Wow, what a bunch of wusses we are. Okay, there is seldom anything, much less other folks here, that I get so worked up over that I could see starting a Pit thread. I just don’t carry my bile around that much. On the few occasions that someone here has said something so offensive it’s been taken care of before I could formulate a coherent OP, and usually better, by someone else. I don’t get into pile-ons, and people who are consistent idiots just aren’t worth the breath. I’ve posted plenty of times in the Pit, but generally as a further discussion or to dispute a point.
So, ahem, screw you all. Especially the more attractive amongst you.
Usually anyone really worth Pitting already has a muti-page Pit thread devoted to them by the time they register on my annoyance meter. I’ll join in if I feel like it, but I’ve never started a Pitting of another Doper.
In fact, I’ve gone so long without doing so that the few times I’ve been tempted I’ve thought “Is this loser really worth my virgin Pitting?” I mean, I want my first time to be special! I don’t want to waste it on someone who is only mildly obnoxious. If and when I say “I’ve never Pitted another Doper before, but you sir/madam have driven me to it at last!” I want it to be truly warranted.
Yes, but I wait until someone who is much better at making their argument makes the move, then if something needs to be added I’ll chime in.
There is a sizable risk in pitting someone- if you have any weakness in your attack, someone will see it and take advantage. The Pit is evolution in action, despite what some may believe.
I know a few dopers in real life. I considered pitting one of them (without mentioning their name or handle) for some spectacularly bad behavior. But then I decided it would likely cause way more drama than it was worth if they discovered it. I just thought unkind thoughts in their general direction instead.
Oddly, I never had the urge. I honestly don’t know why. I’ve pitted cow-irker eating habits, my own intestinal gas, illness, Boston drivers who were out to either kill me or beseech me to provide them oral gratification, those sorts of things. Things that piss me off in real life.
I don’t believe I’ve ever pitted anyone. I rarely visit the Pit itself. There have certainly been Dopers who’ve disgusted me, and whom I actively avoid if at all possible on the boards. Bad behavior is bad behavior, and there will always be a few yahoos who try to ruin everyone else’s good time.
I hope the OP will forgive a slight hijack, but I would like to post in defense of the Pit.
I spend almost all my time in the Pit…I’ve had my most interesting conversations in the Pit…I’ve learned the most about myself in the Pit…and I’ve become (I think) a better person IRL as a result of the time I’ve spent in the Pit…and all of the friends I’ve made here have been in the Pit.
In the Pit you find out a lot about your fellow posters. You find out if they are reasonable; if they can admit it when they’re wrong; if they will come to the defense of another poster who they think is right but who is being ganged up on unfairly; and if they are the type to hold a grudge or whether they’re willing to let bygones be bygones when you meet again. Often, you find out people you originally disliked or butted heads with are really pretty good people after all, and you become friends through the mutual respect and goodness that you come to perceive in each other. Then, before you know it, emails, gifts and favors are flowing, and you find your life has been enriched.
The other forums are great for the purposes they exist to serve, and you can have a lot of fun in them, and you can learn the answer to almost any factual question in them as well. They are populated by many wonderful and helpful people.
But if I spend much time in the other forums at all, I soon find myself fleeing to the wonderful, meaty chaos that is the Pit and the friends and enemies I’ve made there.
I’ve only pitted someone a scant few times over the years, and if I recall, each time a lot of other people joined in as well (so obviously I wasn’t the only one who was pissed). Had I to do it over again, I probably would not have bothered, however.
faithfool, I think I understand exactly where you are coming from right now. (But I could be wrong. ;)) I’ve come to the conclusion that some people will never budge, no matter how polite and reasonable you try to be—especially if they’ve got a whole lot of others who will back them up. So often it’s not worth the energy to care. I can’t say that I always avoid letting these type of situations get to me too much, but some of the time, I manage. And it’s good when I’m able to do that.
I’ve seen some wonderful, beautiful things on this board, but I’ve also seen some prime examples of Grand Asshole behavior too. A while ago I wanted to desperately pit several people, but I didn’t—because I knew that they were the kind of gutless assholes who would never own up to what they were. I also knew that the energy I’d spend arguing with them would be a waste of energy. Some people embrace their Inner Asshole. No amount of debate or attempts at reasoning with them will get through to them. There’s really no point.
I’ve wanted to pit a couple of people, but my comments would roughly have amounted to “Gawd, yer a dumbass!”…and I decided that an OP with low a signal-to-noise ratio wouldn’t really contribute anything.
Besides, I’m basically too lazy (or laid-back, if you’re feeling generous) to do a really substantive pitting.
I’ve started one pit thread against another Doper. I later realized that not only was I being a hypocrite, but I’d misjudged the situation, so I went back in the thread and apologized. And the apology was accepted. And for me, anyway, I’m happy with the way turned out, and it convinced me that it’s a good thing to have around. It keeps people honest.
If it were just as shallow and petty as it seems at first glance, that’d be one thing. I used to think it was a ridiculous idea that you could regulate all the “mean” speech into one section, while in the other sections it was fine to spew out hateful stuff as long as you worded it politely.
But the important part is that everybody’s got a screen name that sticks with him. And if you screw up on one board, there’s the Pit where you can be held accountable, and you can choose whether you want to stand behind what you say and “make it right,” or just scurry off and hide. If anything, it reinforces the idea that there are real people behind all these screen names, and you’re not just spouting off stuff into the ether.
I’m sure there are plenty of people who just see it as a place where they can be all petty and insipid and talk shit about other people without having to stand behind it, but eh. Seems pointless to me, but whatever floats your boat, I guess.
I did an incredibly lame “Pitting” – actually, one set of quotation marks does not do justice to the tone I’m trying to convey here; let’s instead call it a “”“Pitting”"" – of another member on one occassion, when I sensed I had been grievously misunderstood and wanted to respond without resurrecting the ancient thread. That particular “”“Pitting”"" garnered four total replies, two of which were me, one of which was the Pittee, and one of which was an interloper with nothing in particular to say.
Other than that, there’s only been one incident where I’ve even felt the urge, and thankfully I managed to restrain myself, as I’d only have made myself look like an idiot (the offensive remark in question was so benign as to be almost certainly facetious). Besides, I much prefer inserting my own to cents into other people’s Pittings. They usually have more interesting things to complain about than I do.
I’ve had the impulse a number of times, but never the momentum – save once. It was the infamous BZ00000, who insisted on asking ninnyhammered questions about time travel based on Superman: The Movie. I finally pitted BZ, not for the questions, but for insisting that the movie had some kind of relevance to the actual possibility of time travel. It degenerated into ignorance-fighting, so I regard it as a failure.
I have done it twice. I really don’t consider myself an angry person, and in neither case was I abusive or demeaning of the person, only a specific behavior. I still felt dirty after doing it and don’t think I will do it again.
The first time was a pitting of a now banned poster for calling someone a racist with little provocation. That still gets me every time and drives me nuts.
The second was an unfortunate trainwreck that I would take back if I could. I started out to pit a particular behavior and it turned into a free for all on the person (which granted I should have known would happen). I do think the Pit has a function and is an ingenious way for a message board to maintain some degree of general civility.
My wife frequents a board where everyone has to be nice, and there is no real outlet if you want to tell someone to piss off. The board is subject oriented dealing with dogs and dog training. What happens there is that if someone is giving terrible advice the long term members rip them in PMs, but only make muted protests on the board. Meanwhile the lurkers and more casual users end up not being able to distinguish between good and bad advice as they are not in on the PM loop. I would much rather it be out in the open.
If someone pitted me it wouldn’t be the end of the world, but I would think hard about the behavior that provoked it and I would like to think I would admit if I was wrong.
The only Dopers I can recall pitting offhand (other than by parody) were Desmostylus and Polycarp. Odd, though, now that you mention it… I haven’t been pitted in quite some time.
I’ve never pitted another Doper. I guess you could say the main reason is that I’ve never become more than upset with a Doper. Most of the time it had to do with a difference of opinion, which I decided I should respect, and backed away. After a brief cooling off period, I’ve always been able to see more clearly that there was no reason to bring something so trivial into the pit.
One told me I was just arguing for the sake of argument, which in my book, is part of the definition of a troll. I was pretty steamed, but I just let it go.
Another was a particular poster who’d been rude to others and seemed kind of stupid. He made a nasty derogatory comment in GQ, and I considered it, but a mod scolded him so I dropped it.
That’s it. I figure, if I can forget about it there’s no need to put it in writing.
Sorry for the late reply y’all. I really didn’t mean to make this a drive-by, but selling Buicks over the porcelain thrown took highest priority. However, I am happy to report that the majority here echo my feelings as of today. I’m no longer foaming at the mouth (well, not for that reason) and my desire has returned to absolutely zero.
And I’m not sure if I said this before, but can you imagine just what attackers would do to my name? :eek: Oy! If that ever isn’t one to lend mortally wounding to fire, I can’t imagine those that would be better.
Thanks for all the answers. Especially so to those who’ve got the cohones to do so without fear, reluctance or disregard for having a can of Whoop Ass opened up on you. My hats off to the whole group. But I’ll stick with the delightful pacifist instead.
I’ve been angered at times by an attitude or comment expressed and have responded pointedly in a thread but never so much that I could have started, much less maintained a Pit thread. That would require some pretty heavy duty indignation and I don’t think I could maintain the necessary outrage. I’d much rather try something concillatory where all come out ahead.
There are 6,372 people on my list of posters to be pitted. I am easily offended and I do not suffer insult lightly. Unfortunately, my insults tend to be so crushing in spirit that I can not, in good conscience, launch them at another human without providing some sort of mitigating salve. So I am still working on ways to tone down the Pit threads I originally wrote in May of 1999 to the point where they could be posted without incurring a wrongful death lawsuit. (I just hope that if I can get one toned down sufficiently, the poster will be still active on the SDMB.)
