# Geez, just let me blow some steam already!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [June 7, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349 "2003-06-07T22:35:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DirkGntly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DirkGntly)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/1 "2003-06-07T22:35:23Z")
I came into the pit to blow off some steam in another thread (doesn’t matter which one) and I wind up having to explain myself, etc…
Great God in a Glory Hole, people!! For cryin’ out-fuckin’-loud! I was pissed at a particular situation, and **IT DOES NOT MATTER WHETHER I WAS JUSTIFIED IN MY PISSED-OFF-NESS OR NOT!!** I will eventually get over it…all I was wanting to do was blow off a little steam!!
Hasn’t anyone else ever done that?? Fer Pete’s sake…
Jeez…
[I will now don my flame-retardant suit, but will likely get nuked, and there will be no protection from that, I’m sure…]
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/2 "2003-06-07T22:41:35Z")
Sorry, but you’re not allowed to do that here. We don’t allow the blowing off of steam in the BBQ Pit.
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### Author:  [@DirkGntly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DirkGntly)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/3 "2003-06-07T22:47:10Z")
Thanks, **Lord Ashtar,** a bit of levity on the boards can be like aspirin to a headache…
Thanks again! 🙂
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### Author:  [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2003, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/4 "2003-06-07T22:50:11Z")
Hell no, if you post it, you can expect people to ask you to justify it. You wanna scream without anyone responding, you get yourself a LiveJournal.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/5 "2003-06-08T00:08:51Z")
Sure you can blow off some steam.
But we’re also allowed to tell you you’re overreacting and that you were acting like an asshat.
Deal with it.
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### Author:  [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2003, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/6 "2003-06-08T00:11:34Z")
I would say that **dantheman** beat me to it, but truth be told an hour and 25 minutes is more of a thorough walloping than a beating.
You have the right to rant. You do NOT have immunity. If you want immunity this is not the place for it.
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2003, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/7 "2003-06-08T07:44:59Z")
You’ve been here a year and a half and you’ve never seen an OP get challenged?
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### Author:  [@The\_Great\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_One)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/8 "2003-06-09T01:04:29Z")
Know where you’re comin’ from **DirkGntly** –same thing happened to me. Eventually ended up getting more mad at some of the posters than what had actually happened in the first place to make me mad. I mean, seriously, they started flaming me for bad spelling and grammer! Like I really cared at that point!
[deep breath…calm…I feel calm…]
Anyways, ended up getting some nicer posters, so it turned out all right in the end. still can’t help getting mad though.
However, even though I know you won’t want to hear this (I know I never do) I’m going to say it anyways, just because I am also afraid of getting nuked for agreeing with you (the coward within me arises):
Get over it.
One last remark though (hopefully more endearing than the last one):
Life goes on, and despite our desperate attempts, so do the jerks.
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### Author:  [@The\_Great\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_One)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/9 "2003-06-09T01:08:33Z")
**Lord Ashtar** –who is this “we” you speak of? Are you, or are you not a member, and have you or have you not actually read the description for the BBQ Pit? And I quote:
“If you gotta flame, do it here.”
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### Author:  [@The\_Great\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_One)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2003, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/10 "2003-06-09T01:14:15Z")
I have to admit, I’ve asked plenty of people to justify their “Steaming off,” so I really have no right to back-up immunized ranting (believe me–it would piss me off and then I’d probably start another thread in the BBQ pit about such as that).
My what a fickle person I am. :smack:
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/11 "2003-06-09T01:19:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by The Great One \*
> \*\ ***Lord Ashtar** –who is this “we” you speak of? Are you, or are you not a member, and have you or have you not actually read the description for the BBQ Pit? And I quote:
>
> “If you gotta flame, do it here.” \*\*
and pay no mind to that whooshing noise overhead.
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### Author:  [@shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shrew)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/12 "2003-06-09T15:58:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by The Great One \*
> have you or have you not actually read the description for the BBQ Pit? And I quote:
>
> “If you gotta flame, do it here.”
I always interpreted that to mean to _flame about another poster_, or to write an intelligent post (keeping up with our standards) but doing so in a flaming way. As in, if you feel so incredibly irate about a certain subject or poster that you cannot express yourself without the use of expletives, then post about it here, where foul language is permitted.
Hm, maybe I read too much into it.
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/13 "2003-06-09T16:14:44Z")
“If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
This is the BBQ Pit – it’s not the patio next to the BBQ, where you can stand there protected by the sheet metal and firebrick, with your beer, tongs, and “Kiss the Cook” apron, waiting for the object of your derision to be heated to a minimum temperature of 140ºF; no, this is the Pit itself, where you must stand among the glowing coals and the hot ashes, hopping from foot to foot on the sizzling grill, and adding your voice to the screams of the damned!
Brewski?
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### Author:  [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/14 "2003-06-09T22:32:40Z")
As someone who’s blown off steam in the pit and been asked to clarify stuff… well I can understand that. Often people who read these _don’t know_ what is going on. Underlying things and whatnot and they are curious as to what brought this on.
Sometimes it is well deserved to be told you are being stupid about something. Sometimes also having to clarify to others can straighten things in your own head. I know it helped me when I was bitching off about my Dad awhile back. Helped me see a perspective of him as well as how I could have taken things better.
Hey it happens, it’s the Pit. Expect to have to wear your asbestos underwear.
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### Author:  [@Read\_Neck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Read_Neck)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/15 "2003-06-10T00:08:05Z")
Posting a rant in the Pit is the cyber equivalent of going to your front door and screaming “Fuck You” at the top of your lungs. Don’t be surprised when you get a few back at’ya. (It’s kinda soothing sometimes.)
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### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2003, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/16 "2003-06-10T01:01:51Z")
I dunno, if you’re ranting about something perfectly idiotic, the crowd is justified in giving you crap.
> [@](#):
>
> I’m so fucking pissed off! The Porsche my parents gave me is always in the damn shop, so I’m stuck driving their Jaguar half the time. German Engineering my ass!
This is a bad rant. Good rant topics include: telemarketers, George Bush, stupid coworkers, stupid neighbors, murderers, and manhattan.
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### Author:  [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/17 "2003-06-10T02:19:27Z")
This is ironic, because I totally agree and it pisses me off all the time that everyone is so ready to jump on an OP.
It is of course ironic cause I was one of those people who bitched about what you were talking about. I will only try to justify myself by saying that something you wrote sparked a rant in me, and was not supposed to be taken as a criticism of you.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geez-just-let-me-blow-some-steam-already/180349/18 "2003-06-10T02:40:43Z")
Sometimes people rant irrationally. This is because often the real reasons for getting so upset in the first place are petty, or are hard to pin down, or are just downright foolish. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a legitimate rant for the person in question, from their POV.
It is a shame that a lot of geeky annoying pedants come along and try to rationalise your rant, it sort of takes the wind out of your sails.
Having said that, if it’s a really really stupid rant, or if you’re asking for feedback on it, then you get what’s coming to you.