I don’t think that the pile-on issue can be addressed in an open forum.
Perhaps the Pit can be made less threatening for tender sorts through creative tweaking of the software, or to make sure that they are fully aware of what they’ll be getting into.
There could be a portal with (dimly) flashing lights, warning signs and scary faces/fonts to alert visitors to the fact that they will be entering a Diminished Civility Zone and that there is still time to turn back.
For the unwary who proceed and incur psychic trauma, hit a button and special moderators will be in contact to console you and provide counseling.
We could try this:
Like. Glad you agree.
You seem to be assuming that the Pittee can only respond to one person at a time. The problem with pile-ons is not the amount of people in them. It’s that those people (usually the same ones) post repeatedly very quickly…
You can see this by going to any Pitting of a poster and looking at the bottom of the OP. It will give a listing of the avatars with the most posts. Looking at one example of a long-running thread, there are 24 people with 15 posts or more. The highest poster had 87 posts. Another example had 16 people with over 15 posts and the highest of those had 68 posts.
It’s easy to respond to 12 posts in a day/night. It’s not as easy when those same 12 people are posting dozens of posts a day. The Pittee could be watching those 12 people posting and be drafting their response in one post in the editor, then post their aggregate response once or twice a day.
The nonexistent problem that has already engendered 683 posts in this thread and has gone on for over a month and has multiple spin-off threads about the topic that have been closed. Huh.
Not sure how this is relevant. I’ve been watching the hours mode play out in other Discourse forums. It works great.
It addresses the issue by allowing fewer posts. Let’s say it was a mod action being questioned (instead of a Pitting), and there were multiple people mad about the mod action. If each person could only put in a complaint once a day, I think it would be easier for someone to answer those complaints instead of trying to respond to a few people responding repeatedly.
Right now, this is handled in ATMB by responding to the core of the issue, then closing the thread. That could work for Pit threads too if people want to say that a Pit thread can only have a very narrowly defined core issue and is closed once the Pittee has answered it.
By the time someone is Pit on this forum, they’re not a tender sort. If they were, they probably would have left the forum a long time before that. The issue isn’t protecting people’s feelings. The issue is the Pittee getting lost in a sea of noise.
That youtube clip on Willy Wonka is really ambiguous. It’s about some people’s perception that things are moving too fast. In my interpretation, "stopping the boat: would be to get rid of the Pit. It’s been made obvious that that won’t happen. I’m suggesting the slow mode is lieu of that solution. Perhaps you can elaborate on what your interpretation of that clip means.
Really? That wordy of a reply to a joke? Did you really think that was suggestion?
I mean it fit …
Please tell me you’re pulling my leg?
Because if the timeout is set too high, slow mode only breeds frustration from all sides. I wouldn’t say that it works great, only that it can be a useful tool.
A small number of posters repeating the same tired arguments over and over might be indicative of a problem, but probably not the one you’re thinking of.
Well said.
Obsession.
So do you think all of us who object to the personal insults in the Pit are just objecting for the personal entertainment of participating in this thread?
In this case, the frustration will be about the inability to rapid-fire insult someone. If people can handle the frustration of ATMB threads being closed, they can probably handle the frustration of only insulting one certain person twice a day.
Here’s a partial list of people who want the Pit abolished or changed in some way. I’ll add filmore and Walter_Bishop to the list since they both just discussed potentially changing the Pit.
That’s at least 9 people who have not been Pit and want the Pit to change. What is the problem you’re alluding to with these people and what do you want to be done about it?
As to the same people having the same tired arguments, here’s the list of people who have the most posts in the thread. Of the 14 people who have posted more than 15 times in the thread (arbitrary number looking at the OP listing), at least 9 of them are arguing that the Pit remain the same, by my count. Babale tops the chart with 74 posts.
Summary
Babale 74
DrDeth 57
Demon Tree 46
Greyson Carlisle 44
Crow Many Clouds 35
MrDibble 31
Left Hand of Dorkness 29
puzzlegal 29
Gyrate 26
Sam_Stone 21
Filmore 20
kayaker 20
Skywatcher 18
thorny locust 16
Maybe for some. For whoever’s getting slammed, that’s hours and hours that they have to let any lies, omissions, and disinformation sit there unchallenged.
Whoo hoo! Top five!
I’m totally not posting this just to catch up to DrDeth.
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.
In a massive pile-on, the Pittee can’t get to everything. Slowing down the rate of stuff coming at them gives them the opportunity to discuss the issues more fully and more rationally… It has the ability to elevate the level of the conversation.
The Pitters still get their say, particularly the OP since the OP already had their chance to think out what they wanted to say in advance.
Don’t be modest. Top 4! Almost the leader of the pack! 
I’d give this a like if I could. 
Yeah, but at least it’s been answered.
It’s not always the Pittee who’s getting slammed with lies, omissions, and disinformation. They often give as good as they get.
Tied now with DemonTree for third! Neck-and-neck!
TMI!!!
Not really. There are hundreds of lies out there about me that I haven’t had time to answer while the thread moved on. I’m sure that’s true of almost every Pittee.
They only have one response to draft. Waiting to post it shouldn’t be a big deal. If more people turn on each other in the thread, those people might appreciate the additional time as well.
That may be true in some or even many cases, but I still consider slow mode to be a tool for giving the staff time to properly moderate the thread. Elevating the level of the conversation isn’t really the point of the Pit. I’ve found some minutes adequate. Hours is just too long.
Though if there’s a staff shortage–god forbid in these trying times–hours might become necessary.
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?