I think a voluntary ban would be nice…I don’t go into the Pit much at all, but its a nice idea to think that for once no one would be ranting or bitching about anything in there… I would hope that the rest of the SDMB community feels that way, and the Pit has a nice slow day on September 11th, but I wouldn’t outright close it up.
DDG, I don’t think peope don’t GET the symbolism - they just don’t happen to assign that much value to the closure of the Pit for a day.
I think the voluntary closure isn’t a bad idea, although I think that some people will want to rant anyway considering the emotions that are going to come up that day. It’s certainly not going to be a happy day so maybe the Pit will be the place to bitch and moan about it all and get those feelings out.
Personally, if we’re going for symbolism, I’d prefer the “moment of silence” to extend to the board itself: no posting at all at 8:46am EST for that minute. Voluntarily, of course.
As one might expect, getting the Dope crew to agree on something remains an elusive target.
I’m inclined to agree with the general sentiments of Crusoe and Billdo, although I certainly appreciate reprise’s motivation. A voluntary moratorium on Pit posting is unenforcable, and quite a few might find their emotions roiling and in need of expression come next Tuesday.
Possibly the best approach is for those who care to observe the day by foregoing the Pit to do so, without expecting that all will follow suite. While I’m not religious, I respect the observances of those who are; every Ash Wednesday I am visually reminded of those in my neighborhood who are true to the tenets of their beliefs. More power to 'em for being so.
Perhaps those so inclined can adopt a sig-for-the-day that informs other readers of their observance of a Pit-free day.
It’s nice to think that for a day, and for this reason, we could put aside everything that pisses us off and focus on strengthening our online community. I think it’s a noble goal, and it’s certainly possible to attain. But I don’t think it can happen this way.
While I see the symbolism, I don’t think the gesture will be effective. Shutting down the Pit won’t lead us to put aside anything and feel closer to anyone. Sept. 11 or not, our bosses, co-workers, fellow drivers, politicians, neighbors, roommates, SOs, mechanical devices, and forces of nature will still piss us off. All that will change is that we won’t be able to post about them.
Petty stuff? Sure. But for some it’s a lot closer to home and of greater significance to them than a one-year observation of a tragedy that did not touch them as deeply as it did everyone else.
They are only as insensitive as you are for imposing your values onto them.
For those who don’t want to see any ranting on Sept. 11, why take away the ability of your fellow posters to rant and take part in Pit threads? Why not just ignore the Pit on that day? I find it more appropriate to dub it a “voluntary ban” that way. Because unless you support the proposal as it is now, there’s nothing voluntary about it.
Slacktavism.
I’m not sure I agree that closing the Pit for a day is “imposing values” on anyone. That said, I think I was too hasty in agreeing with the OP. It’s a well-intended idea, though.
I guess I’d just like to see less hatred and mudslinging for one day. Of course, I could just not go in there myself. 
It would be presumptuous to the nth degree to presume others should, too.
Why don’t we just shut down the whole board? 9/11 showed us that there are more important things than a message board, so we might as well close the whole thing.
Or we could leave everything alone, and let people do (or not do) as they see fit. Shutting down a forum will do a lot of things, but binding in solidarity isn’t one of them. It’s a very emotional day, and some of those emotions are going to be negative ones. There’s no reason to keep people from expressing them.
Is it even possible to lock an entire forum without also killing all its threads?
It was only a suggestion folks.
Quite obviously, it was a bad suggestion.
Can a mod/admin please close this thread.
It wasn’t a bad suggestion at all. It was a very good one. It’s just that some people had other ideas too.
Don’t be downhearted; I think it’s a very touching idea, even if I’m not 100% behind it.
Uh-huh. It can be done. If you look at the page with the forum listings, you’ll see an icon at the bottom for “Locked Forum,” I believe. Not that it’s been done here before…
You know, more and more I like the idea of making it a voluntary thing. A thread asking people not to post to the Pit on 9/11 as a symbolic gesture if they so desire would be nice - no coersion, and people can go ahead and post anyway if they want to get something off their chest.
Not a bad suggestion at all, reprise. Just one of those things that this group of people, diverse and opinionated as they are, won’t agree on. It’s actually been helpful, as an indication of what people think would be a good “staff” attitude towards 9/11. But it looks like the concensus is more towards “let people decide for themselves” than towards “let’s close the Pit for everyone that day”.
At your request, I’m closing this thread.