# How should the Pit be changed, if at all? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 19, 2021, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859 "2021-07-19T23:19:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/221 "2021-07-22T17:51:43Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > You want to get flamed mercilessly here? Start an OP suggesting that it might just be possible that Hunter Biden’s laptop is a real issue - something that’s widely accepted as true on the right, but ‘debunked’ here. > > The only way to avoid this is to work hard at trying to retain a balanced membership. Which is a thankless and perhaps impossible task in this age. You want to get flamed mercilessly here? Start an OP suggesting that it might just be possible that the Earth is flat - something that’s widely accepted as true in Flat Earther circles, but ‘debunked’ here. The only way to avoid this is to work hard at trying to retain a balanced membership containing both flat earthers and globeheads. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/222 "2021-07-22T17:55:37Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Nobody called Bricker a troll! Whether or not the official word “troll” was used, the pit threads are very derogatory towards Bricker. There are 20+ Pit threads with his name in the title. It’s no surprise he doesn’t post here any more. Who would want to put themselves through that? I’ve said multiple times that I feel the personal attacks in the Pit are pretty much like cyberbullying. We wouldn’t tolerate similar behavior in schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, bars, etc. Even if the derogatory speech serves some purpose, so what? There are other ways to solve whatever problems it supposedly addresses that don’t involve ranting about other posters. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2021, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/223 "2021-07-22T17:56:46Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Maybe it would be better if the board simply labeled itself a liberal/progressive board, and warned conservative posters that, although they are welcome to post here on non-controversial topics, they should be careful to avoid topics that the left believes are ‘debunked’ or triggering, lest they be considered trolls or non-desirables and either banned or harassed until they leave. I’m just–well, > [@Bricker the troll](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricker-the-troll/511791/21): > > Hey Bricker, welcome to the dog house. You’ve made your opponents sad and disappointed. They thought so much better of you, but now their eyes have been opened. > > Next they’ll be making up funny names for you, and when you make a good point in a thread they’ll claim that it’s all null and void because you were such a naughty poster in the ACORN thread that nothing you say can ever be trusted again. > > This is the preferred way in which the SDMB Lefty sticks his head in the sand and goes, 'lalalalalalala…" In between exhortations that they belong to the ‘reality based community’, of course. I just think it’s funny that you’ve been posting the same sort of conservative victimhood stuff for twelve years. Carry on! ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/224 "2021-07-22T17:57:30Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I just think it’s funny that you’ve been posting the same sort of conservative victimhood stuff for twelve years. Carry on! Debate… debate never changes. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/225 "2021-07-22T18:18:37Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > A left-leaning poster would have to be really obnoxious in order to start getting pitted since most people here don’t see those viewpoints as controversial. Well, I might be obnoxious & disliked like Sam Adams , but I am certainly left leaning. I was pitted\* as a poster thought that I said that having met Gygax, I did not see any indications of blatant racism. I did agree that old school D&D was problematic at times, since it was indeed- _old school_. But saying that having orcs in your game means the game and writers were racist was going too far. So, that was because I did not join in the chorus- _“you are right, absolutely right, and I totally agree”_- and that is what the Pit Habitués _demand_ in any post about racism, social issues, etc. You can not demur even in the slightest. - Some posters informed me, with constructive criticism, some reasonable things I could fix, and I have tried to do so. _However, let us not get into any other issues raised in my Pit thread._ **The reason the Op opened my Pit thread is the issue.** > [@filmore](#): > > For example, one poster I didn’t really understand the hate for was Bricker. He has a number of [pit threads](https://boards.straightdope.com/search?expanded=true&q=bricker%20%23the-bbq-pit%20in%3Atitle). Yes. I disagree with **Bricker** on many issues. But is a definite great source on legal issues. People got on his case as he would state exactly what the law said. However, they wanted to argue _what the law should mean._ That is not a issue he wanted to discuss, in general. So- hatred and pitting. Sure, he was not actually called a troll afaik, but mostly the rancor was undeserved. It was purely as he was conservative and refused to be led into a argument he didn’t want. > [@filmore](#): > > ’ve said multiple times that I feel the personal attacks in the Pit are pretty much like cyberbullying. We wouldn’t tolerate similar behavior in schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, bars, etc. Pretty much they are, except maybe in a legal sense. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/226 "2021-07-22T18:39:11Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > One can troll in different ways - by presenting an argument (sincerely held or not) in a way designed to get people’s dander up, or to present, in a perfectly civil manner, an argument one does not hold but one knows will also get people riled up, but presenting in a civil manner and _in good faith_ a topic that gets people riled up is not trolling. It’s not trolling; but if the reason it’s getting people riled up is that it can reasonably be seen as an attack on other posters because of their nature, it’s something. And if the reason it’s getting people riled up is that the poster’s presenting in a civil manner and presumably in good faith, but then ignoring and/or being unreasonably dismissive of counterarguments and cites in order to keep presenting the same thing repeatedly, sometimes in different threads and over a period of time: that’s also something. I’m not saying that people have to change their minds; but just going on as if none of the discussion ever happened gets frustrating to those who put time and energy into it. And that I think is actually an argument for keeping the pit; where it’s possible to discuss the problems with such things, which don’t fit neatly into either trolling or generic being-a-jerk, but are problems nonetheless. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/227 "2021-07-22T18:43:13Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I was pitted\* as a poster thought that I said that having met Gygax, I did not see any indications of blatant racism That is an astonishingly inaccurate summary of why I Pitted you. If you’d like to discuss further, you know where to go. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/228 "2021-07-22T18:45:08Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > One can troll in different ways - by presenting an argument (sincerely held or not) in a way designed to get people’s dander up,… > [@filmore](#): > > By trolling, we mean posting of inflammatory comments solely to get a rise out of people. **If those are true, then every single pitting of a poster is trolling. They are designed to get a rise out of the person being pitted.** ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/229 "2021-07-22T18:48:00Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > That is an astonishingly inaccurate summary of why I Pitted you That seems par for the course in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/230 "2021-07-22T19:28:20Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Nobody’s goal is to drive away conservative posters. You’re doing a good job of it, regardless. And not just conservatives, but anyone who doesn’t toe the party line. The quality of debate here has suffered greatly for it. ---
**Author:** ![Delayed\_Reflex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/delayed_reflex/32/3172_2.png) [@Delayed\_Reflex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delayed_Reflex)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/231 "2021-07-22T19:31:41Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > I went back to the start of the current Troll R US thread, and did a tally for the 1st 500 posts (from last summer). Note in some cases the R US post failed to link to the thread/post and/or didn’t specify the exact handle-was forced to throw those out (1 fit that description). In some cases their failure to come up on search indicated that they were cornfielded. > > :Long-term posters who are still active: 8 [**Ashtura** , **Whack-A-Mole** , **Velocity** , **Octopus** , **jtur88** , **JohnT** , **Omar Little** , **Kearsen1**] > > Bannees: 23 [incl. 11 who were cornfielded] > > No longer active: 8. But almost all of these were long-term Dopers, around for at least a year before they got called out, most of which didn’t bail on the board soon after their Pitting. I’ll list them in case anyone wants to examine them more closely: > > **jim23** > **YWTF** > **Pavelb1** [the only newbie when he got pitted then bailed soon after, BUT someone recognized the secondary name in his profile as that of a long-term Doper from when we ran vBulletin) > **duffer** > **putnam6** > **SayTwo** > **agzem** > **Harrington** > > You can also examine why they were being called out, if you like: seemed to me like in almost all cases the pitting was warranted-only **jim23** seemed like an unfair case, just a brief accusation of being a sock, then no more attention whatsoever. > > BUT: the kicker is that I could find no newbies who were Pitted there, then shaped up (as in were not pitted anymore from then on) and became a frequent and useful contributors to the board. The 8 in category one were typically repeat offenders, with many people in the R US thread calling them out numerous times over the lifespan of the thread. > > If anyone wants to continue from post #501 knock yourself out. Thanks for doing this. I’m guessing different people have drawn different conclusions from this, but here are my thoughts: 1. The Trolls R Us thread has successfully identified some trolls. 23/39 banned suggests that the mods agreed that these 23 people were rule-breakers in some way (whether trolling or having broken other board rules). What this does not demonstrate is whether these people would have been banned anyway in the absence of that thread - I don’t know if this can be proved unless a mod states that they would not have banned someone unless they were pitted. Nevertheless, I’d say one benefit of the Pit is that it probably accelerates the identification of trolls. 2. You say that for the 16/39 people who were not banned, “the pitting was warranted”. I’m not quite sure what you mean by that - when I look at the list of names that you listed, I don’t consider any of them trolls, and given that the mods haven’t banned them it seems like that agree. So I agree with @filmore that a lot of people use troll to mean “someone who I strongly disagree with or dislike”. If a pitting is warranted because you don’t like what someone posted - yes, obviously every pitting is justified, by that metric. 3. The kicker seems pretty key, to me. There is clearly no rehabilitative effect to being pitted, if as you say it is mostly repeat offenders. I know @BigT said that one benefit of the Pit is that people can use “real talk” to hash out their differences and come to a better shared understanding. That seems to happen on rare occasions, but most of the time it’s just a place for people to complain about other posters without having to hold back. So to me, there seems to be some minor benefit of identifying trolls faster, and a major negative of making everyone angrier. From what I’ve seen, studies show that ranting/venting make people angrier in the long run, not less angry ([1](https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/cyber.2012.0130),[2](https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2002-13494-002), I’m sure there are many more), so I don’t buy that having a place to vent somehow makes people more civil in the other forums. I think being able to express anger at other posters freely reinforces that anger, not reduces it, which I think leads to higher hostility and an overall more negative tone for the board. Do most pro-Pit people feel like the board is better when people hate other posters a lot, instead of hating each other a little bit? > [@ShadowFacts](#): > > It seems to me, in the spirit of this message board, that an experiment (or two) could be in order. People are saying “the Pit serves this function” or “that function” or “destroys the universe.” Let’s test it, I say! Pick an adjustment and try it out for, say, 3 months. For example, we could: > > 1. Close the Pit for 3 months. No other changes. See what happens. Or… > 2. Close the Pit for 3 months, but allow complaints about other posters (e.g. for lying or trolling) in ATMB, under those existing forum rules. See what happens. Or… > 3. Leave the Pit open, but disallow attacks on other posters for 3 months. See what happens. > > I’m sure there are other variations possible. I mean, if we know it’s a time-limited adjustment that will then be evaluated, what’s the harm? It’s science, baby! I like this idea. Then we can see if the rest of the board really suffers if the Pit is restricted, like many here are suggesting would happen. > [@filmore](#): > > I’ve said multiple times that I feel the personal attacks in the Pit are pretty much like cyberbullying. We wouldn’t tolerate similar behavior in schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, bars, etc. Even if the derogatory speech serves some purpose, so what? There are other ways to solve whatever problems it supposedly addresses that don’t involve ranting about other posters. Totally agree. I absolutely think that if people are being offensive, they should be called out on it. Why that requires people to be called [mentally disabled, a troll or a hateful racist fucktard](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-damuriajashi-and-demontree/928300/11?) is beyond me though. The piling on in that thread just seems totally disproportionate to the perceived offenses by the posters in question, in my opinion. I would like to hear from some of the posters in that thread (eg. @Left_Hand_of_Dorkness and @Babale) what, exactly, you see is the positive result from such pit threads? Is it solely about catharsis? Do you get some entertainment value from posting in that thread? Is the goal to make this forum so unpleasant for them that they no longer post? If you say that their posts are so nauseating that they make you not want to post here, why not just add them to your ignore list? Ultimately, I accept that the majority of the people on this board like the Pit and want to keep it. To me, though, it is like the smoking section in a restaurant - it should come as no surprise if you were to poll people in a restaurant that has a smoking section that they are mostly indifferent or like having the smoking section. Smokers will also say all sorts of things to justify why they get benefit from smoking, that the smoke is totally confined to that section, just stay out of there if you don’t like it, etc. Obviously, if people had a really big problem with the Pit philosophically, they wouldn’t post here, much like people who can’t tolerate smoking wouldn’t go to a restaurant that had a smoking section. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/232 "2021-07-22T19:34:36Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > > [@Babale](#): > > > > Nobody’s goal is to drive away conservative posters. > > You’re doing a good job of it, regardless. And not just conservatives, but anyone who doesn’t toe the party line. The quality of debate here has suffered greatly for it. There are a lot more conservative posters left than trans posters, so I’d say “you” are doing a much “better” job. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/233 "2021-07-22T19:36:19Z")
> [@Delayed\_Reflex](#): > > Do most pro-Pit people feel like the board is better when people hate other posters a lot, instead of hating each other a little bit? Do most anti-Pit people feel like the well is better when it has been poisoned a lot, instead of only a little bit? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/234 "2021-07-22T19:40:45Z")
> [@Delayed\_Reflex](#): > > The Trolls R Us thread has successfully identified some trolls. 23/39 banned suggests that the mods agreed that these 23 people were rule-breakers in some way (whether trolling or having broken other board rules). What this does not demonstrate is whether these people would have been banned anyway in the absence of that thread - I don’t know if this can be proved unless a mod states that they would not have banned someone unless they were pitted. Nevertheless, I’d say one benefit of the Pit is that it probably accelerates the identification of trolls. I concur that trolls were IDed. But not that _it probably accelerates the identification of trolls_- except so far, as one mod has said- **posters are not specifying what part of the post is trolling, and they simply report as “troll”.** So, if posters got better at reporting (mea culpa) then there’d be no need for this. > [@Delayed\_Reflex](#): > > The kicker seems pretty key, to me. There is clearly no rehabilitative effect to being pitted, if as you say it is mostly repeat offenders. Yep. > [@Delayed\_Reflex](#): > > So to me, there seems to be some minor benefit of identifying trolls faster, and a major negative of making everyone angrier. There could be, sure, but if people would do better reports, there would not be. > [@Delayed\_Reflex](#): > > Ultimately, I accept that the majority of the people on this board like the Pit and want to keep it. About half of the posters who answered the poll. I do not think that is a representative sample, however. > [@Babale](#): > > There are a lot more conservative posters left than trans posters, so I’d say “you” are doing a much “better” job. Are you saying that trans posters need to Identify themselves here? I mean, we can usually tell a conservative poster, even if they do not self identify. I doubt if that could be done with trans posters. There could be dozens for all we know. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/235 "2021-07-22T19:41:27Z")
> [@Delayed\_Reflex](#): > > You say that for the 16/39 people who were not banned, “the pitting was warranted”. I’m not quite sure what you mean by that - when I look at the list of names that you listed, I don’t consider any of them trolls Trolling’s not the only thing people get pitted for. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/236 "2021-07-22T19:41:40Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I have assumed that was due to moderation, and not to anything that might have happened in the pit. I admit i didn’t follow whatever might have been posted about them in the pit. But i thought they even said they were leaving due to moderation. My memory is fallible, but that’s my recollection. They left due to the biased moderation. One side could post any kind of misinformation, while the other would be warned and eventually banned if they posted. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/237 "2021-07-22T19:44:01Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > They left due to the biased moderation. 😅🤣😂😅🤣😂😅🤣😂 That’s a good one. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/238 "2021-07-22T19:50:16Z")
Agreed. There used to be a higher number of moderate posters as well, but some of them seem to have stopped posting. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/239 "2021-07-22T19:50:57Z")
> [@Delayed\_Reflex](#): > > I would like to hear from some of the posters in that thread (eg. @Left_Hand_of_Dorkness and @Babale) what, exactly, you see is the positive result from such pit threads? Is it solely about catharsis? Do you get some entertainment value from posting in that thread? Is the goal to make this forum so unpleasant for them that they no longer post? If you say that their posts are so nauseating that they make you not want to post here, why not just add them to your ignore list? **DamuriAjashi** last posted in May, in the Pit thread, so I’d say that’s another poster they have successfully driven off the board. ---
**Author:** ![Delayed\_Reflex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/delayed_reflex/32/3172_2.png) [@Delayed\_Reflex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delayed_Reflex)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/240 "2021-07-22T19:52:51Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > [@Delayed\_Reflex](#): > > > > You say that for the 16/39 people who were not banned, “the pitting was warranted”. I’m not quite sure what you mean by that - when I look at the list of names that you listed, I don’t consider any of them trolls > > Trolling’s not the only thing people get pitted for. I know that, which is why I asked for clarification. But you’d think the “Trolls R Us” thread should be for pitting people for trolling, specifically - is it not? > [@Babale](#): > > Do most anti-Pit people feel like the well is better when it has been poisoned a lot, instead of only a little bit? I’ve provided cites showing why I think the type of vitriol posted in the Pit increases peoples’ anger. Regardless of whether you agree with that or not, though, what do you see is the main benefit of allowing posters to insult other posters, and do you think there are any negative consequences to allowing it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859.md?page=13)