# A pitting used to suffice now you got to get yourself suspended to count around here **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 29, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379 "2006-03-29T06:23:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/41 "2006-03-30T04:40:08Z")
> [@](#): > > What can you ever really know of other people’s souls — of their temptations, their opportunities, their struggles? One soul in the whole of creation you do know: and it is the only one whose fate is placed in your hands. – CSL **roger** , excuse the hijack from mere mischievousness, but have you read the book on Lewis by Alan Jacobs? I saw only the end of a presentation by him (just the question and answer session) on television and found it absorbing. I think you might be interested in his insights. I return you now to the land of teeth-sucking, you…you…_Englishman_! ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/42 "2006-03-30T04:53:05Z")
Thanks for that tip, **Zoe**. I did a search for reviews of the book, and came up with this: “The genuine kindness and self-giving nature of Lewis comes through clearly. Jacobs is also sensitive to an important point: Lewis’s writings do not become interesting or significant until he becomes a Christian. Becoming a Christian truly made Lewis a better and more profound person.” Quite true. His early diaries, for example, just can’t hold a candle to the letters he was writing just a few years later after he stopped being an atheist. Perhaps the greatest contribution he will ever make is to stand as a living demonstration of the truth that “Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart”. He had so many weaknesses, but his heart was good. And true. What more can one say? ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/43 "2006-03-30T05:02:12Z")
> [@rayh](#): > > I love you I can’t say that, look at the trouble I had with duffer in the other thread Just can’t quit me, can you? I feel your touch in every thread. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/44 "2006-03-30T05:03:50Z")
This _is_ a Pit thread right? [sub]Damn you and such![/sub] ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/45 "2006-03-30T05:10:13Z")
This is cunning stuff. People are trying to get suspended or banned for being nice in a Pit thread. Not just cunning, downright hateful. In the right place, alright. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/46 "2006-03-30T05:19:51Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > This is cunning stuff. People are trying to get suspended or banned for being nice in a Pit thread. Not just cunning, downright hateful. In the right place, alright. Thank you. [sub]Ha![/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/47 "2006-03-30T05:20:01Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Okay, okay, my bad. > > Funny you should mention it, though, for I’m currently reading a 1953 edition of _The Allegory of Love_, which might be said to stand as CSL’s PhD thesis. Can’t make head nor tail of it, but that won’t stop me reviewing it in _Cafe Society_ in due course. Since you asked, next up on my reading list is a lesser known (naturellement - more cachet in dropping it into Lewisistic conversations than the common stuff like Screwtape and, ohmygod, Naaaarnia) edited collection of Lewis’s work called _Spenser’s Images of Life_. Not likely to know what the fuck that’s about either, but that’s hardly the reason I’m going to read it. I want to be able to stroll casually into every Lewis message board in the blogosphere and say I’ve read every word the man wrote. _And_ that I’m English, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it. > > How you doin’, **AndyPolley** , mate? Not sure what you were on when you posted, but always good to know you’re still alive. You really need to relate it to the worldview described in _The Discarded Image_, stir well, and simmer over medium heat until done. Probably six months should suffice. You _will_ return from your well-deserved sabbatical to let us know the results, won’t you? ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/48 "2006-03-30T06:46:50Z")
Not many authors could bring the worlds of Boethius, Chalcidius, Macrobius and Pseudo-Dionysius alive like CSL in _D.I._. Part of his importance as a medieval scholar was his ability to ferret out the lesser known authors of a given period and allot each his right portion. Undoubtedly subjective, and yet redeemed by dint of his tremendous reading and knowledge, and indeed by his graciousness. It’s interesting to note from his letters that the latter did not come easily - he repeatedly talks of his battle with envy. Anyway, this being the Pit, here’s a bit of ribald Lewis (quoting a bawdy ballad sung at one of the meetings anti-English Department “junto” of the early 30s): Hark! I hear a step on the stair! Sound to me like an angry father, With a pistol in either hand, Looking for the man who screwed his daughter I have seized him by the hair of his head And shoved it into a bucket of water, And I screwed his pistol up his arse A damn sight harder than I screwed his daughter In case gays are upset that he didn’t represent them in his poetic endeavours, here’s nice ditty about the Dean of Balliol (a college at Oxford): The Dean of Balliol sleeps with men Sleeps with men, sleeps with men, The Dean of Balliol sleeps with men Till three o’clock in the morning. (to the tune of ‘Here we go gathering nuts in May’) ---
**Author:** ![Mellivora\_capensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mellivora\_capensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mellivora_capensis)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/49 "2006-03-30T07:55:28Z")
I love pit bull puppies. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/50 "2006-03-30T08:01:32Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > It’s not that I wish to draw attention to myself; rather, it’s that I want attention to be drawn to the fact that I’m not trying to draw attention to myself. After all, the SDMB is bigger than any poster. Is this where we actually get to Pit you? Too bad you’re not worth it. Would you know a real Pitting if you saw it? You asked for a pitting. There was little response. Pfft. I had a really nasty message all fired up, but I’d rather not be warned/banned. You try to pit yourself, then bore people with lame prose. Is this the “fuck you” that you were looking for? Do you need a sponsor for your banning? Will you shut the fuck up either way? ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/51 "2006-03-30T08:59:37Z")
That’s much more like it. But unless you cough up your nasty message, people are going to think you’re just BS-ing. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/52 "2006-03-30T11:46:20Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Just can’t quit me, can you? I feel your touch in every thread. 😛 Ahhhhhhh, **duffer’s** stalking me! ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/53 "2006-03-30T14:44:36Z")
> [@Trion](#): > > Feh. I’ve never been pitted. Or suspended. Never gotten a warning. The Mods have never said “Boo” to me in an official capacity. I suck. Suck suck suckity suck. Nobody loves me everybody hates me I’m gonna eat some worms. > > I couldn’t even get anyone to bake me a cake for my pity party. How sad is _that_? **Trion** , you raise a good point. I don’t understand why people feel like they have to be Pitted. What, do they think it makes them “made men/women” or something? 😕 And as **El\_K** pointed out, people are _actively paying_ for a membership, yet asking to be suspended? I have a cheaper, easier solution to fix that, and you can take it/leave it as you please: get up from the desk, turn off the computer, unplug it, and go outside and play. But, since it _is_ the Pit: Goddamned dogbreathed motherfuckin’ shitheads cryin’ and whinin’ because nobody gives a flying sideways fuck (aka “a Kung-Fu Fuck”) enough about 'em to Pit them. Please. Tripler ::ahem:: ::cough:: 'Scuse me. ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/54 "2006-03-30T15:03:53Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > **Trion** , you raise a good point. I don’t understand why people feel like they have to be Pitted. What, do they think it makes them “made men/women” or something? 😕 Well, since you’ve addressed me, I’ll give you my take. I think there’s a general feeling among a lot of posters that they’re ignored. Their post go unremarked upon and they feel they’re not making an impact. From this view, they’re paying a yearly fee to be ignored. Getting pitted is an easy way to know that people notice you. I think a lot of times, it’s the last resort for people who don’t feel they’re getting attention from playing nice. The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. Personally, I’d rather be talked _to._ ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/55 "2006-03-30T15:24:07Z")
> [@Trion](#): > > Getting pitted is an easy way to know that people notice you. I think a lot of times, it’s the last resort for people who don’t feel they’re getting attention from playing nice. . . . which breeds nothing but a bunch of drama queens, in my opinion. Good Lord, has this board devolved to the point we have to have a daily soap opera going on? I mean, the occasional fiasco/debacle/‘motion pictureworthy event’ is fine, but when people are lining up to post “Look at me!” threads, I just wanna go: :smack: :smack: Call me callous. Tripler :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/56 "2006-03-30T15:36:47Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > . . . which breeds nothing but a bunch of drama queens, in my opinion. Good Lord, has this board devolved to the point we have to have a daily soap opera going on? I mean, the occasional fiasco/debacle/‘motion pictureworthy event’ is fine, but when people are lining up to post “Look at me!” threads, I just wanna go: :smack: :smack: > > Call me callous. > > Tripler > :rolleyes: Exactly. Libs ‘ban me’ thread was just that. He could have shut the hell up and just stopped posting. Roger’s thread here is clearly a mockery of such incidents, and therefore gets a pass, since we’re all about making fun of others, right? ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/57 "2006-03-31T02:18:55Z")
> [@Uncommon Sense](#): > > Roger’s thread here is clearly a mockery of such incidents, and therefore gets a pass, since we’re all about making fun of others, right? Well, yes and no, and then yes and no again. Let me explain. “A mockery of incidents such as poor **Liberal** ’s clearly very heartfelt plea to suspend him”. Yes, in as much as there did seem to be simpler ways to stop posting, such as, off the bat, deleting SDMB from his “Favorites”, not logging in (so that he could read but not write), not turning on the computer, doing something else, writing his memoirs. No, in as much as this isn’t a spoof thread as such, which would have to link to the spoofed material, but the true expression of the intense, and to borrow **Lib** ’s word, heartfelt anger I feel about the whole issue. There’s the extra work for our dear moderators (some have been posting as late as 2-3 in the morning again recently, which is, I’m sorry, way way beyond the call of duty), there’s the confusion that is being caused to posters who’ve wandered into the Pit unwittingly from MPSIMS and can’t make head nor tail of it, there’s the lurkers to consider - people who are right now deciding whether to pony up their hard earned $14.95, or, if they can’t afford such a sum, drafting their request for some kind doper to help them pay in instalments, or whatever it takes these days to gather together such a tidy amount. Now the second set of yes and no. “The SDMB is all about making fun of others.” Yes, the SDMB is other-centred. But no, **Uncommon Sense** , no, no, no, no, no. The SDMB is about fighting the ignorance of others, NOT making fun of them. Making fun of their ignorance? Okay. How else will they, in Vincent van Gogh’s words, ever learn to listen? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/58 "2006-03-31T04:25:18Z")
**roger** : You are angered by things which were never about you – the extra work for the mods, the confusion of other posters, the discouragement of lurkers. Your tendency to empathize must be weighing heavily on your shoulders. > [@](#): > > (to the tune of ‘Here we go gathering nuts in May’) I suspect that nuts gather in May only in England. In the United States the tune “Buffalo Gals Won’t You Come Out Tonight” works equally well. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/59 "2006-03-31T04:47:21Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > … there’s the confusion that is being caused to posters who’ve wandered into the Pit unwittingly from MPSIMS and can’t make head nor tail of it, … There is, of course, a not insignificant subset of Dopers who find that the Pit makes sense and MPSIMS is bewildering. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379/60 "2006-03-31T04:52:24Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > There is, of course, a not insignificant subset of Dopers who find that the Pit makes sense and MPSIMS is bewildering. Man o man, you can say that again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pitting-used-to-suffice-now-you-got-to-get-yourself-suspended-to-count-around-here/350379.md?page=4)