Well, C3 made a brave, albeit foolhardy, foray to try to talk sense into the very people who enjoy the BBQ Pit–marching directly into the hornet’s nest as it were, wildly waving both hands to get attention–and ended up looking like the “after picture” of Saint Sebastian. (All this reminds me of when I lived in Richmond, and one day came across a park monument to a Virginia military regiment. Included in the list of its campaigns was “Pickett’s Charge”.)
The Straight Dope Message Board has been compared to a restaurant, and I think of the BBQ Pit as the restaurant’s broken bathroom–the one with the overflowing toilet. And while the vast majority of customers sensibly head toward the other end of the establishment, or at least move upwind, a select group–god help them–for some reason seem drawn to the stink.
I’ve also wondered why, as a commercial establishment, the Chicago Reader doesn’t do everything possible to discourage BBQ postings. Are there advertisers out there who review the SDMB, see the BBQ Pit, and say “There–that’s the kind of consumer we’re interested in! People who don’t watch TV because ‘the Jerry Springer show is too intellectual’, and who go to the zoo because they ‘like to watch the gorillas throw feces at each other.’” As Lynn noted, some time back Ed Zotti himself personally endorsed the BBQ Pit, so unless there’s been a change of heart, or some Higher Entity intervenes–CECIL! HEAR OUR FERVENT PLEA!–it’s not going anywhere. Still, I don’t think it would hurt if the SDMB did more to dissuade people from congregating there, for example: “WARNING–This Forum is populated by losers trying to impress other losers. Expressly maintained for the kind of people who can’t count to eleven without taking their shoes off.” Or maybe, like exiled smokers, make them post in the rain and cold, from terminals placed outside the building.
Of course, we might convince the BBQ Pit fans of the errors of their ways by setting a good example–posting such fascinating missives in the other forums that they longer can imagine wasting their time and efforts in the BBQ Pit. And people who did post in the BBQ Pit would find that nobody was interested in their scribblings, because everyone else was too busy participating in the other forums. Yeah, right–ah, sweet mysteries of life…
Anyway, to end on a lighter note, I’m sure that one thing we can all agree on is the importance of buying as many Straight Dope books as possible, for family, friends and perhaps even total stangers. ALL HAIL UNCLE CECIL!
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