# 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:** 389
**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:** [September 16, 2026, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8151 "2026-09-16T05:55:09Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > You say it in a thread you’ve said it. Yep, that’s my view as well. > [@](#): > > If context changes meaning that’s one thing, but having looked at the thread it was birthed from? Don’t see how. That and the fact that she _didn’t_ immediately object to being an OP, and instead just continued defending her thesis in the new thread. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8152 "2026-09-16T06:50:24Z")
If she had asked to close the thread (as OPs occasionally do), would the mods have done so? > [@ParallelLines](#): > > please feel free to open an ATMB thread about it. So your advice to someone who doesn’t like opening threads, is to open a thread? Thanks. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2026, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8153 "2026-09-16T07:37:08Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > So your advice to someone who doesn’t like opening threads, is to open a thread? Nobody is **forcing** anyone to create posts here. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8154 "2026-09-16T08:46:06Z")
My thoughts? **Jasmine** is either a brain dead racist, a brain dead troll, or both. Either way, I’ve got no time for her (haven’t for years) and, frankly, I don’t think she belongs in _this_ pit thread. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2026, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8155 "2026-09-16T20:06:30Z")
@Alessan, please take @Atamasama’s mention to heart - I don’t mean to demand anyone start a new thread, though I often wish people would do so! My intent in my posting in _this thread_ regarding **Jasmine’s** posts was: 1. Take ownership (I’m big on responsibility) for any awkwardness after it became it’s own OP, or the title (which I tried to keep neutral as possible), while making it clear I did and still feel it was the best move for the situation. [aside, thanks @wolfpup, but with great power comes great responsibility!] 2. Otherwise, I didn’t post on the content of Jasmine’s responses, because I rarely do so for posters in the Pit anymore, unless it’s a follow up or a kudos on someone taking the constructive criticism in this thread. Who am I to question the intent of the OP in creating a Pit thread for people we think need to have a “Dafuq?!” moment called out?! 😉 3. My comment about opening an ATMB thread was because we had a series of posts about not appreciating, or _minor_ griping about moderators spinning off new threads from existing ones. Which, yes, belongs in ATMB. To put it in perspective, it’s actually a lot of _work_, so in the nearly year and a half I’ve been doing this, I have done so **twice**. Generally only when there are a number of posts all clearly off topic and _not_ intertwined with the existing discussion, but are strong enough to stand on their own. It’s so much easier to slap a note down and say “spin off your own thread!” but that _rarely_ works. Anyway, I still love (and from time to time hate since I’m only human) all your miscreants and snarkers, and understand people who don’t the blame, attention, or grief that comes from starting a new thread, especially in ATMB when things get heated. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2026, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8156 "2026-09-16T21:01:59Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > people who don’t the blame Me too don’t the blame! ---
**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:** [September 16, 2026, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8157 "2026-09-16T21:30:34Z")
**Deleted** ---
**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:** [September 16, 2026, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8158 "2026-09-16T21:49:16Z")
🙇 That’s on me, “don’t **want** the blame” is what it should have read. I accept this correction in the spirit of 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:** [September 16, 2026, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8159 "2026-09-16T22:48:51Z")
Another thing I forgot to mention is that even if a post I make is turned into a thread against my will, I’m flattered because it means someone thinks my post was worthy of a full discussion. Even if I don’t think it was, I appreciate the vote of confidence. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8160 "2026-09-17T20:06:25Z")
It just seems like a very one-sided thread because there are so many counterexamples of homogeneous countries, who have their own big political problems, that I’m not really sure what there is to debate. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2026, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8161 "2026-09-18T01:41:30Z")
@Leaper added a poll to the Polls Only thread (`https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polls-only-no-discussion/953642/7002`) about the Macklemore/Palestine controversy. So of course people have to tell everyone in the associated discussion thread that they’ve never heard of him and just don’t care. > Mackle-who? > I’d heard that Macklemore said something that made some people mad, but I don’t know or care enough about the specifics to have an opinion about it. > Yeah, that poll needed a third option- _who the hell is Macklemore and why should i care about their opinion?_ Do they hold an elected office? On the slim chance they hadn’t actually heard anything about this, they could have googled his name in the time it took them to brag to everyone how they don’t pay any attention to celebrities. This is not some obscure story in the tabloids. So for those proud of your ignorance, you might think you’re being amusingly flippant about celebrities. But you’re actually trivializing censorship, antisemitism, what’s going on in Palestine, and billionaire control in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8162 "2026-09-18T01:51:05Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > So of course people have to tell everyone in the associated discussion thread that they’ve never heard of him and just don’t care. Did you report the threadshits? Because that’s what those were. That’s _literally_ the definition of threadshitting. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2026, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8163 "2026-09-18T01:53:40Z")
Eh, I don’t think it sinks to that level. If people want to comment about a poll and the options in it, I don’t have a problem with it. I raise it here because I don’t think it reflects on them in the way they hope. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2026, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8164 "2026-09-18T11:08:58Z")
And on the flip side, i don’t think that poll belonged there. It’s a light, silly thread. And someone dropped a poll with very polarizing answers to a complex question into the middle of it. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2026, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8165 "2026-09-18T11:18:06Z")
Yeah, if it had been a thread about Gaza, that would have been a thread shit. But it’s a thread about the polls in the polls-only thread. “I’m not familiar with the topic of that poll, so i can’t answer” is completely on-topic for the thread. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2026, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8166 "2026-09-18T12:17:07Z")
Not when it’s phrased as some “Mackle-who?” snark. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2026, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8167 "2026-09-18T12:50:54Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > On the slim chance they hadn’t actually heard anything about this, they could have googled his name in the time it took them to brag to everyone how they don’t pay any attention to celebrities. I mean, how else can a Doper demonstrate how highbrow and cultured they are than by posting their disdainful ignorance? ---
**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:** [September 18, 2026, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8168 "2026-09-18T12:51:21Z")
Village idiot **nwh** has just produced an incomprehensible thread about some printer problems they’re having. It’s turned into a dialog between several people earnestly trying to help and **nwh** providing 3-word answers to it’s-not-clear who about it’s-not-clear what. I’m sort of proud that I avoided taking the bait. Some people are too stupid to help. It’s clear there was no THINKING in whatever they’ve been doing at home to address their problem, nor in their OP or any subsequent post. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8169 "2026-09-18T13:07:50Z")
Or we’re just burned out on celebrity outrage and all these blowups look alike and will fade from public memory when the next display of butthurt comes along. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2026, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/8170 "2026-09-18T13:10:16Z")
Threads like that drive me batty, and she’s by far not the only one who asks for help and then posts in this manner. So a hint, non-computer people, when starting a help thread, in the OP tell us at least: - The exact make and model of the device(s) you’re having trouble with - Your OS and version number - The faulty behavior your device does - The error message(s) you get And after this, please answer the fucking questions we gave you to further analyze the problem. It’s really not that hard. ETA: this was in response to @LSLGuy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=388) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=390)