# How reprehensible do YOU want to be in the Pit? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 27, 2019, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084 "2019-11-27T19:57:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/101 "2020-01-08T14:37:06Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > solicit some input from you [del]terrifying degenerates[/del] valued board members… I laughed and laughed. Thanks, man. I’m fine with current policy. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/102 "2020-01-08T14:43:03Z")
I remember when I first joined here. I was a teen aged greenhorn and didn’t know the ropes. The first time I perused “The BBQ Pit”, I saw a vicious post pertaining to something that I thought could be reasonably discussed through alternative viewpoints. Well! I was basically told that I was in “The Pit”, I obviously didn’t belong there, and I needed to get the hell out NOW. LOL ---
**Author:** ![UnwittingAmericans](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d9b06d/32.png) [@UnwittingAmericans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwittingAmericans)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/103 "2020-01-08T15:19:08Z")
Remove the pit. 1. It’s juvenile 2. What’s the fuckin’ use of having one thread where the non-existent list of shit you can’t say is theoretically slightly shorter ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/104 "2020-01-08T15:29:07Z")
I would prefer if we didn’t allow pit threads to be created for the express purpose of criticizing or denigrating another member. It seems like bullying to me. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/105 "2020-02-16T02:02:30Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I wanna take it sideways. > > Fewer rules, but more enforcement of “don’t be a jerk,” with a new standard being, “Goddamn, you suck.” > > People can post whatever they want here. But if it becomes clear to you that they’re just a terrible person, you ban them. Maybe they’re being terrible by poking people right in the trauma. Maybe they’re being terrible by being supercilious trolls. Maybe they’re being terrible by insisting on pedantic rules-parsing down to the individual electron. Whatever: in the Pit, they’re revealing themselves to be awful posters, and they got to go. > > Instead of the lawful neutral modding elsewhere, moderate the pit chaotic good. Bumping to revisit this, because this is the kind of vile shit I was thinking of: > [@margin has the self-awareness of a barnacle.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-has-the-self-awareness-of-a-barnacle/847934/12): > > Anyone else thinking the cat killed itself? > [@margin has the self-awareness of a barnacle.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-has-the-self-awareness-of-a-barnacle/847934/15): > > That’s some mouth on you, you blow your dead cat with that mouth? > [@margin has the self-awareness of a barnacle.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margin-has-the-self-awareness-of-a-barnacle/847934/29): > > Margin is just being a wet blanket, she had a recent CATastrophe you see… If ever there were an occasion for “goddamn, you suck” moderating, this would be it. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/106 "2020-02-16T02:18:58Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Bumping to revisit this, because this is the kind of vile shit I was thinking of: > _snipped quoted bits_ > If ever there were an occasion for “goddamn, you suck” moderating, this would be it. I admit to being leery of your description of the kind of things you would ban. The “terrible person” standard seems to be well down the road to people who disagree with me on contentious issues. That example though… :smack: I would endorse trying to craft things away from intentionally attacking emotional trauma. How matters. I still don’t want a lot of false positives. I would endorse better crafting of how we target something like egregious examples of targeting people’s emotional traumas. I am just not sure what that looks like though. Goddamn pool sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/107 "2020-02-16T02:23:39Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > I admit to being leery of your description of the kind of things you would ban. The “terrible person” standard seems to be well down the road to people who disagree with me on contentious issues. Not necessarily. There’s a good chance I disagree with margin as much as I disagree with pool. Her vitriol against Sanders is completely OTT. And I certainly disagree with a bevy of other posters around here way more than I disagree with pool on most contentious issues. (I’m excluding “is it okay to mock someone’s grief over a dead pet” from “contentious issues” because I don’t actually think it is contentious). Whether someone’s a terrible person is orthogonal, on most issues, to whether they disagree with me. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/108 "2020-02-16T02:39:51Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > If ever there were an occasion for “goddamn, you suck” moderating, this would be it. _Goddamn, you suck_ == _You’re a jerk_ in a case like this. Intentionally inflaming or mocking what is, to most reasonable people, a deeply emotional event is grounds for _Goddamn, you suck, you jerk. Don’t come back._ ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/109 "2020-02-16T03:11:32Z")
I came in to say “Not as reprehensible as **pool**. Or **Miller**.” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/110 "2020-02-16T03:34:49Z")
Just some explicit, intentional cruelty. Nothing to see here. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/111 "2020-02-16T03:52:29Z")
You can’t have it both ways. The pretense of decency and honor is contradicted by behavior here and elsewhere. It’s extraordinarily farcical to claim otherwise. The pit is not a playground for a privileged group to poke at others without repercussions. If you are offended by what’s posted in the Pit do as I was told to do when I expressed disgust with how people act in the Pit. I was told to stay out of the Pit. Well… that advice works for those sensitive souls who don’t like the Pit when it isn’t run precisely according to _ **their** _ subjective sense of ‘decency.’ I’m surprised there aren’t 4-5 ATMB threads filled with the usual crew lobbying for a ban. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/112 "2020-02-16T13:10:25Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > You can’t have it both ways. Sure you can. Idiot. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/113 "2020-02-16T13:12:54Z")
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > _Goddamn, you suck_ == _You’re a jerk_ in a case like this. Intentionally inflaming or mocking what is, to most reasonable people, a deeply emotional event is grounds for _Goddamn, you suck, you jerk. Don’t come back._ I think this is the criterion: deliberately trying to inflict emotional distress, whether it succeeds or not, should result in a warning. Trolling someone who’s clearly grieving over the loss of a pet, essentially taunting them about the fact that their pet is dead…yeah, that’s intending to cause distress. The first time ought to be a warning, and if it happens again, I’d say a perma-ban is probably justified. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/114 "2020-02-16T13:42:33Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Sure you can. Idiot. No kidding, it’s not that complicated ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/115 "2020-02-16T13:53:04Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > You can’t have it both ways. The pretense of decency and honor is contradicted by behavior here and elsewhere. It’s extraordinarily farcical to claim otherwise. The pit is not a playground for a privileged group to poke at others without repercussions. > > If you are offended by what’s posted in the Pit do as I was told to do when I expressed disgust with how people act in the Pit. I was told to stay out of the Pit. Well… that advice works for those sensitive souls who don’t like the Pit when it isn’t run precisely according to _ **their** _ subjective sense of ‘decency.’ > > I’m surprised there aren’t 4-5 ATMB threads filled with the usual crew lobbying for a ban. To use an analogy, there’s a difference between mixed martial arts and a street fight. The pit is the octagon, not the street. You can throw punches, kicks, knees, and elbows, but you can’t gouge eyes or fish hook. Even in the pit, there are boundaries. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/116 "2020-02-16T16:42:34Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > To use an analogy, there’s a difference between mixed martial arts and a street fight. The pit is the octagon, not the street. You can throw punches, kicks, knees, and elbows, but you can’t gouge eyes or fish hook. Even in the pit, there are boundaries. Of course, it’s just the boundaries in the pit are you can’t piss off a certain set of parasitical posters. The rules and admin clarifications were clear. Now we have folks successfully lobbying for warnings. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/117 "2020-02-16T16:44:10Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Sure you can. Idiot. Hey now, might want to read the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/118 "2020-02-16T16:50:41Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Of course, it’s just the boundaries in the pit are you can’t piss off a certain set of parasitical posters. The rules and admin clarifications were clear. Now we have folks successfully lobbying for warnings. If this place relies on “mob rule”, how is it that you’re still here? On the board that is, not just here in the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/119 "2020-02-16T16:51:05Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Of course, it’s just the boundaries in the pit are you can’t piss off a certain set of parasitical posters. The rules and admin clarifications were clear. Now we have folks successfully lobbying for warnings. You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. Oh, wait, yeah, _you_ should. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084/120 "2020-02-16T16:54:57Z")
When the mod officially calls you an asshole, I don’t think that lobbying had much to do with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-reprehensible-do-you-want-to-be-in-the-pit/844084.md?page=7)