# Why was MSWAS warned? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 26, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781 "2009-08-26T16:22:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/41 "2009-08-26T17:30:39Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > What is this obsession with appearances around here? I don’t give a fuck about appearances. You’ve made that very clear recently. You’ve also spouted a whole bunch of stupid crap, such as your [Stalking harassment](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=529367) thread. > [@mswas](#): > > I want to know what forum besides the Pit and Great Debates I can post a civil discussion about Mary Jo Kopechne in? If I don’t get a response I am going to post it in IMHO. Well, on this i sort of agree with **Liberal**. I don’t see why it’s a big deal to post stuff like that in MPSIMS. Especially given the link posted by **hajario**. As for posting it in IMHO, i wouldn’t have a problem with that personally. I guess we’ll see what they say. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/42 "2009-08-26T17:31:43Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > You’ve made that very clear recently. You’ve also spouted a whole bunch of stupid crap, such as your [Stalking harassment](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=529367) thread. There is a Pit thread you realize? I started the stalking harassment thread specifically when Lobohan followed me from the Pit to Great Debates and called me stupid. He got a warning from **Tomndebb** for it even. So it’s hardly something I merely made up. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/43 "2009-08-26T17:32:34Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > This is a new precedent. > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9623213&postcount=38](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9623213&postcount=38) > > **Dex** said that it is within the rules to be critical in a memorial thread for a celebrity (as opposed to one about a family member or personal friend of the OP.) I would draw a distinction between critical and “I hope he rots in hell.” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/44 "2009-08-26T17:35:04Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > This might not be your fault, in particular, but the membership has a right to expect some level of consistency in the way forums are moderated, and in the way particular types of topics are dealt with on this board. I think this was the best reason to reverse the warnings, which **twickster** has done. There’s no particular reason she would have known how the Falwell situation was handled, since he died more than two years ago and she was not a mod at that time. (Neither was I, I might add.) Consistency is important but all mods aren’t going to have the same views on everything. More recently, Robert Novak’s death was discussed in MPSIMS. Some of the comments were negative, but the thread didn’t catch on because there was already a Pit thread about him. If the thread had lasted longer or gotten nastier, I might have moved or merged it. As it was I guess I killed it. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/45 "2009-08-26T17:38:34Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I would draw a distinction between critical and “I hope he rots in hell.” Why? **Dex** said that negative comments are allowed. I didn’t like it at the time and I still don’t but it is (was?) the rule. Celebrity bashing belongs in the Pit? Since when? So we can’t bash Paris Hilton and her new reality show in Cafe Society? MPSIMS is the perfect place for bashing a celeb. The Pit should be for truly bad real life issues and fights between members. Again, if it’s your forum and you are free to make new rules. Please don’t pretend that it’s always been this way. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/46 "2009-08-26T17:41:22Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Where else should I have put it? I didn’t want to start a Pit thread. I have a suggestion! ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/47 "2009-08-26T17:44:13Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I have a suggestion! Stop stalking me. 😛 It seems like everywhere I am on the firing line you always turnip. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/48 "2009-08-26T17:48:13Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Well I put it in IMHO, you can move it. If you move it to the Pit I will ask for it to be closed by **GFactor**. You know, **Gfactor** isn’t a genie. You can ask for it to be closed, but he doesn’t have to close it. Your topic might fit in IMHO, although starting the thread again as a means of stamping your feet over the earlier closure was not a good chioce. Meanwhile the topic of Mary Jo Kopechne was already being discussed in MPSIMS. If you had read the current Kennedy thread before starting your own, this entire situation would have been avoided because you would have known that they shouldn’t go in MPSIMS, and could have then taken your comments to GD or the Pit, or perhaps to IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/49 "2009-08-26T17:48:25Z")
So this thread is OK but the first isn’t? > **[RIP Mary Jo Kopechne](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=529558)** > > It makes me very sad that Mary Jo Kopechne is just a footnote in Ted Kennedy’s byline. Now that he is dead she is about to be forgotten by history. That makes me very sad. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/50 "2009-08-26T17:51:47Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > You know, **Gfactor** isn’t a genie. You can ask for it to be closed, but he doesn’t have to close it. Your topic might fit in IMHO, although starting the thread again as a means of stamping your feet over the earlier closure was not a good chioce. Meanwhile the topic of Mary Jo Kopechne was already being discussed in MPSIMS. If you had read the current Kennedy thread before starting your own, this entire situation would have been avoided because you would have known that they shouldn’t go in MPSIMS, and could have then taken your comments to GD or the Pit, or perhaps to IMHO. I took it to IMHO and it’s going fine there. I made a mistake in my writing of it I made it too much about Kennedy. I much prefer the IMHO one, in a backhanded way **Twickster** did me a favor. And no **GFactor** doesn’t have to do anything, but you and I both know that putting it into the Pit would be a pile-on of me rather than a discussion of the topic. If **GFactor** doesn’t close it then oh well. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/51 "2009-08-26T17:55:17Z")
I am interested as well: What if you want to make a snarky thread like mswas wanted to make; one that is too tame for the Pit? Where should it go without fear of it getting locked for being posted in the wrong forum? And since when did that start anyways? Usually the mod moves it to the correct forum. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/52 "2009-08-26T18:01:16Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Celebrity bashing belongs in the Pit? Since when? So we can’t bash Paris Hilton and her new reality show in Cafe Society? MPSIMS is the perfect place for bashing a celeb. The Pit should be for truly bad real life issues and fights between members. > > Again, if it’s your forum and you are free to make new rules. Please don’t pretend that it’s always been this way. You’re going off topic here. Nobody said all celebrity bashing goes in the Pit. We’re talking specifically about comments in memorial threads. The post you’ve linked to is still pretty different from what was originally being discussed here in that they’re comments about the Egg McMuffin and they’re a good deal less negative. I don’t think **mswas** was trying to be snarky, **jtgain**. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/53 "2009-08-26T18:02:58Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > You know, **Gfactor** isn’t a genie. And that’s not my bottle! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/54 "2009-08-26T18:06:16Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > You’re going off topic here. Nobody said all celebrity bashing goes in the Pit. We’re talking specifically about comments in memorial threads. Sure. But the thread that **mswas** started in MPSIMS was specifically _not_ a memorial to Ted Kennedy. If he had posted a threadshitting comment about Mary Jo in a Kennedy memorial thread, i’d agree with you, but he started a new thread specifically to talk about Mary Jo Kopechne, not to memorialize Ted Kennedy. Isn’t that something different? ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/55 "2009-08-26T18:08:39Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Sure. > > But the thread that **mswas** started in MPSIMS was specifically _not_ a memorial to Ted Kennedy. If he had posted a threadshitting comment about Mary Jo in a Kennedy memorial thread, i’d agree with you, but he started a new thread specifically to talk about Mary Jo Kopechne, not to memorialize Ted Kennedy. > > Isn’t that something different? That was actually my thinking. But also I wanted to give her her own thread, I didn’t want it to be just another jumble in all the posts about Ted Kennedy. That was why I started a thread. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/56 "2009-08-26T18:37:30Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > You’re going off topic here. Nobody said all celebrity bashing goes in the Pit. I was responding to the post below. > [@twickster](#): > > There’s mindless and pointless, and then there’s nasty and extremely pointed. If you wish to bash a public figure, we have a venue for that, the Pit. Take it there. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/57 "2009-08-26T18:40:42Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > And that’s not my bottle! 😉 And now I’m off to shoot myself. > [@mhendo](#): > > But the thread that **mswas** started in MPSIMS was specifically _not_ a memorial to Ted Kennedy. Without getting bogged down in the definition of “memorial,” yes, it was. It wasn’t a tribute in the sense of “Name your favorite John Hughes movie” would be a tribute to John Hughes, but threads announcing the death of a famous person are often full of remembrances of that person as well as reactions to the news. The MPSIMS thread definitely falls into that type. > [@](#): > > If he had posted a threadshitting comment about Mary Jo in a Kennedy memorial thread, i’d agree with you, but he started a new thread specifically to talk about Mary Jo Kopechne, not to memorialize Ted Kennedy. Mary Jo Kopechne was already being discussed in the MPSIMS thread devoted to Kennedy and in the GD thread devoted to Kennedy. So from where I sit, there was no need for a new thread. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/58 "2009-08-26T18:42:06Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Sure. > > But the thread that **mswas** started in MPSIMS was specifically _not_ a memorial to Ted Kennedy. If he had posted a threadshitting comment about Mary Jo in a Kennedy memorial thread, i’d agree with you, but he started a new thread specifically to talk about Mary Jo Kopechne, not to memorialize Ted Kennedy. > > Isn’t that something different? Perhaps – but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to consider the source. **mswas** has been a busy little bee of late starting up threads on controversial topics and then disingenuously claiming that he’s indulging in parody or otherwise doing something meta. I chose to try to nip his most recent – er, given the IMHO thread, which ain’t my problem, second-most-recent – effort in the bud. Turned out to have stirred up way more shit than would have happened had I just moved it to the Pit (which is where a thread whose sole purpose [despite the OP’s protestations] was to impugn a public figure the day he died should be placed) – oh well. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/59 "2009-08-26T18:52:09Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Perhaps – but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to consider the source. **mswas** has been a busy little bee of late starting up threads on controversial topics and then disingenuously claiming that he’s indulging in parody or otherwise doing something meta. I chose to try to nip his most recent – er, given the IMHO thread, which ain’t my problem, second-most-recent – effort in the bud. Actually a tally was done in my Pit thread as to how many people didn’t think my post regarding meeting Barack Obama was a parody. It was less than six. Only you and like three other people thought it was anything but a lame parody. I can post a cite if you like. > [@](#): > > Turned out to have stirred up way more shit than would have happened had I just moved it to the Pit (which is where a thread whose sole purpose [despite the OP’s protestations] was to impugn a public figure the day he died should be placed) – oh well. It’s amazing that you cannot comprehend any idea but that. You had two reasons for doing what you did. 1. You have problems with me for insulting a living liberal on your board. (That I didn’t actually is immaterial) 2. You have problems with me bringing up something that doesn’t make a dead liberal look good. In both cases your moderation was spiteful and purely out of partisan malice. There is no other rational explanation. So yeah, considering the source, you’ve batted 0 for 2 in trying to use your magicks to suss out my secret desires. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781/60 "2009-08-26T18:58:07Z")
If it matters to anyone, my questions in the OP have been answered, and I’m pretty much done with the this thread. For what it’s worth, I appreciate **Twickster’s** rescinding the warning, and considering the precedent/notice issue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-mswas-warned/507781.md?page=4)