# Why was Opal's MPSIMS thread removed? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 15, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267 "2011-12-15T02:06:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kansas_Beekeeper)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/201 "2011-12-16T00:38:37Z")
OK, moderators, why is she allowed to post essentially the same thing again? I just lost the little sympathy I had for her. Moderators, please suspend her for her own good and for the good her husband and son. SDMB has become ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/202 "2011-12-16T00:41:04Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > The point of the thread was to explain that said pictures were in (front-end) PRIVATE and hidden areas of said gallery. So, the purpose of the thread was to mislead everyone. You may have thought you put them in private and hidden areas, but you most certainly hadn’t. > [@](#): > > It turns out there were back ways in which were found out, Not really. It was a rather front way in. One that’s been used since the beginning of the internet. Again, you are misleading people and trying to make the actions and intent of other people look far more nefarious than they were. > [@](#): > > That is, I would never have posted those pictures publicly if I knew they were to be found publicly. But, in fact, you did post them publicly. > [@](#): > > I figured it would float in obscurity until whenever. Really? Have you even the faintest inkling of how the internet works? > [@](#): > > If I could have just closed the thing and let it blow over, I would have opted for that, but the idea that some people actually thought I posted those things FOR THE PUBLIC sort of forced me to feel that I had to clarify. So, preferring that the whole thing “blow over” you decide to create a thread to discuss it on a website that was not, in any way, involved? How…odd. > [@](#): > > Again: Those pictures were not “MADE” publicly. Again: Yes, they were. Whether you know how to create a website or not is really irrelevant to the fact that they were in a publicly available location. > [@](#): > > Ok I’m not entirely sure that’s 100% coherent Of course it isn’t. But then, that’s what happens when you’re forced to backpedal and cover you tracks when you get a reaction opposite of the one you’d like. ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/203 "2011-12-16T00:57:13Z")
Well… that settles that. No need to undisappear the other thread. She made it easy for you guys. Chump don’t want da help, Chump don’t get da help - Barbara Billingsley / Airplane ---
**Author:** ![ajb867](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@ajb867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ajb867)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/204 "2011-12-16T01:00:37Z")
I’m starting to think this is all about Ad revenue or some other type of shenanigans. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/205 "2011-12-16T01:06:09Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > Not at ALL. I would have MUCH rather said nothing and gone about my merry way. Yet thinking that all those people thought of me as the sort who would intentionally publically post those pictures just nagged at me until I had to say something. Hahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha. “I’d much rather not have said anything except I’m so concerned about how dickheads on the internet who’d do something like this feel about me that I felt compelled to make a huge post on a board where none of it was being discussed, shared or even mentioned in any way, just to make sure everyone knew how I felt about it. Even if they didn’t even know it was happening” If you wanted to address the people responsible for the action, address them where they are. Not where the topic is not even on the radar at all! ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/206 "2011-12-16T01:17:05Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > …But since I unlinked that whole domain from everywhere I figured it would float in obscurity until whenever… :rolleyes: Not quite. At the time of this post, it is still linked to from your own [**Contact Info**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php) on this board. ---
**Author:** ![Hawkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@Hawkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hawkins)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/207 "2011-12-16T01:22:14Z")
Every moderator here does a thankless job. It’s thankless because nobody wants to thank a capricious, whimsical, petty, bureaucratic martinet with the mental faculties of a fifth grade hall monitor. Oh, dear, was that in my out loud voice? ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/208 "2011-12-16T01:28:43Z")
> [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](#): > > OK, moderators, why is she allowed to post essentially the same thing again? I care very little about all this one way or the other, but I’m curious about this, too, especially considering that, in the midst of rehashing the deleted post, she says, in as many words: > [@OpalCat](#): > > And yes, I got a private message about it explaining **not to do it again** and why it was removed. (Bolding mine) ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/209 "2011-12-16T01:37:46Z")
> [@akennett](#): > > So, the purpose of the thread was to mislead everyone. You may have thought you put them in private and hidden areas, but you most certainly hadn’t. > > Not really. It was a rather front way in. One that’s been used since the beginning of the internet. Again, you are misleading people and trying to make the actions and intent of other people look far more nefarious than they were. Well, actually, several of the links pointed to directories which were technically “behind the scenes” (the storage folder as opposed to the publicly displayed folder) ---
**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:** [December 16, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/210 "2011-12-16T01:52:34Z")
> [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](#): > > OK, moderators, why is she allowed to post essentially the same thing again? I just lost the little sympathy I had for her. Moderators, please suspend her for her own good and for the good her husband and son. > > SDMB has become ridiculous. Because after four pages of other people posting about her, maybe she wanted to get her side in? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/211 "2011-12-16T01:55:46Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > . the other founding fathers got togethera nd decided that everyone needed at least two porn buddies and during times of peril at least one of them should be out of ahrms way. That is the most important function of the Vice president and why they are sequestered from time to time. true story. George **Bush** and **Dick** Chenney. Just sayin. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/212 "2011-12-16T01:59:53Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > …A _lot_ of Dopers believe **OpalCat** gets special treatment that isn’t accorded to the rest of us “proles”… So what. Who cares if she gets some teacher’s pet action. We ‘proles’ will survive. Anyway, EleanorRigby nailed it on the first page…disappearing the thread lent it mystique and created bigger drama. He could have just locked it and it would have sank off the page. If someone started a thread here about the locking, the mods would have at least had a leg to stand on that the thread deserved a locking, then they could have locked that thread too. Done. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/213 "2011-12-16T02:01:59Z")
> [@Charlie\_Tan](#): > > And finally - **Idle Thoughts** : As you were once an active member at the _other board_\*\*, with your own forum even, do really actually believe that the people _over there_\*\* who are not already active here would come here to stir trouble? > [@RedFury](#): > > Where’s this “board war” you prevented through your valiant actions? I ask because the invisible OP in question is freely available in exactly those very boards that are, in your mind, full of internet warriors chomping at the bit to invade the SDMB. And yet there are none in sight. Why do you _think_ that is? See post [111](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14567570&postcount=111). ---
**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:** [December 16, 2011, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/214 "2011-12-16T02:07:30Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > The point of the thread was to explain that said pictures were in (front-end) PRIVATE and hidden areas of said gallery. It turns out there were back ways in which were found out, and my point in posting was to point out that never were those photos intended to be seen by other than one specific person. That is, I would never have posted those pictures publicly if I knew they were to be found publicly. \*\*(I’m pretty sure that when I upgraded the software to my new gallery, some of the security settings were reset, btw, causing previously “hidden” and “private” albums to be public. But since I unlinked that whole domain from everywhere I figured it would float in obscurity until whenever. If I could have just closed the thing and let it blow over, I would have opted for that, but the idea that some people actually thought I posted those things FOR THE PUBLIC sort of forced me to feel that I had to clarify. > > Again: Those pictures were not “MADE” publicly. they were made in in hidden/private forums (in a domain name that was no longer linked from anywhere) that I thought at the time were saved and only see my my now-husband. When it turned out there was a way to access them from behind the scenes, I wanted it known that I had never posted those images intending for anyone other than him to see them. That’s why I made the thread, which was probably the wrong thing to do but I was desperate. > > **And yes, I got a private message about it explaining not to do it again and why it was removed.** We had removed your original thread from view because we felt you had been victimized and we didn’t see any good ending to any of this and we wanted to help you. And we asked you not to do this again. And you did this again. This is a formal Warning. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/215 "2011-12-16T02:08:19Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > I would have MUCH rather said nothing and gone about my merry way. You could have easily done so. You didn’t. [QUOTE=OpalCat] …one thing that I have a hard time getting over is people misunderstanding/misrepresenting my intentions. [/QUOTE] Your intentions will always, I believe correctly, be interpreted as those of a seriously mentally ill attention whore. You’ve gotten what you wanted, I suppose. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/216 "2011-12-16T02:10:37Z")
Since for all intents and purposes the original thread has been reposted to the board, there’s no real reason to keep the original thread hidden, so we have returned it to view. It’s in the Pit. We have also giving Opalcat a formal Warning for disregarding moderator instructions. Among other things. Now that the thread has been returned to view, that makes this thread moot. It was getting way out of hand anyway and is not appropriate for ATMB, so I am closing it. ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/217 "2011-12-16T02:34:36Z")
A few final observations on what happened here: 1. We have a longstanding informal staff guideline that if you come across a posting or thread that seems completely out of control but for which we have no existing policy, you can hide it till we figure out what to do. That’s what was initially done here. 2. Upon review, the correct decision would have been to restore the thread to view but lock it, with a warning to the OP that we don’t want people dragging business from other boards into this one. It’s tough enough sorting out a train wreck when all the posts and posters are in one place. No way do we want to be chasing all over the Internet. 3. We didn’t do what we should have, for reasons that were well intended but mistaken. We’re not in the business of protecting people from themselves. If you make a mess, you need to deal with it. The above isn’t new; it has always been our policy. I’m sorry it wasn’t correctly applied in this case, and hope that we have clarified matters for the future. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267/218 "2011-12-16T02:36:08Z")
Great post, Ed. Thank you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-opals-mpsims-thread-removed/606267.md?page=10)