# 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:** 304
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2026, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6450 "2026-02-10T23:19:03Z")
Give a hint as to which thread? ---
**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:** [February 10, 2026, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6451 "2026-02-10T23:19:14Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’ve about had it with your motherfucking mice fucking up this this motherfucking thread! Touchpads, touchscreens, and trackpads too. Those motherfuckers all belong in the motherfucking e-waste garbage, not here in this motherfucking thread. Mice, touchpads, touchscreens, and trackpads _all_ belong in the trash? How do you control your computer then? Keyboard only like DOS? ---
**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:** [February 10, 2026, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6452 "2026-02-10T23:19:46Z")
Direct neural link, like a true Chad. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2026, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6453 "2026-02-10T23:20:19Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Ok, your rant convinced me. I’m going back to toggle switches for computer input devices. Hey, toggle switches were exactly how you booted a classic PDP-8! While you watched through the window as dinosaurs prowled the landscape. It was only much later that actual disk drives and disk operating systems appeared. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2026, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6454 "2026-02-10T23:33:30Z")
> [@Epstein Files =\> Trump Impeachment & Conviction?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epstein-files-trump-impeachment-conviction/1024733): > > I know this is highly speculative right now so maybe we will all spitball then the thread goes on hiatus until the files are released. I’ll start off the assumption that the House & Senate are both approximately 50/50 splits between Republicans & Democrats and that the Epstein files show that Trump’s actions were on par with Prince Andrew. Oh and Trump will never resign the Presidency. When it comes down to it, politicians want to be re-elected and based on how the public would respond, I thi… ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2026, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6455 "2026-02-10T23:36:07Z")
Obviously, with an erasorhead pointer. It maybe a track ball (shudder). ---
**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:** [February 11, 2026, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6456 "2026-02-11T00:04:57Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > An example: > > They also come wireless for even more convenience. I was avoiding the hijack, even though I have _opinions_, but I just can’t resist this one. [![](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0551/3972/9497/files/t1-wired-trackpad-for-windows-mb1.png?v=1704878098) ](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0551/3972/9497/files/t1-wired-trackpad-for-windows-mb1.png?v=1704878098) [Reposting the picture because I can’t include it in a quote] How am I supposed to put that touchpad right up against the bottom of the keyboard, where it belongs, with that cable coming out of it? Even my wireless ones take the charging cable in that same location, so I can’t actually use the touch pad and charge it at the same time. All of these touchpads were designed by dedicated mouse users, and they either weren’t THINKING, or deliberately design them to make trackpads pieces of shit. ---
**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:** [February 11, 2026, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6457 "2026-02-11T00:15:33Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > How am I supposed to put that touchpad right up against the bottom of the keyboard, where it belongs, with that cable coming out of it? It would go to the side of the keyboard. That’s how most people use something like that. But consider that it looks like it’s less than 25% of the size of a mousepad, so you’re still going to save a lot of desk space. > [@echoreply](#): > > Even my wireless ones take the charging cable in that same location, so I can’t actually use the touch pad and charge it at the same time. You want to use a **wireless** touchpad while it is plugged in and charging? Think about what you just wrote. ---
**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:** [February 11, 2026, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6458 "2026-02-11T00:15:45Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > deliberately design them to make trackpads pieces of shit Hmm. 🤔 /kidding ---
**Author:** ![Meatwater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meatwater/32/20074_2.png) [@Meatwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatwater)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6459 "2026-02-11T00:24:25Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > I didn’t mean it as a joke, I would love that game - it would be the greatest evolution (no pun intended) of the classic Pokemon formula that I can imagine. Sounds like you are loosely describing the [Mystery Dungeon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Dungeon) spinoff series. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6460 "2026-02-11T00:36:57Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > > [@echoreply](#): > > > > How am I supposed to put that touchpad right up against the bottom of the keyboard, where it belongs, with that cable coming out of it? > > It would go to the side of the keyboard. That’s how most people use something like that. But consider that it looks like it’s less than 25% of the size of a mousepad, so you’re still going to save a lot of desk space. But … [said the dog, sending the thread on another huge hijack!] with an optical mouse you don’t usually need a mousepad at all, and the range of motion required is usually very small. And maybe it’s just me, but I have the mouse near the farthest corner of the desk near the base of the monitor, not anywhere remotely close to the keyboard, because I find it most comfortable to use by stretching my foreleg over the desktop and placing my front paw over the mouse that way. 🐶 I simply cannot imagine how anyone could find a trackpad superior to a good optical mouse. Trackpads are fine as convenient built-in pointing devices on laptops, but they are no substitute for a mouse for long-term use, IMHO. Of course, others may disagree with me, but as always in such cases, they’re wrong! 😁 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6461 "2026-02-11T00:54:07Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > How am I supposed to put that touchpad right up against the bottom of the keyboard, where it belongs, with that cable coming out of it? That does negate one of the best features of track pads, but it’s similar to the first one i used, which resolved my ergonomic issues. Also, touchpads have more precision for many operations than mice. (It depends what you are trying to do.) ---
**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:** [February 11, 2026, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6462 "2026-02-11T00:55:56Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Also, touchpads have more precision for many operations than mice. The one in the photo I posted allowed muti-touch, so you can pinch and zoom, rotate, etc. ---
**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:** [February 11, 2026, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6463 "2026-02-11T00:57:52Z")
> [@Meatwater](#): > > Sounds like you are loosely describing the [Mystery Dungeon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Dungeon) spinoff series. It’s closer but not quite what I have imagined. I’ve shared this idea before and Mystery Dungeon always comes up, I think I even tried it once, but it’s not exactly what I’m dreaming of. ---
**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:** [February 11, 2026, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6464 "2026-02-11T01:16:29Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > You want to use a **wireless** touchpad while it is plugged in and charging? This definitely at least is on topic for that mouse battery thread, which may be what got us onto this whole thing. Yes, I do want to plug in my wireless trackpad while using it, because I forgot to charge it. As just a hmm kind of quirk, my Logitech trackpad is still wireless while plugged into the computer, but the Apple one becomes wired when charging off the computer. > [@Atamasama](#): > > It would go to the side of the keyboard If I’m going to use something to the side, I may as well just use a mouse. The reason I use a trackpad below the keyboard, like the way it’s setup on a laptop, is because my problem is tennis elbow. Moving my arm from the keyboard to the side mouse day after day causes problems. A mouse below the keyboard is just stupid. A trackpad below is perfectly ergofriendly _for me_. ETA: because I hadn’t read to the bottom of the thread when I hit reply: > [@wolfpup](#): > > I find it most comfortable to use by stretching my foreleg over the desktop and placing my front paw A mouse _above_ the keyboard! I don’t know if that is brilliant or stupid. Either way, I can’t move it with my thumbs while my fingers are on the homekeys. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6465 "2026-02-11T01:23:33Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I simply cannot imagine how anyone could find a trackpad superior to a good optical mouse. What if I have a laptop…on my lap. It’s almost never on a desk. I have a wireless optical mouse that I almost never use ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6466 "2026-02-11T01:42:28Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > > [@Atamasama](#): > > > > It’s far more likely that touch **screens** will make touchpads obsolete, the same way button mice were phased out as touchpads replaced them > > Up until now I thought that everyone was talking about touch screens. Yeah Yeah, I wasn’t thinking of them as two different things. But I suspect I’d have the same problems with a touchpad as I do with a touchscreen. On the rare occasions when I’ve tried to use one it didn’t go all that well. > [@Atamasama](#): > > The one in the photo I posted allowed muti-touch, so you can pinch and zoom, rotate, etc. Which would undoubtedly cause me to often do one of those things when I was trying to do something else. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6467 "2026-02-11T02:14:58Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > What is with DrDeth’s weird insistence on defending Epstein associates in the Epstein files thread? Now he’s on “Epstein might have said "‘I talked to Bill the other day’ and that means everyone named William is going to be blacklisted”. I’m starting to think he’s in the files. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6468 "2026-02-11T02:41:17Z")
I doubt it, he’s just like that, weirdly defending all sorts of indefensible people. Doesn’t he have his own pit thread? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/6469 "2026-02-11T02:46:32Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > Also, touchpads have more precision for many operations than mice. > > The one in the photo I posted allowed muti-touch, so you can pinch and zoom, rotate, etc. I think they all do that? I certainly expect it. I don’t usually turn on any of the three-finger functions (which aren’t usually activated by default) but in the unusual circumstance where the pinch-to-zoom isn’t on by default, i turn it on. They mostly only rotate stuff in places where a mouse would rotate in the same way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=303) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=305)