Giraffe’s link goes to page 1 of the pit. So I scrolled down, listed all threads from the beginning and jumped to the easy-to-reach page numbered 51. It covered the 4/24/2008-5/20/2008 era of paint-peeling attacks, blistering criticism and pointed rebuttals. Among those mentioned in the pit titles were the members/guests Boyo Jim (?!), 2.5 inches, lekatt, Shagnasty, Shodan, and of course Der Trihs. It wouldn’t be the pit without Der. Also, the politicians/celebrities John McCain, Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, James Carville, Paul Krugman and one President Dumbass were listed. The word “Fuck” came up 17 times in the titles.
I counted 10 threads out of a total of 150 directed at TPTB, such as they are. Here they are:
Then I went to bed.
And on Sunday he rested, no wait…
Ok, so what’s the baseline? I’ve alleged a shift in Pit behavior but I should note that Giraffe hasn’t disagreed with that nor have TPTB complained about those changes. Rather Marley et al maintained that the level of obnoxiousness directed at the mods was unacceptable, which is an absolute standard. Nonetheless, I’m interested in whether my recollections are supportable so I’ll include a control group.
Control group
Page 233 covers the 4/21/2001-5/8/2001 golden era of astute observation and calm expression in the BBQ Pit. There were 18 fucks, or actually 20 fucks but one title had 3 of them. Interesting thread titles include, What have you been called on this board?, When Czarcasm Becomes Invective, Where has all the decorum gone? (about retail interaction). I could only find 3 threads that referenced moderators (judging from titles and mouse-overs). Here they are:
The first deployed sarcasm against the moderator Alphagene who had written to the OP the following:
Yup, that was written by a moderator. Nobody but the OP seemed to mind. The thread contained 20 posts, all taking the side of the mods except for the OP himself.
The second was a Valentine to Lynn Bodini for changing, “…the status on all of Mark’s sock puppets to “Just another Serlin””.
The third involved Czarcasm, written by a former but highly prolific poster. Hey, I just report 'em. The first 3 posts not by the OP took the mod’s side. The OP then decided to let things slide in post 6. Czarcasm comes in to note that it’s his first pit thread (and it won’t be his last, bwahahaha). Czarcasm and the OP then discuss the existence or non-existence of magic(k). Post 32 was interesting:
That was directed at another poster, not the OP. Pretty civil stuff. In the pit! Admittedly that contribution was by an usually thoughtful poster.
Anyway, yeah, there was a shift in tone. I may have miscounted but by my estimate the score is 10-0. Those wishing to chum through the 10 mod-related threads from 2008 are welcome. The above analysis most probably contains unintentional inaccuracies. Note for example that I didn’t dig into the 2008 mod related threads. I welcome further systematic investigation.
What caused this shift? Hard to say, but I see it as a natural evolution: poster obnoxiousness and inaccuracy is inversely proportional to accountability. Also Gresham’s law: voluminous bad posting drives out the good. Those who argue for tolerance generally don’t like to repeat their point or their case a thousand times, unlike the meisters of snark.