME, I’m a quaint old lady from hick country, you must love me” message she intends and some people here fall for, I only hear “ME, ME, ME, I’m a total idiot”. ---
**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 21, 2024, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3092 "2024-07-21T19:51:31Z")
Mentioning that the people of Arkansas commonly use an extreme racial slur to describe a plant is kinda on topic for the thread. Insisting that nobody there minds and that she doesn’t even know any racists is the off-putting part. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3093 "2024-07-21T19:58:45Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Mentioning that the people of Arkansas commonly use an extreme racial slur to describe a plant is kinda on topic for the thread. Insisting that nobody there minds and that she doesn’t even know any racists is the off-putting part … > [@About your first name](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-your-first-name/1002718/108): > > If the southern culture bothers you, well, what can I say? Don’t come here. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3094 "2024-07-21T20:02:18Z")
> [@Taxonomic names to be revised, because racism](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taxonomic-names-to-be-revised-because-racism/1004455/71): > > It’s funny how people not from a region or race can be outraged by what that region or race does or says. Not that we can stop this from becoming the wrecked Beck show… What the ever loving fuck??? Black people, even if they’re from the south, have no standing to be outraged by the casual racism you’re more than happy to excuse away? Only White southerners are allow to criticize White southerner racism? ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3095 "2024-07-21T20:06:04Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Mentioning that the people of Arkansas commonly use an extreme racial slur to describe a plant is kinda on topic for the thread. Insisting that nobody there minds and that she doesn’t even know any racists is the off-putting part. This is probably good evidence that Beck’s self selection for associates has _at best_ betrayed her. But how many threads have we had by bigots and racists (note, I’m not saying that Beck is one, but there have been too many missteps on this and related issues to not worry about her underlying social assumptions that she should question _more_) who insist that No One They Know has a problem, only to be confronted with a metric ton of cites showing that people in their area/state DO. It’s blindness, the question is if it’s ignorant or willful. And while I tend to give Beck the benefit of the doubt considering her age and probably limited circle of direct contacts outside a certain age/color/gender group, it’s absolutely not a good look. Part of the problem is that Beck, _like most of us_, tends to get mulish and defensive when called out. And I think that’s what is happening in the cited thread. Sometimes, and I’ve mentioned this in this very thread, that takes what should be a teachable moment and turns it into a flame out of epic proportions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=141) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=143)