Does anyone else avoid The Pit or GD?

In My Humble Opinion
81

I spend a lot of time in GD, although I don’t think I’ve ever posted there. Of particular interest are debates regarding foreign policy, since my knowledge of the subject is somewhat lacking. As long as the thread doesn’t devolve into pedantic nitpicking (usually involving two or three posters quibbling over semantics), I keep reading.

I have plenty of opinions on other topics, but I usually don’t feel the need to defend myself, probably because I don’t have the kind of strong emotional attachments to my beliefs that I think is crucial to being a good debater.

Besides, somebody invariably jumps in who can summarize my position much better than I can, and I feel that chiming in would only be redundant.

I also lurk in the Pit and occasionally post there for kicks, although I don’t believe I’ve ever started a Pit thread. Some of the rants can be quite clever and amusing.

GQ, CS, and IMHO are the forums that consume most of my time.

82

I read them all, but only post to CS, IMHO, and MPSIMS, and very, very rarely stick my fluffy, pink, MPSIMS ass in the Pit. I’m not fond of having my posterier bit, and as someone with a very weak debating style, I prefer to read and learn there more than I like to speak up. Vitriol aside, the Pit has some truly awesome debates. I come away with a new view on things quite often. Though this is true for all forums at times, the Pit has been the most enlightening. I am young and naive still; the Pit is like a sputtering, cussing old man, who will readily tell me his opinion on everything under the sun as long as I don’t mind tobacco juice in my eye when he gets riled up.

83

I very rarely open GD. Just about every thread turns into blah, blah, blah after about 4 posts. When I do go in I don’t usually find any threads that I want to read.

I check out the pit just about everytime I come on. Frequently I don’t find any threads that I have any interest in but more often than GD. I have no trouble posting if I have something to add.

84

I acidentally made another thread pretty much the same as this and I didn’t even know this one was happening. Someone linked to it for me. Duh.
I only stick in CS and GQ. Rarely do I go to IMHO and MPSIMS. I’ve only gone to the pit a few times and almost never hit GD. Although I do love debates and rants, I’m not smart enough to stick my nose out in there.

85

Usually when I post it is in Cafe Society, IMHO, or MPSIMS. I feel better qualified to post there. I do read the PIT regularly, but rarely read GD. It’s just the way I am. If I am in a debate or argument, I like to have the last word. :smiley:

86

Just add me to the pile of posters who primarily hang out in CS, IMHO and MPSIMS. GD doesn’t lend itself to fast done-during-work reads, which is when I hang out on the SDMB - and I tend to think that most folks’ minds can’t be changed via message board exchanges, unless it is a very long discource, which violates my quick-check-at-work approach.

As for the Pit - I enjoy it, but tend not to be a poster. I am old school - I would never discuss anything on line that couldn’t end up on a headline somewhere, and I try to treat people as graciously as I can, since in most ways here on the SDMB, we are strangers bumping into each other on line. As a result, I doubt I do anything pit-worthy and would likely never Pit anyone…although sometimes it can be fun to see people get their just desserts!

87

Is that old school? That’s my rule of thumb, too. I know people who like to bare their deepest, darkest secrets on message boards, and that just doesn’t seem like a good idea to me. I’ve probably posted too much already here, even with trying to keep it somewhat circumspect.

88

Do you think that when any of the GDer’s accidently wander over to MPSIMS they wonder to themselves, “Christ, they’re still just talking about cats over here! Cats!?”

89

Changing people’s minds is a lofty goal for GD, but it’s not my primary one. I just want to find out what (or if) the other side is thinking.

90

Those are the two sections I stay out of almost all the time. I have better things to do with my health then fight on this board.

91

I hit all the forums, but I very rarely contribute to GD or the Pit. To be honest, I can’t be bothered to participate in a sentence-parsing, nit-picking, citation-flinging “discussion.” Those people have way more time on their hands than I do.

I tend to not post about anything unless I have a fairly well-developed opinion on it, and I don’t form opinions without considering other points of view. In other words, I’ve usually done a bit of internal debate before I make up my mind on something. I might skim a GD thread to pick up some citations to read and refine my opinion on something, but unless I catch it really early on there’s not much point in contributing.

Also, I don’t argue about things, especially online. If you can’t have a fairly tame, reasoned discussion, I’m not interested in talking to you, and I will (and have) walked away from people who start to get too emotionally involved in their argument.

Pit threads are sometimes entertaining, and I don’t mind people venting, but personal attacks are usually not fun and not productive. I also get tired of the “OMG, can you believe what this waste of oxygen did to their [kid, dog, kitten, wife, husband]?” Uh, yeah, I can believe it. People suck. Known that since I was a kid, had it reinforced periodically over the years. There’s not a decade that goes by without some group of people killing and raping another group of people. It’s not new, it’s not surprising, and it’s not really that big of a deal if you put it in perspective.

My feelings on crime and punishment are enough to keep me out of the pile-ons that happen when one of those “shocking” news stories come out. There are a bunch of people who apparently feel that once a person has been arrested, the trial is a formality, and we should get right down to the serious business of violently eviscerating them. These are the fluffy bunnies who think that “an eye for an eye” is not quite good enough for the real world. Frankly, that attitude sickens me more than whatever it was that the accused did, because they’re advocating mob rule. The justice system is not (quite) that fucked up yet, and I can’t get behind the idea of sodomizing an accused child rapist with a broken bottle, unlike some of the contributers to those threads.

92

I don’t like the vicious personal attacks and the pile-ons of other posters, much, either. I think about how it would feel to me if 20 or more posters were all telling me how stupid I am, and I don’t think I’d like it much. I don’t usually participate once it gets to a point where the prevailing attitude is mob-think, or I’ll try to present a different opinion to try to de-rail the pile-on. We all contribute to the atmosphere here, and I try to contribute positively. (Sorry, is my halo shining in your eyes? :smiley: )