# Why is this thread open? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 15, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-thread-open/693176 "2014-07-15T16:47:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-thread-open/693176/1 "2014-07-15T16:47:17Z")
**Ecmandu’s** [Re-focused essay on suicidality"](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=728397) thead is a factless, citeless hate-filled screed that tries to establish that women as a whole are psychopaths and any man that approachs a woman is harassing her. There is no actual debating going on, but he does talk of conspiracies involving government agencies that refuse to write back to him. This thread is one massive pile of personal problems, not a debate. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-thread-open/693176/2 "2014-07-15T16:59:58Z")
To put it bluntly, if I started a thread in Great Debates stating that the reason for unrest in the South was because all African-Americans were psychopaths, or that the reason for unrest in the Middle East was because all Jews were psychopaths, how long would my thread stay open? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-thread-open/693176/3 "2014-07-15T17:45:13Z")
Well it’s not no more. Closed at 9:55 AM by Jonathon Chance. EDIT: I didn’t realize how late to the party I was. I swears it was like 10:03 or something when I posted. Please ignore. I’ll work on my time-traveling. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-thread-open/693176/4 "2014-07-15T17:50:41Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Well it’s not no more. Closed at 9:55 AM by Jonathon Chance. > > EDIT: I didn’t realize how late to the party I was. I swears it was like 10:03 or something when I posted. Please ignore. I’ll work on my time-traveling. edit noted-I’m still working on getting you that Tardis. It was closed because of the subject as a whole. It should have been shut down as hate speech the first time he declared that all women were psychopaths. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-thread-open/693176/5 "2014-07-15T17:52:50Z")
Did you contact a mod privately before starting this thread? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-thread-open/693176/6 "2014-07-15T17:54:11Z")
More than once. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-thread-open/693176/7 "2014-07-15T17:57:21Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It should have been shut down as hate speech the first time he declared that all women were psychopaths. Agreed. EDIT: Maybe we should work on getting the mods a TARDIS too. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-thread-open/693176/8 "2014-07-15T18:07:39Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Agreed. > > EDIT: Maybe we should work on getting the mods a TARDIS too. And give them a chance to pre-ban some of us? Are you crazy? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-thread-open/693176/9 "2014-07-15T18:55:10Z")
The guy has been here several months, has over 100 posts but every single one of them are in the 2 threads in GD that he started on the exact same incoherent subject, and he has multiple posts where he flat out insults other posters. Seems like we ban people for much less than that. Are we that desperate for posters…? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-thread-open/693176/10 "2014-07-15T18:58:20Z")
Hey, if threads were instantly closed the moment someone said something utterly asinine, we’d have a heap of short locked threads every day. Let’s recognize the mortal limitations of the mods. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-thread-open/693176/11 "2014-07-15T19:14:39Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Hey, if threads were instantly closed the moment someone said something utterly asinine, we’d have a heap of short locked threads every day. Let’s recognize the mortal limitations of the mods. Instantly? How many times in how many threads should one be able to say that all women are psychopaths before I become a bit impatient? And remember, the thread wasn’t even closed for that reason. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-thread-open/693176/12 "2014-07-15T19:16:20Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Hey, if threads were instantly closed the moment someone said something utterly asinine… Well, we’re talking about GD, and we’re talking about a rehash of an earlier thread that was closed because it was incoherent, among other things. But honestly, I’m not seeing the downside of taking the approach you describe in GD in general. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-thread-open/693176/13 "2014-07-15T19:27:22Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > How many times in how many threads should one be able to say that all women are psychopaths before I become a bit impatient? I can see giving some leeway to anyone who has met my ex. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-thread-open/693176/14 "2014-07-15T19:57:00Z")
The real reason the thread stayed open is probably because most people didn’t bother to read the OP. If you bury offensive material in a pile of incoherence, it’ll take long time for anyone to notice it’s there. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-thread-open/693176/15 "2014-07-15T20:01:28Z")
I don’t think you needed to read much of the OP to recognize there was squirrel food involved. ISTM that such threads either turn to riffing and jokes (I tried) or need to be locked. You can’t really debate them. Regards, Shodan