Well said FCM.
Do so! You’ve earned it!
And don’t feel like you need to read it, either. Nothing else really needs to be said about it, except that it’s more of the same (After while, it’s enough that blood is flowing. Whose doesn’t matter.)
Hear-hear, Scotticher!
:raises a toast to Scotticher:
I agree with everything you’ve said Scotticher.
There are many Dopers I hold in high regard and you are one of them.
It’s also nice to see quite a few of the others that I think highly of have posted in this thread too.
**Scotti ** you? Not popular?..au contraire…frommage and yogurt too! You are the embodiment of niceness and decency.
Level headed commonsense is a commodity in this day and age.
You are an asset to this board, to DopeKind.
And now to put a song in your head
Don’t Go Chaaaaanging…to try to please me…
I’ve also been pretty shocked by some of the fighting that’s been going on, lately… I stop reading those threads as soon as I realize what they’re about, because it makes me sad. I want everyone to love everyone else, and I realize that’s a pretty unrealistic attitude, but a girl’s gotta have dreams, right?
Let’s hope peace prevails.
BTW - Nice thread, Scotti - well thought out, nicely presented, and a good change from all the screaming and yelling that’s been going on in other threads.
Hugs and kisses to all,
Kn*ckers
Hear, hear, Scotticher!
Reading the three threads mentioned here has made me very sad. It’s been an ugly week overall, and I’m very disappointed with some of my fellow Dopers, who have revealed a petty and vicious side of themselves I never suspected.
It would be nice if everyone would try to remember that there are real human beings behind these user names, that the SDMB is an extremely important part of many Doper’s lives, and that what we say here can cause a great deal of pain to others.
I’ve had a couple of requests to make this thread sticky, so I will.
Lynn
Amen, Scotti, You put exactly what I’ve felt reading, in most cases not being able to get through, those threads. I read them, wanting to understand what goes on here, because it’s a place I care about. The past few days, I wonder why there seems to be more beserkity than usual. There are the occassional eloquent voices of Polycarp and TomandDebb. I relish their evenminded posts.
What comes to mind as a possible reason is that it is a reflection of tough times in the Real World. The war drums in the background, people losing jobs, the basic tone of insecurity in the world now, are pushing people to the breaking point. It’s easy to snap when the whole shebang seems to be headed toward disaster. It’s nice to come to this place at the end of the day (in my case), and find a lot of great input from some fine minds. Perhaps we should keep in the forefront of our thoughts that every person who posts here has the intricacy of issues in their own life, in a time that, at least, seems fearful and unsettled. The easy response is to lash out and get your angry yayas out. That is ignorance, because it just continues an ever-going cycle of anger; even if apologies are made, it damages not only the parties immediately involved, but also those who care and witness the event. It damages the entire community, in ways that aren’t immediately apparent.
I’ve enjoyed reading Pit threads as a place to let off steam, and have used that forum a couple of times for a catharsis. But, does it have to be a plaza for a public stockade ? Before any of us lash out at another, perhaps that image is a good one. You are dragging someone out into a public place for judgement, subject to all the rotten vegetables and spit that may ensue. Sounds medieval to me, and the quality of mind that makes this place a haven should be beyond that.
I applaud Scotti and heartily endorse what she said.
And kudos to Lynn for sticky-ifying this thread.
Well, I’ll nominate myself Head Asshole and be the voice of dissention. I’ll also keep it short and to the point (first person to make the obvious dick joke can be Vice Head Asshole).
Have some of the threads recently been ugly clusterfucks? Sure. But you know what? It’s not like it’s never happened before. This is the Pit, not fucking Romper Room. You’d have a point if people were calling each other 72-point CUNTS in ATMB. But the Pit? I come here because I want to see insults, obscenities, pile-ons, name-calling, and all the other stupid shit. I want my vicarious thrill. I love when I see someone call someone else a diseased whale cock, especially when the point of contention is so minor. I like my vicarious thrill, so fuck all y’all who want to take that away from me.
And making this thread a sticky?? Man, I hate using the rolleyes smiley; it’s so played. So insert it here if such is your wont. How is it that announcements of graduations, births, marriages, and other flowery and much more important shit never gets stickied, but a “Place nice” does? If it’s going to be official Board policy to play nice, then get rid of the Pit. But don’t clutter up my source of onanistic violence.
Honestly, if you can’t stand the heat, get the fuck out of the kitchen and quit yer bitchin’.
Quix the Head Asshole
Nothing happened to it. The dope is a microcosm of RL in that way. Sad? Maybe. True? Definitely.
Dear Quix…
I love you dearly, but you are wrong in this instance. In my opinion.
You can get all the vicarious thrills you need to get (should you wish to, which I don’t understand, but then that is the nature of life…and if you get a thrill from it then farbeit from me to suggest that you shouldn’t) in pit threads that are about things that are worth people actually getting nasty about.
All this thread is suggesting is that people try to limit their vitriol to things that really matter.
Sorry if you don’t agree. Sorry if it offends you that I should suggest that people could maybe use some discretion in what makes them act differently than who they really are. Sorry if I am trying to limit the fun you get from seeing people lose their temper and say things they might regret in the morning. Sorry if it offends you that some people think that maybe it is a good idea to save their venom for people who really deserve it.
Sorry I ruined your day by suggesting a bit of courtesy was in order in our dealings with each other.
My Love,
Cheri
I don’t mean to sound snide, and I hope you don’t take it as such. I’m perfectly capable of divorcing my feelings towards you (which are rather high) from any disagreement I might have with you, and I think you’re capable of the same. That said:
There’s only one group of people who gets to decide what’s “worth people” getting nasty about, and that’s the Mods. Not you.
That point aside, there’s a difference between everyone railing on Child Abusing Scum of the Week #17 and PosterX tearing into PosterY. The latter provides the interaction and dialogue, often nasty, that the former just lacks. If it’s not your cup of tea, hey, more power to you. I just don’t think you should able to take my cup away from me, via cajoling, peer pressure, or anything else.
Cheri, I’m all for courtesy. Just not here.
There’s a certain amount of vigor in the phrase, “All right, PosterX, since this is GD, and I want to obey the rules, I’ll see you here in the Pit.” You see that phrase, and you KNOW the gloves are off. It’s blood-spillin’ time.
You not only want the gloves to stay on, you want to make the posters pull their punches, too.
I think that’s ridiculous. What purpose would the Pit serve if it’s just an extension of GD, MPSIMS, IMHO, or what have you, where courtesy is King who rules His realm with an Iron Fist of Doom, and tea and crumpets are served promptly at 4? The Pit is here precisely to give a place to say things you can’t say elsewhere.
I said it earlier, and it bears reiterating. If you don’t like the Pit, stay away! Don’t attempt to ruin a forum simply because of your sensibilities.
Mike
Furthermore, I and I think almost everyone can stand the heat in this kitchen just fine. But I would prefer to see that heat coming from something cooking, NOT from a random fire.
And if you have a problem with births, graduations and etcetera not being “stickied”, take it up with the mods in MPSIMS…where these celebrations occur.
Lynn “stickied” this, I assume, in an attempt to damp the “random fires” in this kitchen.
Is this now the law of the land, then?
My point is that unless the official policy of the SDMB is now going to be lolloypops and love in the pit, we don’t need a house mother telling us to “play nice now”, thats what the Mods are for.( This is NOT directed at Scotti personally. I like Scotti. I just think this thread is misguided) All posters involved in the linked threads are adults, with the freedom to post and respond as they see fit, and will be judged by other posters on the content of those posts and how they present themselves. If you think someone is overreacting, or acting badly, and you have a relationship with that person, then email them with your concerns, they prolly need a friend more than a chapherone anyway. Anyone else? You reaps, you sews, you lives, you learns. Do you honestly think it’s better with Stepford Wife smiles on the surface and repressed, simmering issues and dislike underneith? That’s too much like chat for my taste.
I say, treat people as adults, let them do as they will ( even meltdown ) as long as they don’t break the rules, and let the chips fall where they may. We all have to live with the consequences of our actions, and we need to learn that here as well as “IRL”. If you pop off, people will treat you acordingly and judge you as well. It’s all part of being an adult.
Honey, I am not attempting to “ruin” the forum that is the pit. I expect that the pit will toddle along just fine the way it is. I was just suggesting that people think about choosing their battles in terms of using their venom for things that deserve it. That people THINK about whether or not their vitriol is justified in the thread they are posting to. That’s all.
I just think that sometimes people spout off without realizing that there are real people on the other end of the line…and in terms they wouldn’t use if they had said people in the same room with them. Some people have posted here to say that they are sorry they “went off” in the threads I linked to …some people have emailed me to say the same thing. I am not judging this, or them…it isn’t my place to do so. I am just asking all of us to THINK about it before we go off flaming someone. That is really all I can, or SHOULD, ask of anyone.
Oh give me a fucking break. I completely agree with quixotic. I saw this thread as soon as it was opened but I didn’t bother posting because I figured it was way too trite and contrived for anyone to give it anymore than a rolleyes. Now it’s sticky?!!
Let me say that I don’t know you at all Scotticher. I’ve probably seen your posts before but just not noticed the username. I have heard people talk about you and I know you’re well liked around here. I have never had anything against you and I still don’t but this thread is fucking bullshit.
First of all it’s been done before. Ad naseum.
Second of all it’s in the wrong forum. I know another doper that we all wuv was recently pitted for trying to be a junior mod and the last thing I ever try to do around here is act like a mod but this is blatantly in the wrong fucking forum. If you posted it here you were obviously thinking in a bbq-pit mindset but if it bothers you so bad then why do you come here? I set foot in the place extremely rarely until a couple of months ago and all the board arguements went flying right over my head. You simply don’t catch them in GQ or the Cafe or MPSIMS.
Third of all this thread is just goddamn lame.
And yes, before someone feels the need to point it out, that is the best arguement I can come up with. The thread is lame and appears to have been started in the OP’s self-intrest.
On preview - Weirddave is better with words than me (or maybe just more level headed.) I really don’t mean to come off like such an asshole but my eyes are rolling right out of my head just thinking about this thread and its past counterparts.
Tolerance and Understanding as a sticky in the Pit. Huh. Fuck, the Pit is the only place that hypersensitive and overreacting board members can come to hash out their meaningless personal arguments, and now you want Tolerance and Understanding. Whee.
A thread asking for tolerance and understanding is turning into a flame-fest? Only in the Pit! 
Esprix