# Does anyone else avoid The Pit or GD? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 30, 2006, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294 "2006-11-30T05:45:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/1 "2006-11-30T05:45:57Z")
I do, and I feel like a total wimp. (And, oddly, though I’ve read a thread or two in The Pit, I’ve never read anything in GB.) My husband is a very smart and very angry person. In the entirety of our married life (28 years), I’v either been listening to him vituperatively ranting about whatever (sotto voce, in another room – it’s creepy as hell) or have been listening to a milder form of his rant in which he asks, “Don’t you agree?” or “Am I wrong about this?” Over the years, I’ve learned that agreeing and disagreeing seem to fuel the fire equally. I’m a witty, engaging, intelligent person. I have strongly-held beliefs. But anger and a demand to respond on the spot make me clam up. I feel like I’m a wiimp for not wanting to engage in battle. Does anyone else feel that way? ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/2 "2006-11-30T06:00:12Z")
G **B** 😕😉 I only lurk in the Pit. I sometimes lurk in GD and GQ but most of the time I hang out only at CS, IMO, MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/3 "2006-11-30T06:09:48Z")
[QUOTE=DataZak] G **B** 😕😉 I only lurk in the Pit. I sometimes lurk in GD and GQ but most of the time I hang out only at CS, IMO, MPSIMS. [/QUOTE] I’m the same. I rarely get anything useful or interesting from GD (its mostly just tedious…mostly). The Pit can be absolutely hilarious though. 😃 Love GQ and CS. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/4 "2006-11-30T06:14:38Z")
I used to be scared to post in GD, but not so much any more. The Pit, on the other hand, is why I joined the board in the first place, and is the first forum I check when I log in. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/5 "2006-11-30T06:19:30Z")
Once in a long while I go in there (GD). But there only seem to be a couple dozen GD arguments, just reworded over and over. And they’re all of the abortion/gay rights/creationism/ pseudoscience/ environmentalism/ military/gun-ownership variety where no one–in the history of the universe–has ever convinced anyone on the other side that they’re right. So I generally avoid it, even to the point of ceasing to participate in a thread I was a former member of if I notice it’s been moved. The pit? Never. I rarely even browse the headlines. If I want to listen to a bunch of people insult each other, I can visit a kindergarten (although they’d probably call the police about the strange middle-aged guy hanging around the kindergarteners.) I’m as opinionated as they come, but I don’t see the point of arguing with folks who, by and large, aren’t listening. ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/6 "2006-11-30T06:24:26Z")
[QUOTE=TimeWinder] Once in a long while I go in there (GD). But there only seem to be a couple dozen GD arguments, just reworded over and over. And they’re all of the abortion/gay rights/creationism/ pseudoscience/ environmentalism/ military/gun-ownership variety where no one–in the history of the universe–has ever convinced anyone on the other side that they’re right. So I generally avoid it, even to the point of ceasing to participate in a thread I was a former member of if I notice it’s been moved. The pit? Never. I rarely even browse the headlines. If I want to listen to a bunch of people insult each other, I can visit a kindergarten (although they’d probably call the police about the strange middle-aged guy hanging around the kindergarteners.) I’m as opinionated as they come, but I don’t see the point of arguing with folks who, by and large, aren’t listening. [/QUOTE] Well said. I happen to love just reading the headlines in the Pit (always good for a belly-laugh). But other than that I couldn’t agree more. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/7 "2006-11-30T06:54:40Z")
[QUOTE=TimeWinder] Once in a long while I go in there (GD). But there only seem to be a couple dozen GD arguments, just reworded over and over. And they’re all of the abortion/gay rights/creationism/ pseudoscience/ environmentalism/ military/gun-ownership variety where no one–in the history of the universe–has ever convinced anyone on the other side that they’re right. So I generally avoid it, even to the point of ceasing to participate in a thread I was a former member of if I notice it’s been moved. The pit? Never. I rarely even browse the headlines. If I want to listen to a bunch of people insult each other, I can visit a kindergarten (although they’d probably call the police about the strange middle-aged guy hanging around the kindergarteners.) I’m as opinionated as they come, but I don’t see the point of arguing with folks who, by and large, aren’t listening. [/QUOTE] Amen. Also, I find GD posts pretty quickly devolve into the same cast of characters hashing over the same issues again and again and ignoring other posters. PosterA hates PosterB and they just follow each other around the GD nitpicking each other to death. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/8 "2006-11-30T06:59:36Z")
The thing that kind of bores me about GD is not only are they the same arguments, but a lot of Great Debates are fought between a whopping two people for 99% of the thread. Seriously, I’ll keep scrolling down, hoping somebody other then the two posters has something to add. Pit threads can be fun to read, but writing pit threads is tricky. It is REALLY easy to have a pit thread blow up in your face, and have everybody else make you feel like a total idiot. Being ‘immensely pissed off’ about something can often be felt as simply being ‘whiny’ by other people. ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/9 "2006-11-30T07:05:37Z")
[QUOTE=Incubus] Pit threads can be fun to read, but writing pit threads is tricky. It is REALLY easy to have a pit thread blow up in your face, and have everybody else make you feel like a total idiot. Being ‘immensely pissed off’ about something can often be felt as simply being ‘whiny’ by other people. [/QUOTE] Or be found to be “not worthy of a pitting” as if there is an objective scale that the topic can be judged upon. I thought it was just a place to gripe. The value being the eloquence of the complaint. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/10 "2006-11-30T07:24:40Z")
[QUOTE=freckafree] I’m a witty, engaging, intelligent person. I have strongly-held beliefs. But anger and a demand to respond on the spot make me clam up. [/QUOTE] On the spot? This is a message board. You’ve got all day if you like. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/11 "2006-11-30T07:40:50Z")
[QUOTE=BBS2000] I may lurk in GD every once in awhile. [/QUOTE] But once you get to page five and every other post resembles this I can’t take it anymore. [QUOTE=Sweets2K] By the time it gets to be like this I don’t even care about what the two people are arguing about, and more than likely they’ve strayed from the entire point of the OP. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Sweetums] Oh, and I have started threads in GD, but mostly I create the thread, give my feelings on the subject, and then sit back to see what some other members think. [/QUOTE] I guess I could start those threads in IMHO. But sometime due to the content of the question, it feels more like a [debate](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=388108) rather than opinion. [QUOTE=BBStwothousand] So in closing: rant rant rant rant rant rant rant! [/QUOTE] Retort retort retort! ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/12 "2006-11-30T07:46:36Z")
I have never been to the pit. If I want to argue and spew insults and have everyone ignore what I have to say or tell me how wrong I am I can call my parents and try to debate politics. I don’t need it from other people too. I would rather come here to ask advice, read funny stories about other people’s lives, and discuss things that I find interesting than get into an online fight with someone I’ve never met before. I know I have said things that have pissed off other dopers and I know other dopers have said things that piss me off too. No need to slam one another, we just go about our merry way and agree to disagree. (Unless, of course, they are starting pit threads about me that I don’t know about since I never go in there. And if they are what does it matter? I never see it so it doesn’t effect me.) ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/13 "2006-11-30T08:09:41Z")
I think that is one of the reasons I like this board; they split those two into their own section. The PIT is sometimes fun if the rant is, well, less than serious - but when taking on serious topic, the bile spilled there actually turns my screen green. In addition, people will take a word or phrase, nitpick to the point of absurdity, and beat that dead horse into the ground. GD seems to attract people who have hours of time to research a subject and post 138 links and quotes in one response…some of those debates get so long winded, even with just a few responses, they are on page 14. Granted, I have started a few, just to get some idea of how Dopers feel about a subject - but I think I have had more success in starting a similar thread in this section. At any rate, am quite happy to see that those types of threads are kept separate from other threads…I don’t appreciate being called a fuckin’asshole because I thought a film was good, or my recipe for mac and cheese is different than yours. I prefer wit over vitriol. I will, however, probably succumb to a few visits to the Pit during the 2008 elections, but am not looking forward to it. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/14 "2006-11-30T08:32:22Z")
Cafe Society, IMHO and MPSIM only. Sometimes visit the pit, but for reasons given above in may posts don’t feel inclined to contribute. I think I have once in five years. I don’t feel wimpish about it, the articles that I find wittier and amusing are more often found in the sections I visit. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/15 "2006-11-30T09:06:05Z")
Sometimes I wind up in GD when not paying attention to a response and where it’s headed. When I see my mistake, I just “tip-toe” silently back out so as not to disturb the “Heads”. 🙂 Q ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/16 "2006-11-30T10:42:49Z")
I do my best to avoid GB. They have ugly teeth there. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/17 "2006-11-30T10:45:15Z")
I don’t ever read GD. I lurk a lot in the pit and sometimes post. For some reason I love to read about really stupid (pittable) things people do to/in front of other people. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/18 "2006-11-30T11:21:28Z")
[QUOTE=TimeWinder] …But there only seem to be a couple dozen GD arguments, just reworded over and over. And they’re all of the abortion/gay rights/creationism/ pseudoscience/ environmentalism/ military/gun-ownership variety where no one–in the history of the universe–has ever convinced anyone on the other side that they’re right… [/QUOTE] Ah, you missed this thread, where I persuaded a convinced ‘remote viewer’ that he was wrong. It took a year…: > **[An SDMB test of astral projection](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=226916)** > > In this thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=225958 cityboy91 has made an interesting and important claim - that he can astrally project, and thereby remote view something he could not see directly. (He has also... ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/19 "2006-11-30T11:33:08Z")
This thread is refreshing. I thought I was the only one who felt this way. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294/20 "2006-11-30T11:57:36Z")
Never even go into GD; keep an eye on the Pit, but don’t read much of it and rarely post. (And how the hell have you managed to stay married to someone that angry? I’ve never made it past the third date with someone with that much rage.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-avoid-the-pit-or-gd/382294.md?page=2)