# What were you THINKING?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532>\
**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:** 1\
**Showing post:** 7148

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [April 30, 2026, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7148 "2026-04-30T21:49:36Z")

</div>

> [@Questions about the history, practice, and policies of a US Navy 'Wardroom."](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-history-practice-and-policies-of-a-us-navy-wardroom/1029580/46):
>
> > [@Questions about the history, practice, and policies of a US Navy 'Wardroom."](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-history-practice-and-policies-of-a-us-navy-wardroom/1029580/43):
> >
> > You are coming in
> 
> This in itself implies that I have no right to comment here. Is that what you are saying? And if so, on what basis?
> 
> > [@Questions about the history, practice, and policies of a US Navy 'Wardroom."](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-history-practice-and-policies-of-a-us-navy-wardroom/1029580/43):
> >
> > saying “someone told me a thing,” and expecting us to take it as the unimpeachable truth
> 
> I never said either explicitly or implicitly that this was anything more than hearsay. If I thought that anyone reading the comment would be expected to be familiar with the term “Ring Knocker” I wouldn’t have felt compelled to provide that hearsay as background information, but since the OP was asking about Naval traditions and culture I thought it necessary to provide background information for the uninitiated. Because that’s how I perceived that “this place works.”
> 
> Forgive me. I’ll crawl back under my rock.

Dude… it’s ok. It happens all the time. Someone told you something, you believed them, you repeated it here uncritically, and now enough of us just aren’t buying it.

No one has accused you of lying. I, and I think all of us, are happy to believe that it’s true you were told this story about the origin of the term “ring knocker.” I for one just do not believe it is a true story (that is, I believe someone told it to you, is just don’t accept that what they told you was true).

But you know, that’s not why I decided to bring this to the pit. No. We’re here now because you keep bringing up self-deprecating slights about not being a “gentleman” or an “enlisted puke” and thus not having a valid opinion, and it just reeks of bad faith.

You might as well show up to an academic conference and the moment someone disagrees with you about something loudly announce you have the smallest dick in the room, and therefore your opinion isn‘t valid because apparently it’s all just a dick measuring contest. It’s a massive self-own that isn’t even \*relevant to the issue and you come away looking like a total jack ass.

\*ETA: Actually, it’s a little worse than that, because in this case whether you have ever actually been around or served in a wardroom _is_ relevant to the issue. So it’s almost like you’re loudly proclaiming your lack of qualifications, and then acting like we ought to be ashamed of ourselves for not accepting your unqualified assertions as true. As if that’s elitist or something.

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532)._