# Drowning out others is okay in the Pit, but I wish it weren't **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 26, 2026, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-out-others-is-okay-in-the-pit-but-i-wish-it-werent/1031211 "2026-06-26T21:48:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 14
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2026, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-out-others-is-okay-in-the-pit-but-i-wish-it-werent/1031211/14 "2026-06-26T22:54:20Z")
I don’t moderate the Pit, but we all know it’s a special place with relaxed rules. I feel it’s primary purpose is to serve as a safety valve - get those complaints OUT of otherwise _productive_ threads, and do some healthy venting. I also think that they’re useful for documenting when a poster has a long term pattern of specific harmful behaviors. It can be a help. But I personally wouldn’t want posters to not be able to defend themselves, or even back-smack their critics, even if it’s a “neener-neener” level of “I’m not touching you.” Would I do it? No. But I think it’s a fair tactic. Now, I am NOT @miller, but I will point out that he laid out his feelings about how the Pit should be managed a while back when we had other accusations of Trolling in the Pit. > [@Pedro is banned](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pedro-is-banned/1023627): > > We have decided to ban Pedro for trolling and for insulting a mod while the mod was acting in an official capacity. Several of you reported him for trolling in the [Charlie Kirk thread there](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ally-and-conservative-pundit-charlie-kirk-shot-at-utah-event-now-reported-deceased-same-date-10sep2025/1022916), and had those reports rejected by me, so I’d like to take a minute to explain my thinking about how I moderate the Pit. The Pit was conceived as a release valve where posters could unload their frustrations with other posters, without derailing threads in other forums. As such, a lot of behaviors that are … I don’t want to quote snippets and leave out context, but Miller does a great job of pointing out the difference between posting to piss-off people in the pit while otherwise participating, and _solely_ posting in the pit to piss people off. And I agree with his POV for what it’s worth. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-out-others-is-okay-in-the-pit-but-i-wish-it-werent/1031211)._