# 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:** 155
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2024, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3336 "2024-10-17T16:57:18Z")
\< announcement\> Carly Simon has entered the thread \ ---
**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:** [October 17, 2024, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3337 "2024-10-17T17:15:24Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Given how choosy I am about friending on FB, the kind of folks who’d follow the trail of bread crumbs would make sensible, intelligent, agreeable posters with a wide range of interests, who’d do very well and be welcomed. Honestly that’s a much higher bar than necessary; I’ve lasted for 15 years after all, the standards aren’t that strict. 😆 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2024, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3338 "2024-10-17T17:31:47Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Why would you think a post about threadshitting would be referring to you? Starting to think she doesn’t come here for the hunting. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2024, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3339 "2024-10-17T18:25:36Z")
“I understood that reference!” ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3340 "2024-10-18T15:18:40Z")
I guess it’s time I made a confession in the “What were you THINKING?” thread: I once intervened to protect a newbie who came in guns blazing and was thundering down the home stretch toward a banning. I explained where he was going wrong, encouraged him to moderate his tone, and yanked him back from the brink. He went on to become a well-known poster for quite some time, until at last certain, ah, inherent qualities brought the ban hammer down on him – by which time I deeply regretted my white-knighting. That poster was… [shamed shuddering] Starving Artist. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3341 "2024-10-18T15:49:11Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > That poster was… > > [shamed shuddering] > > Starving Artist. You are morally responsible for the paper towel tube defense. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3342 "2024-10-18T15:53:17Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > That poster was… > > [shamed shuddering] > > Starving Artist. Let’s all say it together… **What were you THINKING?** ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3343 "2024-10-18T16:02:28Z")
LOL – thanks, you guys, for a guffaw that has left me with multiple claw marks from the cat departing my lap at warp speed. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3344 "2024-10-18T16:07:10Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > for a guffaw that has left me with multiple claw marks from the cat departing my lap at warp speed. Alright, you have been sufficiently punished for your role in the paper towel tube debacle. I forgive you. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3345 "2024-10-18T16:09:54Z")
My thanks, sirrah, but I’m not sure I can ever forgive myself. Although the paper towel tube debacle did have a certain morbid fascination. A Doper classic of the abhorrent kind. ---
**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:** [October 18, 2024, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3346 "2024-10-18T16:18:13Z")
Can someone link to it please? I don’t recall that one. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3347 "2024-10-18T16:19:50Z")
I think it’s [**this guy,**](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2437) from before my time 😉 ---
**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:** [October 18, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3348 "2024-10-18T16:29:42Z")
Thank you. Also Yuck. What a weird thread and weird defense. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3349 "2024-10-18T16:30:37Z")
To this day, when we run out of paper towels, I have to don two pairs of rubber gloves to dispose of the empty tube. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3350 "2024-10-18T16:50:52Z")
That piques my interest. I, for one, am glad this thread exists. Not long ago, I started going down the rabbit hole of X. “I must post and tell the Dopers, they don’t realize this!.” Well, a few people flamed me for it and I’m glad they did. When a bunch of people criticize you for something, they’re right. Also mod warnings will get you to change your ways. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3351 "2024-10-18T17:33:45Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > When a bunch of people criticize you for something, they’re right. Not always, viz. The Wise King: [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/58702/the-wise-king](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/58702/the-wise-king) > [@](#): > > Once there ruled in the distant city of Wirani a king who was both > mighty and wise. And he was feared for his might and loved for > his wisdom. > > Now, in the heart of that city was a well, whose water was cool and > crystalline, from which all the inhabitants drank, even the king > and his courtiers; for there was no other well. > > One night when all were asleep, a witch entered the city, and poured > seven drops of strange liquid into the well, and said, “From this > hour he who drinks this water shall become mad.” > > Next morning all the inhabitants, save the king and his lord > chamberlain, drank from the well and became mad, even as the witch > had foretold. > > And during that day the people in the narrow streets and in the > market places did naught but whisper to one another, “The king is > mad. Our king and his lord chamberlain have lost their reason. > Surely we cannot be ruled by a mad king. We must dethrone him.” > > That evening the king ordered a golden goblet to be filled from the > well. And when it was brought to him he drank deeply, and gave it > to his lord chamberlain to drink. > > And there was great rejoicing in that distant city of Wirani, > because its king and its lord chamberlain had regained their reason. On the other hand, our late lamented @Bricker taught me an excellent Russian (?) proverb: “When ten people tell you you’re drunk, go lie down.” ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3352 "2024-10-18T17:38:20Z")
I love that story. A version of it takes place in an issue of the comic book Cap’n Quick And A Foozle. I also saw a scifi version titled Angels In The Jets in an old anthology. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3353 "2024-10-18T18:11:28Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > My thanks, sirrah, but I’m not sure I can ever forgive myself. Well Eddy, if it helps you sleep better at night… I’m actually the one responsible for Starving Artist. He’s my uncle and I introduced him to the board. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3354 "2024-10-18T18:26:52Z")
OMG. I don’t… I’m not sure what to say, especially since I started out liking him, and we even developed a friendship, that collapsed as he… well, you know. I hope he’s well, and happier than he became as his Doper life spun out of control? I regret the consequences of halting his initial flameout, but I didn’t and still don’t hate him. He just wasn’t right for this place. ---
**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:** [October 18, 2024, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3355 "2024-10-18T18:33:59Z")
Drinking from the same well does not make you smarter it’s just makes you crazy like everyone else. “…I’m not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep, I’m afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion…”. Alexander the Great [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=154) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=156)