# Where should this thread have been posted?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [July 8, 2008, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701 "2008-07-08T15:11:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 16\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701/1 "2008-07-08T15:11:52Z")

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Nothing major here, and nothing at all intended to be a Pitting. I’m just trying to understand **fluiddruid** ’s logic in closing [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=474693). It seems to me that the majority of people who would be interested in reading such a story are going to be sports fans, so why not have it in the Game Room?

I suppose it could also go into MPSIMS, but if that’s the case, why not just relocate it instead of closing it?

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**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701/2 "2008-07-08T15:19:53Z")

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I could very well be mistaken here, but my assumption was simply that **fluiddruid** didn’t know that Vick was a sports figure. The threads directly above and below that one (when I looked at it, anyway) were directly about individual athletes, so it seems to be the Game Room was as good a forum as any for it.

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**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701/3 "2008-07-08T15:23:23Z")

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Yep. I’m voting that she didn’t recognize Michael Vick’s name as a sports figure, with a pinch of “this thread is too anemic to be worth bothering to move”.

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**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701/4 "2008-07-08T15:37:50Z")

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I’d be a little surprised if more than 1% of the adult US population doesn’t know who Michael Vick is. He was front-page news for months, and he’s been front-of-sports-section news for years.

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**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701/5 "2008-07-08T15:48:29Z")

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Re: [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=474693)

Out of curiosity, what would have been the appropriate forum? We’ve had similar discussions about sports figures in this forum before and this post was at least as relevant as the discussion of Alex Rodriguez’ kids’ names. Just wondering.

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**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:** [July 8, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701/6 "2008-07-08T15:53:10Z")

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[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]  
I’d be a little surprised if more than 1% of the adult US population doesn’t know who Michael Vick is. He was front-page news for months, and he’s been front-of-sports-section news for years.  
[/QUOTE]

1% I’d be surprised if you can’t find 1% of the adult US population who doesn’t know who George Bush is. 1% is setting the bar awful low.

Daniel

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701/7 "2008-07-08T15:56:56Z")

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We’ve got a thread about this in ATMB and one in the Pit. I’m going to combine them.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701/8 "2008-07-08T18:04:33Z")

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[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]  
I’d be a little surprised if more than 1% of the adult US population doesn’t know who Michael Vick is. He was front-page news for months, and he’s been front-of-sports-section news for years.  
[/QUOTE]

I’d be surprised if more than 50% do. Twenty percent probably couldn’t name a single member of the Supreme Court. You overestimate the number of people who even read newspapers, much less pay attention to people like Michael Vick.

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**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701/9 "2008-07-08T18:11:28Z")

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But the question of where discussions about sports figures should go still is unanswered.

I’m still a bit shakey about what defines the “Games” forum. Computer and video games only? That’s the take I’m getting.

Does sports then belong in Cafe Society, or do we meld it into the rest of the fora? Soliciting opinions on sports in IMHO, factual questions in GQ, essays on games, teams and players in MPSIMS?

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701/10 "2008-07-08T18:21:16Z")

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[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan]  
But the question of where discussions about sports figures should go still is unanswered.

I’m still a bit shakey about what defines the “Games” forum. Computer and video games only? That’s the take I’m getting.

Does sports then belong in Cafe Society, or do we meld it into the rest of the fora? Soliciting opinions on sports in IMHO, factual questions in GQ, essays on games, teams and players in MPSIMS?  
[/QUOTE]

Sports is part of the Game Room. Check the description and \*\*fluiddruid \*\* has verified it. The only problem is \*\*fluiddruid \*\* detailed the games and left sports represented by one word. Perhaps an expansion to some details like "threads about all apsects of sports.

> [@](#):
>
> For games and **sports of all sorts** , including video games, board games, party games, role-playing games, cards, and puzzles.

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**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701/11 "2008-07-08T20:09:24Z")

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Yes, Vick is a sports figure of some repute, but this is not a gaming thread or really a thread about sports.

It’s more of a MPSIMS sort of thing, if anything else. Or perhaps the Pit; that’s a good place for schadenfreude.

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**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701/12 "2008-07-08T22:55:50Z")

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[QUOTE=TubaDiva]  
Yes, Vick is a sports figure of some repute, but this is not a gaming thread or really a thread about sports.

It’s more of a MPSIMS sort of thing, if anything else. Or perhaps the Pit; that’s a good place for schadenfreude.  
[/QUOTE]  
Which, of course, still doesn’t explain why it would be closed instead of relocated.

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701/13 "2008-07-08T23:49:20Z")

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[QUOTE=Asimovian]  
Which, of course, still doesn’t explain why it would be closed instead of relocated.  
[/QUOTE]  
Just guessing here, but maybe because it’s easier to close than to move a thread? And it wouldn’t be that hard to start a new thread.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701/14 "2008-07-09T03:48:05Z")

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[QUOTE=Asimovian]  
Which, of course, still doesn’t explain why it would be closed instead of relocated.  
[/QUOTE]

Not to speak for **fluiddruid** , but the OP didn’t really provide a lot to go on. By closing it, she allowed the OP to decide what direction they might want to take it in.

Really, I think the basic problem here is that the OP provided virtually nothing in the way of background information or any basis for discussion. So it was hard to decide the appropriate placement, while being virtually no loss to close the thread. Easy enough for the OP to repost if they cared to.

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**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701/15 "2008-07-10T12:58:50Z")

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There’s always been (and will always be) some ambiguity about where to put a thread. A sports figure who is a celebrity? thread could go in Cafe Society, Game Room, or MPSIMS.

The mods are certainly aware of the ambiguities, and basically we don’t care much. Putting a post in the wrong forum is NOT a “warnable offense.”\* It’s just a minor hiccough, and when there’s ambiguity anyway, it’s not even that. So, basically, no big deal.

- [sup]The exception would be someone who deliberately and repeatedly indulges in gross violations.[/sup]

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**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-this-thread-have-been-posted/455701/16 "2008-07-10T15:59:55Z")

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Here’s how I responded to this question in email:

[QUOTE=me]  
I’m sure the reason Fluiddruid closed the thread is that the Game Room forum is about the games themselves. Michael Vick’s dogfighting and bankruptcy woes really have nothing to do with football, nor does the article.

The closure of the thread wasn’t a warning or anything - we just try to keep the individual fora on-topic. If you have questions about what forum to post in, feel free to ask.

Thanks!  
[/QUOTE]
