Have the forums changed in the past? Have the names? Do people put in suggestions?
Mine would be to change the Pit to ‘Recreational outrage’
In the earliest days Ed insisted we have no more than two forum areas: Comments on Cecil’s Columns and General Questions. Ed maintained you could divide up the entire universe of questions this way and that was sufficient.
We have disagreed with Ed and the forum areas you see now have evolved over time. They have been born and expanded as ourselves and the membership saw fit.
In my own opinion the Pit is fine as it is; it is what it is and is named accordingly.
I agree with TubaDiva. ‘Recreational outrage’ IMO, fits in the same category as “sanitation engineer” for a garbage collector. It dilutes the broader meaning.
Besides, it sounds so trendy.
I’m an old lady who doesn’t take well to change, anyway.
Really? Because of the last 50 Pit threads, only two fit the forum description:
“This is the place for all complaints and other discussion regarding administration of the SDMB”.
VCO3’s retarded apes thread, and Qadgop’s thread about wild speculation in GQ. The other 48 ARE recreational outrage, nothing more.
Way to be disingenuous; that’s only half the forum description.
You have a very different definition of RO if you think 48 of the 50 pit threads are RO.
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Then from the Forum Rules for the BBQ Pit: read this before posting
I count only about 16.5 ROs out of the last 50 pit threads. Sorry Carol, I think your number are quite off in this case.
Jim
The last 50 pit threads.
Kudos to Gore, but who gives a fuck about the Nobel Peace Prize?! …Not RO but a pitting of the NPP.
Drama Queen? …Not RO, complaint about a coworker, maybe not quite pit worthy by your standards, but not RO.
A perfected Jew ( 1 2 3 4 ) …Ok, This is RO, but damn it is a good RO isn’t it?
SIU President shows evidence of graduating Bulla Cum Shit years ago …RO
England (rugby) ( 1 2 ) …Sports pitting, honest personnel outrage.
Leave this kid alone! ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) …RO
She’s been dead for 10 years. Let it fucking go already. ( 1 2 3 ) …Doesn’t appear to RO, WMMV
Yo! Urinary tract! I pit you! (TMI, duh) …Not RO.
Pets thrown off a bridge in Puerto Rico …Pure RO
My Boss and Coworker just LOVE the South ( 1 2 3 ) …Not RO at all.
US domestic phone spying program began BEFORE 9/11 …RO
Get your rocks ready. Stoning at the highschool at noon. ( 1 2 3 ) …It looks like RO
ipod Classic: total POS …Not RO, just Rage against the Machine 
Posting wild speculation in GQ & citing “A friend who is usually right” ( 1 2 3 ) …Not RO, poster and board complaint
Someone hit my car? Again?! …Not RO.
What’s up with black people, dating, and marriage in adulthood? ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) …Not RO
Thank you, Mr. Cab Driver …Not RO
What the hell kind of idiot… ( 1 2 ) … Not RO
Christmas!!! ( 1 2 ) …Borderline RO?
Clerk Clocks Deaf Man for Not Speaking ( 1 2 ) …Pure RO
Chicago Marathon runners = morons. ( 1 2 3 4 ) …Pure RO
Moved: Natural beauty be damned… …Moved n/a
Wisden’s just announced…Ricky Ponting’s the biggest wanker to have played the game …It looks like a sports RO
Mrs. Gotbaum and the UnKindness of Strangers (a Toulouse Lautrec pitting) …Pure RO
Goddam Ambulance Chasing Cop and Her Fucking Lawyer (RO) …Pure RO
Oral Roberts U. is going DOWN!! ( 1 2 ) …Looks like schadenfreude
Keep God out of the fucking classroom already! ( 1 2 3 4 5 6 ) …Looks like RO
Countrymen starving? What to do? Charge farmers with crime of growing food! ( 1 2 ) … Pure RO
What are your biggest restaurant complaints? ( 1 2 3 4 5 6 … Last Page ) …Poll that turned into a pit session
A Little Lesson In Tact… …Not RO, good rant.
Coulter - Jews need to become Christians. …Duplicate RO
Pin down innocent man, put 7 bullets in his head: Oopsie! Did we violate health laws? … Pure RO
A difference of opinion and a bad track record aren’t nearly the same animal. …Pitting another member It looks like
“High Speed” Internet in Residence (mild) …frustration, not RO
lame shopping rant ( 1 2 ) … frustration, not RO
F U, Mama Fu …Rant, mild but a rant.
Racism Alive and well in TN. {mild but interesting?} ( 1 2 ) …Not RO, mild
Suck it Buffalo Bills coach!!! ( 1 2 ) … Looks like schadenfreude
I pit college campus parking ( 1 2 ) … frustration, not RO
Students with ADD getting double time and private rooms on exams ( 1 2 3 ) …NotRO
Does jargon make you feel smart, or something? (re: “pilot”, & lame) …Not RO
United Airlines could be a lot better. ( 1 2 ) … frustration, not RO
HA HA! - Stupid paedo! … Looks like schadenfreude
I’d like to hear a congressman …I guess RO
Fix this piece of fucking you shit, you retarded apes ( 1 2 ) …Not RO, board complaint.
(King)George Steinbrenner! You are a total asshole. ( 1 2 ) …Sports bitch, I guess set off by RO
Let’s gripe about social inequality between the sexes ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) …Not RO
Mother fucking STUB HUB, and a Guy Named Harvey. …Not RO
I have HAD it with the construction. …Not RO
“Dear Justice Thomas, I’m Sorry You’re a Shilling Asswipe, Love Anita Hill” ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) …RO
I disagree that this is RO, because it appears to deal with Americans’ civil liberties, and therefore is legitimately important to the OP (and other Americans).
Otherwise, I think you’ve done a good job cataloguing the contents of today’s Pit. 
I’m not going to parse things as far as you have. But, using your own numbers, that’s fully 1/3 of the last 50 posts that don’t belong in the Pit. Why not change the forum description to match the reality, then? Or move 1/3 of the threads, which I don’t see happening.
Why don’t RO threads belong in the pit?
What Exit?, you have way too much time on your hands. It’s almost like you don’t have any baseball to keep you busy.
When did Café Society come into being?
My registration date is 9 August 2001 and, if I recall correctly, Cafe Society was but a gleam in The Administration’s eye at that time.
I note also that I started a thread in that forum on 1 September 2001 so CS must have sprung fully armed from Ed Zotti’s forehead during that three week interval.
Actually, I had that damn boring game on in the background, while I was building that rebuttal. I was asleep when Gagne gagged.
It only took about 15 minutes, which admittedly, I guess proves your point, but the difference between 48 and 16.5 is pretty extreme and I did not want to let that hyperbole go unchallenged.
So, would you settle for an addendum that including “and Recreational Outrage”?
severus: I don’t think RO means without merit. That was an RO thread, just with much merit for you an others. For me the **Perfected Jew RO ** stood out as having exceptional merit for an exceptionally objectionable focus.
Jim
RO doesn’t mean without merit, but it does mean something that doesn’t directly affect the thread starter. If I start a thread complaining about the actions of the American government toward its citizens, it would be RO since it doesn’t affect me (although it can be a completely valid complaint), but if an American citizen does the same, I don’t think it qualifies as RO since, after all, it may affect them.
Ok, I see what you mean. I will accept that this was not RO. I guess my working definition was any Pitting set off by a news article/report.
Jim
It’s not my place to “settle” for anything, but since you asked, I think most of the 50 threads you listed should be in MPSIMS, (or not exist at all.)
Take the two I refered to: Board performance, and Pitting another member over posting style in GQ. Those obviously belong. Isn’t that rather the point of the Pit, so those type of squabbles don’t clog up the other fora? The other 48, or whatever the number is, not so much.
And yes, I realize that part of the forum description says “this is the place for flaming.” But I don’t see how it actually IS flaming, when the subject of your ire, such as your boss/teacher/neighbor/jackass on the highway/President Bush is not even reading here. It seems more like attention whoring, instead.
Well in that case you are just plain wrong. That is what the pit is for and has been for long before you or I got here. That is why it is the first thing in the sticky.
Besides first you made an outrageous claim about “The other 48 ARE recreational outrage, nothing more.” So now you are changing your story and complaint.
Jim
Why is the title, “BBQ Pit” innapropriate for RO threads?
I’m not changing anything. Is this the “first post in the sticky” you are refering to?
Because it largely agrees with what I just said.
One thread I cited was complaining about the board, and the other was mildly flaming another member. Those fit.
Now, how do urinary tract infections, Christmas sales, and the Buffalo Bills, just to pick three, fit in with that? And you can’t get away with quoting the “heated vitriol” clause, when posters often self-title their own rants as “mild” or “lame”. Why not keep that in MPSIMS?