# 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:** 48
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/941 "2024-01-26T13:51:56Z")
That’s she/her ! Suella Braverman (apparently she was named after a misspelling of SueEllen from the Dallas soap opera). AKA Cruella Doberman (among other things !). ---
**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:** [January 26, 2024, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/942 "2024-01-26T16:52:22Z")
Oops. Anyway, the author sounds deserving of a pit thread. What a bizarre belief. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2024, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/943 "2024-01-26T19:03:28Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > One of our many recent home secretaries described homelessness as a > lifestyle choice ! It can be, my brother was voluntarily homeless for a while. But that’s so rare and those outliers give an excuse for assholes to claim it’s all the fault of the homeless who’d be fine if they weren’t so lazy. I was briefly homeless, it was scary as hell and it sure wasn’t my choice. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/944 "2024-01-26T19:15:49Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I was briefly homeless, it was scary as hell and it sure wasn’t my choice. Me too, and yes it is scary. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2024, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/945 "2024-01-27T01:34:31Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I was briefly homeless, it was scary as hell and it sure wasn’t my choice. I’ve fortunately never experienced that. My understanding is that once one becomes homeless, there’s a cascading effect of consequences that can make it progressively harder to get out of that state. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2024, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/946 "2024-01-27T01:44:21Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > My understanding is that once one becomes homeless, there’s a cascading effect of consequences that can make it progressively harder to get out of that state. Oh yeah. It’s a trap. Try to get a job and you don’t have an address to put down. Good luck if you don’t have a phone number either or access to email. Can’t wash your clothes or take a shower. Being malnourished also messes with your ability to think or sleep properly. Plus when you lose the feeling of having a place to feel safe it really screws with your head. Your life becomes like a car with a dead battery. It’s almost impossible to get it started again without help. And that’s ignoring things like substance abuse or mental illness which often go along with it. Or getting a criminal record. You get treated like trash and feel like trash. The song _Something in the Way_ by Nirvana reminds me of that shit. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2024, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/947 "2024-01-27T02:49:24Z")
Also, proof of identity, citizenship, and residency can be substantial hurdles to getting public benefits (to the extent such things even exist anymore). ---
**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:** [January 27, 2024, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/948 "2024-01-27T19:52:29Z")
I’m sorry, that’s terrible. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2024, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/949 "2024-01-27T20:44:46Z")
In my case it was brief, I ended up being able to crash on couches and stuff after a few days and bounced from place to place. I think I figured out once I lived in 12 places in one year after I sat down and figured it out. That was a chaotic time in my life for sure. Mostly because I was young and hadn’t developed marketable skills yet and had no family willing to help me, and when you live paycheck to paycheck and someone steals the little bit you save up for something like an apartment down payment (a coworker no less, never knew who) you are screwed. At least I had a job, even if it was part time minimum wage and not even close to enough to live off of. It’s the people who live that way chronically, they I have so much empathy for. There’s a charity in my hometown that takes care of young people who end up on the streets like I did and I donate to it because, well I can’t say I “know” what it’s like to live that way but I got a taste of it. It’s dehumanizing. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2024, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/950 "2024-01-27T21:21:10Z")
We were at a campground with a borrowed tent for a month. The campground had a rule that you couldn’t camp with a tent for over a week. The person that checked us in was uninformed/poorly trained? Anyway, they figured out that we’d been there a month and asked us to leave. I assume homelessness is why they had that rule. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2024, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/951 "2024-01-28T22:32:39Z")
Ooh, goody. Demontree is back and more petulant than ever. There’s a thread in GD about antisemitism on campus, and because her transphobic bullshit gets rejected by folks around here, she’s blaming progressivism for being inherently antisemitic. She is such a whiny little baby. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2024, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/952 "2024-01-28T23:02:50Z")
I actually posted when Demontree crossed back into my horizon last month in their shared Pit Thread with damuriajashi (one down at least. > [@I Pit damuriajashi and DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-damuriajashi-and-demontree/928300/890): > > I just wanted to mention that Demontree has been back for a while, being themselves but not to the level of Pit mentions, but their support in the already Troll-Bait thread “Why is racial grouping of diverse ethnicities with different backgrounds still considered acceptable?” is pretty typical of them. Lots of Brexit maybe, just a bit was about racist issues, but they weren’t really racist, because it’s different in Europe. So, yeah, Demontree at their finest. man_shrugging I get the feeli… The post you mentioned feels very similar the one I referenced then: pointing fingers, vague accusations, but nothing strident or obvious enough to bring series attention their way. But since they DO have a dedicated Pit thread, I figure I’d mention it again. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2024, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/953 "2024-01-28T23:49:20Z")
And even if they didn’t have a dedicated pit thread, they’d be in the troll thread. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2024, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/954 "2024-01-29T11:33:56Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > they’d be in the troll thread. …which this _isn’t_ (which I point out at the risk of being charged with Junior Modding). I mean, it’s not exactly difficult to figure out what she’s thinking (except in the Cryptic Overlaps thread, where she’s been a good participant). And I find myself wondering if referring to her with “they” is deliberate, given her patent anti-trans attitude. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2024, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/955 "2024-02-12T23:36:00Z")
**wolly** is back (after 2 years), asking in IMHO about the viability of being a profitable sports bettor. Perusing his earlier threads, they all seem to be in a similar vein, asking how to succeed in life without really trying: Lying about having skills/aptitudes A family problem Can sales agents live from poor salary? I want to be an engineer but I hate physics Travelling jobs(related to programming or engineering I don’t know what I want do to with my life To be fair, in my early 20’s I also entertained some pretty pie-in-the-sky ideas about my future career (yes including becoming a professional gambler) while trying to deal with my (formerly) turbulent emotions. 6 years later tho you think he’d have figured something realistic out and not be trying to beat the unbeatable vigorish. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2024, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/956 "2024-02-13T00:37:20Z")
To be fair, he hasn’t returned to his own thread since his OP. I assume he didn’t like what he was seeing by way of responses. His body of work on this board is not impressive, I agree. Assuming he’s not just repeatedly yanking our chains, he seems to need someone with a strong will and a lot of time available to push him into some uncomfortable realizations, such as the extent he will have to work hard to make it in life, and then guide him at least along the first steps. Or maybe he should cultivate his charm and looks, so he can marry rich. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2024, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/957 "2024-02-13T03:32:49Z")
That thread was weird, or at least, it seemed remarkably scattered. I don’t know anything about the poster in question but it seemed a weird combination of pity party (ruined by parents), bragging (about their grades), and flat our confused (is this a hobby or trying to make a living???). If it’s a hobby, why care if it’s profitable, after all most hobbys aren’t. Make small bets or keep “score” with a spreadsheet and check it against what you would have “won” if you had bet! If you want to make a living, based on the thread and common sense, you’d be better off taking the $100/$1000 etc and investing in a CD with no risk. Then blow the interest on a one time payment for a gambling video game or do the spreadsheet above. It was a really strange thread for someone who had been gone for two years. Maybe they were expecting us to talk them into it, or do all their work for them? Truly, what were they Thinking?! ---
**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:** [February 13, 2024, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/958 "2024-02-13T13:51:47Z")
They were thinking “I’m an emotionally disturbed (or at least emotionally disorganized) person seeking a life that’s easy and plays into my weird fascinations for certain random topics. I love numbers and hate math. The only thing I hate more than math is working. Oh, and I’m bored today, so I’ll bug the Dopers.” ETA: I just checked and he made his first response overnight. Which demonstrates a certain amount of emotional instability / disordered thinking. IOW **wolly** be wacko. At least mildly so. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2024, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/959 "2024-02-13T17:48:18Z")
I’m going, for the moment, to give the poster the benefit of doubt and echo the existing statements in the thread: seek help right away. The follow-up post that @LSLGuy mentioned almost certainly falls into one of the mentioned categories: desperately disturbed, creepy attention seeking, cry for help, or trolling if not a combination of thereof. So I posted a bit of snark (to others) and the suggestion that **wolly** seek help. I have a semi-morbid curiosity about the percentages of above motivations for the poster, but I doubt I’ll ever know. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2024, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/960 "2024-02-14T02:07:40Z")
Thank you **Beck** for your most recent post in said thread. I dunno if he’ll listen tho. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=47) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=49)