Should copycat threads be outlawed?

[Amaya]

Poll question: Should copycat threads be outlawed?

I'm just curious, what do you think?

[KamaAina]

1. How exactly would you define "copycat thread"?

Just getting in touch with my inner attorney... :-)

[Amaya]

7. One who imitates other threads.

for a laugh. Imitation is the sincerest from of flattery, ya know :)

[KamaAina]

8. Very well, then. Define "imitate".

If the post doesn't fit, you must acquit!

[redsoxliberal]

28. define sex

[Sporadicus]

2. You May as Well Try Nailing Jello to a Tree

Would we have our mods busy trying to clamp a lid on copycat threads, meanwhile missing freeper claptrap or worse - agents provocateur attempting to bring DU down by advocating violence?

[Rowdyboy]

3. I'm not a fan and rarely participate but banning seems a bit harsh

They don't hurt anything and if thats your idea of fun, go for it.

[buddhamama]

4. nope

n/t

[jonnyblitz]

5. no. but i wasnt aware you people were so damn obsessed with

them. holy crap. they are annoying and not really that funny but that is only my opinion that i would normally keep to myself BUT since everybody keeps bringin it up and bringin it up and bringin it up. :shrug: there you have it. :crazy:

[Guaranteed]

9. Somebody is enjoying them, though.

At the very least, the poster. They're amusing themselves. And other people like them too.

You know, people are talking about the frenzies that sometimes occur here in the lounge with copy-cat stuff, but, I gotta say that some of the best times I've ever had here were when there was some kind of wild mass hysteria going on.

[Amaya]

11. I'm not obsessed with them at all

I was just asking. Sometimes it's funny and sometimes annoying. But I think it's all in good fun :)

[Pithlet]

6. No

But I wouldn't be all that upset over a ban, either.

[StopTheMorans]

10. i'll have to do some thinking on this and get back to you...

[Amaya]

12. You hate them, don't you?

:cry:

[StopTheMorans]

14. yes, it's true, I want them banned!

:silly:

[JohnKleeb]

16. traitorous dog *said in thickest russian accent*

They like everything are flawed but they ought not to be banned.

[StopTheMorans]

17. hehe Kleeb, you are the man!

i guess i can see your point of view :silly: long live the copycats!

[JohnKleeb]

19. yes but we have to compromise to make all people happy

[MikeG]

13. What if they are really funny?

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. Free speech! Free speech!

----------------------------------------------------------
Save this nation one town, county, and state at a time!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm#why

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

18. No...I give up. THe lounge can be one annoying useless copycat forum

and I will participate elsewhere on the board. Fuck it.

Asking people to have an ounce of restraint or even mildly consider when enough is enough is apparently a giant crime.

The same people who did not know when to stop made it to where you cannot even post a thread the least bit suggestive since it will now be locked as spamming the lounge is an important right.


It used to be "my right to swing my fist ends where your face begins. " Now it's "I'm going to swing my fist and if you don't like it then move."

I'll go participate elsewhere. People who want to mock everything another person has to say can all have the lounge. That's important.

[ohiosmith]

21. Bye!

:hi:

[Amaya]

23. I wasn't mocking. I respect your views.

Honestly, I am just curious.
That's all.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

24. I know...the communication wasn't directed at you but at the people

who plug their ears and go *la la la* even though you tell them "look..a handful are funny..after that it's hackneyed."

See I was on last night when this same handful decided to antagonize the mods to the point of Skinner's announcement locking all suggestive threads. I was on one night last fall when many in this same group deliberately spammed all the forums in DU. Their behavior is sociopathic and it translates poorly on a message board.

Again, I liken it to your uncle who tickled you and you laughed...until he wouldn't quit tickling and then it wasn't funny anymore.

there used to actually be a VARIETY of interesting threads in the lounge. You know that. For the most part, however, nearly every day at a certain point it gets taken over by copycats.

Again...they can have it.

[Renew Deal]

29. You're blowing this way out of proportion.

There typically aren't that many copycats here anyway. They are getting attention today. It will blow over and everything will be back to normal. Put into perspective.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

31. And you are antagonizing simply to antagonize

Again. If I am blowing it way out of porportion why can people no longer post anything the least bit suggestive in the lounge. I will tell you why..because someone like YOU who has the nerve to tell ME I am blowing something way out of proportion kept on spamming the lounge blowing the reasonableness way out of proportion until admin finally drew the line.

Thanks...you make a difference.

[Renew Deal]

35. You're proving my point.

And I think the whole thing is blown out. If no one said anything about it today, the lounge would have been fine. Blame me all you want. You have been just as antagonistic as anyone else and you were stuck defending your own sex threads last night.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=2406303#2406412

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

40. Honey, you are proving my point far better than I am proving yours

First of all you should know I did not hit the alert on any of those threads last night..and Skinner can confirm that...second..I didn't have an issue with sex threads...Skinner simply got so angry at the spamming by you and a few choice other people that a new rule was created...finally...take the threads where you INCITE behavior and the several others who followed suit after you incited it and that amounted to about 2 dozen threads being locked.

The mods deal with this shit for the easy hours and high pay..right?

[Renew Deal]

44. It's an old rule.

That they gave us leeway on. We were wrong and many of us have apologized. I think the mods do a great job. I appreciate everything they do.

[Guaranteed]

45. You know, your ATA post was much more to the point.

People were deliberately provoking the mods, and I think that was the real problem.

Whatever content each post had was kind of beside the point- any post can undermine the mod's authority when people are not listening to them.

I think that that's what we should be focused on instead of picking on certain kinds of threads. People lost control because they DIDN'T LISTEN TO THOSE IN CHARGE OF THE BOARD.

And I wasn't even here last night, for the record, although I looked back and saw what happened.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

48. Right, BGN and the point of that thread WAS..people don't know when to

stop and Bleachers7 is a verite performance act on that point.

[Darth_Kitten]

20. No.....

:D

[Lex]

22. No, I don't think they should be banned.

They aren't offensive really, just annoying. Sometimes the witty ones are really funny.

The benefits of hanging in the Lounge (lots of funny and helpful posters) outweigh the minor annoyance of the copycat threads.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

25. It should be noted that I don't recall anyone asking for them to be banned

Asking people to demonstrate an ounce of restraint is somehow perceived as telling them you are banning them.

[Renew Deal]

26. No one has asked for an ounce of restraint.

There some anti-copycat crusaders today, but no mods/admins.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

30. Great moments in cognitive dissonance, eh?

Yes...a couple of your FELLOW PARTICIPANTS asked for restraint. It was a request..not a rule.

Again...last night you and a few others were asked by a MOD to restrain yourselves and you refused....now all threads covering a certain topic no matter how harmless are verboten.

You didn't know when to stop then. You don't know when to stop now.

[Renew Deal]

32. Prove it.

I never did anything after I was "asked to stop." The lockdown came and I had stopped.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

33. Riiight you were framed and you are never a ringleader

[Renew Deal]

36. Still can't prove it.

I acknowledge that I participated. I never did anything after the mods "asked us to stop." That's simply not true.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

38. Since you have the unmitigated gall to sit there in complete denial

These are just YOUR locked threads from LAST NIGHT. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=2405470

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=2405974


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=2405648

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=2405180

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=2405918

And let's not forget your completely UNAPOLOGETIC apology in ATA.

Again..it was a combination of sex threads, threads calling the mods out and threads mocking the mods after calling them out.

Even today here you are mocking anyone who disagrees.

You just don't know when to stop, do you?

[Renew Deal]

41. And none of those were posted after the no sex threads message came up.

Some aren't even "sex threads." I did not mock the mods. That's another false accusation. I'm not sure what unapolagetic apology you are talking about. Here is my official appology. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=120x28027#28077

The first half of that thread was a misguided joke.

I don't believe that I have mocked anyone today. You have made so many false accusations of me that I don't know what to believe.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

49. Your behavior was inciteful and you are in complete denial about that fact

[DS1]

42. You're dealing with children

and that's all I have to say about that.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

39. OK

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=2411501&mesg_id=2412465

and no...the lockdown came after you incited a lockdown by calling out the mods

[Lex]

27. True.

I started a thread that said the copycat threads were annoying and backed up that with reasons why.

I never said the Lounge should be "serious" or "important" or any of that.

But original and interesting is appreciated by all, I would think.

[Guaranteed]

47. Somebody else was using the term "important"

to begin with, in quotes, then without quotes.

The argument was made- in fact, I believe that's the spamming argument. Isn't it? Some threads aren't important, just clutter?

[Lex]

50. Sorry, I didn't know about the other poster using "important"

so I didn't see that.

If a thread isn't "important" then it doesn't follow that it's necessarily "spam."

There's a vast gulf between "important" and "spam."

IMHO.

[Guaranteed]

51. Most certainly. But it seems as if the gap is being narrowed

with the "spamming" argument.

You know, most of these people who are making copycat threads aren't going out of their way to "screw up" the board, if they even are at all. They're just trying to have fun. They got caught up in the hysteria, and they actually enjoy it. And the posts that they make, however meaningless or juvenile they may seem to someone else, actually have value to them.

It's really like a bonding experience- they all find some kind of theme, and make threads about it. They're just having a good time. Isn't that what the Lounge is for?

[Medium Baby Jesus]

34. No

What else would unimaginative posters post?

:evilgrin:

[DS1]

37. Other: Only the fucking dumb ones that didn't take a lick of thought

and make us all look like a bunch of idiots should be outlawed, with bannination.

Of course, "idiot" is subjective.

[Kellanved]

43. No way

You could just as well ask the Lounge to secede.

[St. Jarvitude]

46. Who's to say what a copycat thread is?

What if DUer1 starts a thread like,

"Help me, I have a problem with my car."

and then DUerX starts a thread like

"Help me, I have a problem with my bar."

And DUerX seriously has a problem with a bar he frequents?

Will a mod lock the second thread because some might see it as a "copycat" of the first?

The whole thing is just too subjective (much more so than the "sex threads" rule)