My post was based on frustration (I had just been trying to eat salad). I admit it probably can be classed as a joke thread (and In hindisght it was a stupid) thread. I think the mods just saw that it had (in small doses) a hint of genuine pitworthiness.
P.S. I wouldn’t call me a more experienced poster than you, you’ve been here 2 years longer than me. I still think of myself as the newbie troll with stupid thread ideas encrotching on this community of intelligent, wise, and witty people.
:eek:
I think I meant ‘Encroaching’. (honest)
Are we still looking for the definition of ‘troll’?
I am far from an authority on this, so I think we should just throw definitions up and then run with the consensus.
Here’s my stab at it:
Troll - A post (or the person who made the post) which is the equivalent of yelling “Fire” in a crowded theater when there is no fire, in other words, an irrational act designed to provoke shock and chaos. Much like the person in front of me at the grocery store who insists on paying with exact change that has not been pre-counted, all this while my Ben and Jerry’s sits melting sadly on the conveyor.
DLee
Hmmm. Apparently picking fights with all the goddamn motherfucking son-of-a-bitches is an illegal form of catharsis/entertainment.
Perhaps I created a “joke thread”?
If I were to specify some number of goddamn motherfucking son-of-a-bitches on whom/who I wished to vent a little spleen, and the conversation were to devolve into the public display of profane snarkiness I was more-or-less shooting for, would that be illegal?
I do want to play by the rules. So very much.
But, when one is in one of those “moods”, I pit the human race just lacks spunk or pizzaz, IMO. Nor does it attain the commensurate crudity we all so richly deserve.
My, my, it is hard to put it all into words. I guess I’ll just quit while I’m behind.
I’m still figuring out some of the finer points of being a Doper, and I’m not sure if my question really belongs here or in ATMB, but here goes: is pitting a fellow Doper considered a big deal?
I saw a thread by someone in another part of the SDMB that really bugged me: the poster was whiny, insulting, etc., and I just want to tell him/her to get over themselves already. But if I start a thread on it here, would the other Dopers be thinking “Ooooooh, Misnomer’s pitting so-and-so…?” (Or worse, “WTF is Misnomer’s problem?”) Should I only pit others in response to direct, personal attacks, or is it acceptable to invite someone to the BBQ for minor, annoying stuff?
Oh yeah, I should probably add that the person who annoyed me is a Guest, not a registered Doper. In case there are different rules for them. Are guests fair game?
Everybody’s fair game. Pit whoever you want, whenever you want. But if your reasons for pitting them are weak (from the completely arbitrary points of view of the pit denizens) then don’t be surprised if the thread turns on you.
If you’re being genuine, and they were being dorks, go for it.
I dunno about that. I wouldn’t try to pit a message board or another member over a real life incident if I were you.
Is that a new rule I’ve missed? Pitting other boards has happened fairly often, and is usally fine unless you name the board or start a board war. Pitting other members over real life happens too, remember the mooch thread?
I don’t know if it’s a rule or not, but I’ve seen enough of these comments by the admins/mods to know not to do it.
Huh. Perhaps that should be added to the rules, if it is indeed policy. I think “if you have a beef in your real offline relationship with another Doper, keep it offline” is a bit off, since most offline relationships with dopers are spawned via the dope, and thus grandfathered within the jurisdiction of dopeness.
Plus, pitting doper wives/husbands has a long and noble tradition. Some of the greatest pit threads ever have been pitting other dopers for real world activities.
Thanks, Wikkit.
Were you replying to my post, or to Wikkit’s “everybody’s fair game” comment? If the former, I can assure you that I know better than to involve another board (I’ve seen enough of those messages, too) or to pit someone publically for something that happened privately.
Both of your replies make me think that maybe I wasn’t clear enough about something: I have not posted at all in the thread that has annoyed me. I thought about it, but I realized that all I wanted to do was tell the person who started it to grow up, and it wasn’t the appropriate forum for that kind of talk. So here I am.
I just wanted to find out if pitting folks is usually reserved for people who have said/done something to me, or if I can just randomly pit someone because I think they’re being ridiculous. I’m not afraid of being pitted in return if folks don’t agree with me, but, while I like to think that I’ve read enough threads here to have a decent grasp of how this place works, I don’t want to break some kind of unwritten rule or anything. 
Of course, the more time that passes the less I feel the urge to pit the person in question, but I’m sure if I were to go back and re-read the thread it would come back to me. 
I was replying to Wikkit.
And yet, the pit rules have not changed since January.
I was recently pitted and I must say the experience wasn’t altogether unpleasurable as a personal or emotional event. The pit is a healthy place for people to vent their anger and frustration, and helps keeping fair discussion separated from venomous pithy.
But at least in this particular case, it didn’t turn out well - the original thread was sucked into the pit thread and an enormous mess ensued, in which pitting and fair discussion could no longer be separated and the original discussion thread was abandoned.
I would therefore humbly suggest that in future, moderators will see to it that the pit remains full of furious anger, hatred, frustration and all those other great qualities that we humans need to periodically dispose of, but that fair discussion of the original subject matter be left in its proper thread.
In many cases, though, that would require a mod to open the Pit thread, something which they rarely seem to do.
It would be better if people simply behaved themselves in the original thread, opening a related Pit thread as needed. In the cases of extremelt emotional hijacks, perhaps they could close it for a while, admonishing us to open a Pitting, and then reopen the original thread to rational discussion, carefully watching it so no more hijacks occur.
Of course, that idea might be hard to implement, too, but either idea, Arwin’s or mine, would save the original thread form the ultimate flaming death which often happens in the Pit.
OTOH, I have seen more reasonable debate in certain Pit threads than in a month’s worth of GD.
What does the Admin think?
Generally speaking, Mods are prohibited from opening Pit Threads. We had a very unpleasant situation a while back, in consequence we decided Mods should NOT be opening Pit threads. There are a few exceptions permitted, as always, but I suspect the over-all prohibition is a good one.
I think, unless I’m very much mistaken, you’ve misread NCB’s post. He’s saying it doesn’t seem that the staff reads Pit threads, which you took to mean as starting Pit threads.
If I’m wrong, either your post or NCB’s is confusing to me.
Sorry. What I meant by open was OP. Starting one. Concerning which Dex explained quite well.
My main popint was, instead of locking down threads or moving them to the PIT, the original threads should remain OPEN and WHERE THEY ARE so that further rational discussion may take place.
This would mean keeping a closer eye on them, and admonishing the posters that they should open a Pit thread for their heated grievances, so the original thread can continue without needless hijack.
Of course, like we’ve seen recently, some posters apparantly have no idea whether they are in ATMB or the Pit.
Well fine then, have it your way. 