# 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:** 238
**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:** [June 8, 2025, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5043 "2025-06-08T22:30:35Z")
Humor is my life. I cannot resist a straight line. This time I will. 😇 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5044 "2025-06-11T20:11:24Z")
Our frequent flying **DrDeth** has once again googled up some stuff from unreliable sources then misunderstood it, then used his bogus cites to challenge our local experts on the topic. Right now he’s responding to the allegations but it’s not clear if he’s doubling down or retreating. I bet on doubling down. Starting at post #130 in this thread: **Real-world examples of ‘Ummm, acktually, It’s X, not Y’ nitpicks, and discussion about them**. In that same thread somebody else has already linked to his pit thread, but about a different sub-topic. Dude’s on a roll. ---
**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:** [June 11, 2025, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5045 "2025-06-11T20:36:54Z")
Yeah, a thread especially about (useless) nitpicks naturally is like catnip to him. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5046 "2025-06-11T20:40:18Z")
Quite. That thread probably wasn’t set as a trap but any trapper knows the choice of appropriate bait for your quarry is jobs 1, 2, and 3. Of course he did in fact double down, not recant. And he’s now having his ass handed to him from multiple directions. To the degree permissible in IMHO. ETA: And now a Mod has arrived to put down the mini-riot & get the thread back on track. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5047 "2025-06-11T20:48:41Z")
With a non-Warning warning to DrD to stop trolling his ignorance of linguistics all over. I was thinking “this cat needs a topic ban” but then I realized that there isn’t a single topic in the universe that he can’t just shit all over, and consequently no topic he _won’t_ shit all over. It’s as if Dunning-Kruger came in the form of a highly-malignant and fast-metastasizing cancer. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5048 "2025-06-11T20:50:14Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > In that same thread somebody else has already linked to his pit thread, but about a different sub-topic. There is much discussion in his Pit thread about this topic as well. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5049 "2025-06-11T20:55:13Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > It’s as if Dunning-Kruger came in the form of a highly-malignant and fast-metastasizing cancer. It’s the new and improved _atomic powered_ D-K for the wondrous new Atomic Age. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2025, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5050 "2025-06-12T01:47:26Z")
What if the mods instituted a reverse ignore/ban so that _nobody_ can see his posts except himself. He’s happy, we’re happy, everybody’s happy! ---
**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:** [June 12, 2025, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5051 "2025-06-12T05:09:45Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > What if the mods instituted a reverse ignore/ban so that _nobody_ can see his posts except himself. That’s what I believe is called a “shadow ban” and has been mentioned on this board before as a particularly insidious way to deal with problematic posters. Especially those who just make socks when they get banned. If they don’t actually know they’re banned, they won’t try to circumvent the ban. (I don’t think it’s technically feasible in Discourse though.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2025, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5052 "2025-06-12T10:53:58Z")
It’s real obvious in the course of a normal thread when someone shows up and posts what amounts to a direct response to the OP not having read the rest of the thread when we’re already 50 or 100 posts in. To me at least, the feeling of “hey, they skipped right over my post which also mentioned “X” a few posts up just like they just did.” is very strong. Someone who was “shadow banned” would almost immediately notice that somehow they were speaking into an empty unresponsive room. Which would quickly lead to them shouting trying to get a response from someone, anyone; even Bueller. I suppose that would be an example of a tree falling in a forest with no one to hear; It might make a noise, but who cares? The Mods who’d have to be able to see the posts might get real tired of the drivel. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2025, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5053 "2025-06-12T12:42:23Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I don’t think it’s technically feasible in Discourse though. The Discourse team won’t implement it. > **[Slowban or errorban?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/slowban-or-errorban/141633/6)** > > Just to put the Discourse position out there. We have no plans in the foreseeable future to build slowban, errorban, hellban, disemvowling, automated retaliatory DoS attacks, downloadfloodban, bitcoinban and any other retaliatory features into... But there are third-party plugins which apparently can, to variable degrees of success. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2025, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5054 "2025-06-12T16:13:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Someone who was “shadow banned” would almost immediately notice that somehow they were speaking into an empty unresponsive room. Which would quickly lead to them shouting trying to get a response from someone, anyone; even Bueller. Generate several AI chatbots to argue with him, kind of like that TSG episode where some troublesome holodeck denizens wound up tooling around in a universe in a box. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2025, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5055 "2025-06-12T17:04:31Z")
Uh, oh, it looks like **DesertDog** is on to us. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2025, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5056 "2025-06-12T20:00:40Z")
Shhh!!! Maybe he won’t hear us sneaking around in here in SDMB subspace. He’s the one out in SDMB realspace. Yeah, that’s the ticket! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2025, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5057 "2025-06-12T21:38:29Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > The Discourse team won’t implement it. > > [Slowban or errorban? - #6 by sam - Feature - Discourse Meta](https://meta.discourse.org/t/slowban-or-errorban/141633/6) Good for them. Transparency in moderation is a good thing, it’s something this forum does much better than eg Reddit, where posts and comments get disappeared without notice. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5058 "2025-06-15T08:29:26Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It’s real obvious in the course of a normal thread when someone shows up and posts what amounts to a direct response to the OP not having read the rest of the thread when we’re already 50 or 100 posts in. Good lord there are a handful of posters who do this all the time and it drives me up a fucking wall. That and the “I don’t know shit about this subject, but I found this on Google” posters (who usually leave out the first bit, which is obvious through their post.) Like they have some desperate need to be through their two cents in when they don’t even have a penny to spare. ---
**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:** [June 15, 2025, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5059 "2025-06-15T10:40:32Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Good lord there are a handful of posters who do this all the time and it drives me up a fucking wall. Worse are the ones who only read the thread’s headline before responding. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5060 "2025-06-15T13:43:04Z")
I wonder if we can get develop a culture of gently chastising them when they do either of those impolite things? The Roman dodecahedron thread is terrible for that. It’s 900 posts, and somehow people keep showing up, reading the OP, and offering an obvious pet theory that popped into their head after a minute’s thinking. People: thee gizmos have baffled archeologists for centuries. You’re not going to come up with a novel idea off the top of your head. As I said gently, but firmly to somebody a day or two ago: “your suggestion has already been posted over 50 times upthread.” Whooshed right past them. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5061 "2025-06-15T13:50:50Z")
It doesn’t bother me in long threads. It’s too much gatekeeping to expect people to read a whole thread for the privilege to post in it. We want to encourage participation, not discourage. If a something has already been discussed, quote and link to that previous discussion, so that it’s easier for others to catch up. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/5062 "2025-06-15T14:39:22Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > “I don’t know shit about this subject, but I found this on Google” Or the even newer, and lazier, version, “this is what ChatGTP has to say about it.” Thank you for cutting and pasting four paragraphs of text from an AI. Did you bother to check that its facts are correct, that its citations say what it claims, and that its conclusions even make sense given the facts it uses? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=237) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=239)