# 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:** 36
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/707 "2021-08-22T22:27:15Z")
No more so than many of you seem to accuse those who are pro-Pit just like being bullies, I would imagine. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/708 "2021-08-22T23:40:45Z")
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#): > > Having been on the bottom of more pile-ons than I can count (not on the Dope), with ugly lies, omissions and disinformation galore about me, let me assure you that having that dreck sit there for 10 hours when everyone knows you can’t respond, doesn’t change anything. It’s still sitting there tomorrow. And when you get right down to it, it’s just a bunch of overheated electrons emitted by largely anonymous entities that probably don’t represent real people anyway. If you never get around to refuting ninnies who are wrong on the Internet, no real harm done. After asteroid 589-CF strikes the earth, all traces of the Dope will be wiped out. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/709 "2021-08-22T23:56:58Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > f you never get around to refuting ninnies who are wrong on the Internet, no real harm done. After asteroid 589-CF strikes the earth, all traces of the Dope will be wiped out. While this is undoubtedly true – and I do enjoy your cynical wit – it has little bearing on discussions about how we should manage our affairs on this earth while it still exists and while we and our various institutions still exist upon it. My own view here is that this is probably the longest ATMB thread I can recall that has been the venue for ferocious arguments over what the majority of posters here agree are non-existent issues. Exactly what changes should be made to correct issues that most of us agree don’t exist? I happen to side with those that say “none”. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/710 "2021-08-23T02:57:28Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Umm if it’s a ‘’‘pile on’’’ why does he Pitee need to respond to every post? > I mean, isn’t responding to one ‘piler’ responding to them all? You might be surprised (or not) how many Pitters contradict each other. > [@Jackmannii](#): > > And when you get right down to it, it’s just a bunch of overheated electrons emitted by largely anonymous entities that probably don’t represent real people anyway And yet, some people like to post on moderated forums with subforums to complain about moderation. On the truly unmoderated forums I’ve posted on, no one makes this argument unless they want to be followed around with some truly hateful stuff. There are things most people don’t want to be called every day, ad nauseam. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2021, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/711 "2021-08-24T22:34:36Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > My own view here is that this is probably the longest ATMB thread I can recall that has been the venue for ferocious arguments over what the majority of posters here agree are non-existent issues. Exactly what changes should be made to correct issues that most of us agree don’t exist? I happen to side with those that say “none”. Ah yes. Why won’t those annoying minorities just shut up? Why should we have to change when it doesn’t affect us? And how will we feel superior if we don’t have other people to identify as lesser? 🙄 🙄 🙄  ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/712 "2021-08-24T22:43:35Z")
You are not being oppressed. You desire a change that the majority of participants on this board do not. Comparing yourself to an oppressed minority is frankly offensive, and there are not enough rolleyes available for me to properly express my reaction. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2021, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/713 "2021-08-24T22:54:00Z")
If you dislike the comparison, then find a better argument. One that doesn’t apply to every damn minority that ever asked for - or demanded - a change when the majority were happy with the status quo. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/714 "2021-08-24T23:04:45Z")
So, you’re in favor of giving into every demand a minority group asks 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:** [August 24, 2021, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/715 "2021-08-24T23:07:45Z")
> **[False dilemma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > A false dilemma, also referred to as false dichotomy or false binary, is an informal fallacy based on a premise that erroneously limits what options are available. The source of the fallacy lies not in an invalid form of inference but in a false premise. This premise has the form of a disjunctive claim: it asserts that one among a number of alternatives must be true. This disjunction is problematic because it oversimplifies the choice by excluding... ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/716 "2021-08-24T23:09:11Z")
So, you’re not in favor of giving into every demand a minority group asks for? ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/717 "2021-08-24T23:14:26Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > If you dislike the comparison, then find a better argument. One that doesn’t apply to every damn minority that ever asked for - or demanded - a change when the majority were happy with the status quo. The argument that “minorities demanding equal rights is the same as me demanding an unpopular change on a message board” does not get better with repetition. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2021, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/718 "2021-08-24T23:20:41Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > So, you’re not in favor of giving into every demand a minority group asks for? 🤣  Serious answer to a non-serious question: I’m in favour of taking minority groups seriously when they say they have a problem, and trying to find a solution. That is not the same as giving into every demand they make - no individual or group should be given a blank cheque like that. > [@TroutMan](#): > > The argument that “minorities demanding equal rights is the same as me demanding an unpopular change on a message board” does not get better with repetition. Neither does the argument “the majority does not see a problem, therefore there is no problem”. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/719 "2021-08-24T23:24:24Z")
Ah, good! Now we just need to identify what a “minority group” is with regard to message boards . . . and I don’t think ‘people that don’t like the Pit’ really makes the grade. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/720 "2021-08-25T12:50:46Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > Why won’t those annoying minorities just shut up? Being in the minority on an issue does not make you a minority, and it’s frankly offensive, and a slap in the face for real minorities, for you to cloak yourself in minority-hood. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/722 "2021-08-25T13:23:14Z")
I’m just going to apologize to anyone who read the above. It was meant for the pit. Not obscene, but not appropriate for ATMB I think. Thanks to @MrDibble for pointing it out. ---
**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:** [August 25, 2021, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/723 "2021-08-25T13:36:46Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Being in the minority on an issue does not make you a minority, and it’s frankly offensive, and a slap in the face for real minorities, for you to cloak yourself in minority-hood. I can only speak from my own experience, and I haven’t been a regular poster for very long. But as a woman, and as someone who holds some unpopular opinions, the treatment of the latter on this board has been orders of magnitude worse than the former. It’s a real blindspot, and being on the wrong end of this dynamic feels very similar no matter the reason for it. Now I see the same excuses being given, too. Somehow the same patterns keep repeating, no matter how much people have supposedly educated themselves. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/724 "2021-08-25T13:49:18Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > someone who holds some unpopular opinions Liking pineapple on your pizza and ketchup on hot dogs are “some unpopular opinions”. What you’re talking about is something else, entirely. > [@DemonTree](#): > > the treatment of the latter on this board has been orders of magnitude worse than the former You’re new, it used to be a lot worse for “the former” ---
**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:** [August 25, 2021, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/725 "2021-08-25T14:20:49Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Liking pineapple on your pizza and ketchup on hot dogs are “some unpopular opinions”. What you’re talking about is something else, entirely. The best comparison I can make is to atheism. That’s a very unpopular belief in some quarters, and atheists are often viewed as immoral by the religious. Nevertheless, we all have to live in the same world together - and having lost your faith, you can’t simply choose to believe again. Are atheists a _real_ minority in your NSHO, since you consider yourself an arbiter of such things? > [@MrDibble](#): > > You’re new, it used to be a lot worse for “the former” Let’s see some examples then. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/726 "2021-08-25T14:27:55Z")
Or how about Holocaust deniers? That’s a very unpopular belief in some quarters, and Holocaust deniers are often viewed as immoral by others. Nevertheless, we all have to live in the same world together. > [@](#): > > and having lost your faith, you can’t simply choose to believe again. Many atheists never had a faith to lose in the first place. > [@](#): > > Are atheists a _real_ minority in your NSHO, since you consider yourself an arbiter of such things? **MrDibble** has been no more forthright about promoting his opinions than you have. Do you consider yourself an “arbiter of such things”? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859/727 "2021-08-25T14:43:18Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > Are atheists a _real_ minority in your NSHO What makes you think I’m going to answer any question that comes like this, laced with snark? > [@DemonTree](#): > > Let’s see some examples then. Searching for anything before The Move is pants, but it’s not like we’ve never [discussed this](https://boards.straightdope.com/search?q=misog%20category%3A8%20in%3Atitle). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859.md?page=35) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-pit-be-changed-if-at-all/946859.md?page=37)