# I pit OpalCat - but my heart's not really in it. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 12, 2011, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872 "2011-12-12T03:17:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Peeta\_Mellark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Peeta\_Mellark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peeta_Mellark)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/61 "2011-12-12T15:35:01Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > Opal’s not exempt from that just because she’s fucking Opal. If Opal is fucking Opal, shouldn’t there have been a thread about that by now detailing how she does it? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/62 "2011-12-12T15:40:40Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > Do you ask this about all pittings, or just about this one? All pittings. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/63 "2011-12-12T15:45:42Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Let’s admit it. She’s thin (relatively speaking, compared to the majority of female Dopers), attractive, and has a nice rack. If OpalCat were pushing 300 pounds, she probably wouldn’t see a fraction the adoration and enabling she now receives from the Teeming Millions. > > This isn’t a case of “let’s pick on the pretty girl”, either. There’s another female Doper that often posts requests for help or support for various issues, only her posts are usually met with quite a bit of criticism, and even hostility. That poster has admitted many times that they’re obese. Would OpalCat still be seeing {{hugs}} aplenty if she weren’t the SDMB’s “pretty girl?” What about if she weren’t a board “fellow” of sorts, and only joined the SDMB in 2005? I don’t know about that. I’ve been around for a while and have a fairly large mental file on the SDMB, and when asked to come up with what **OpalCat** looks like, I’m having trouble doing so. I think I remember oddly colored hair, but that’s about it. Without avatars or some way of associating her RL image with her posts here, I don’t think that’s played much into the average poster’s behavior towards her. Physical appearance in RL is disassociated with people’s SDMB posting to a large extent. I’d be very surprised if knowledge of the way Opal looks is even significant among people are accused of pandering to her intellectual laziness. To me there are two factors in the friction. First, she posts a lot. Secondly, she’s frequently critical or dismissive of people’s attempts to answer/address her questions. So a thread with her is a lot like one of those cartoons where someone repeatedly steps on a rake, which then rises to strike them in the head with the handle. At first it’s reasonably harmless, maybe a bit off-putting, but after the fifth time of trying to help and getting rebuffed, usually in a short timeframe due to the rapid-fire nature of her posting, you’ve got the equivalent of spending a little time in the ring with a boxer going to town on your noggin. It reaches critical mass rapidly. Then she declares the thread over, with an unsatisfactory conclusion, and you’re left to stagger away with a headache and wondering why in the hell you were in the garden in the first place. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![arseNal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@arseNal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arseNal)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/64 "2011-12-12T15:47:54Z")
> [@Hbns](#): > > Maybe for you and Opal it does. What crap browser are you using? > > For me it goes right to **List of fatal wolf attacks** and even displays the 3 lines of the proceeding section. Well, the anchor on the link is #2010s. See: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf\_attacks\_on\_humans\*\*#2010s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_attacks_on_humans**#2010s)\*\* So, a non-crap browser really should be going straight to “2010s”. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/65 "2011-12-12T16:02:17Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > All pittings. Then HAVE you asked this about pittings in the past, in the pit thread, or was there something about this one that prompted you to do so? **Mtgman** ’s last paragraph is a good metaphor. Add to that the subtle but ever-present need to turn every thread into About Opal, and the manipulative way she does so, and you get a pretty classic [attention whore](http://imagemacros.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/mantis.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/66 "2011-12-12T16:02:48Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > All pittings. You seem to have missed a few. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/67 "2011-12-12T16:10:35Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > This is a crap argument. Just because someone is a board mainstay, or has some longevity does not give them a get out of jail free card. If a member does something worthy of being pitted, then they are fair game no matter what their contribution or membership date may be. > > In saying this I am not commenting either way on the validity of this thread. Just your post. Whatever dude. Get-out-of-jail free card? No, but how about just a little slack. If this thread is solely about what Opal did in the previous thread –fine, have at it. But take a look around. Evidently she’s an attention whore who gets a free pass due to her good looks and nice rack. :rolleyes: Also she’s needs to see a shrink and has been posting too much of late and oh yeah, she’s a shitty role model to her kid. All this because she didn’t fully read a posted link and then responded with a touch too much snark. Real fucking nice. You stay classy, SDMB! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/68 "2011-12-12T16:10:37Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > Then HAVE you asked this about pittings in the past, in the pit thread, or was there something about this one that prompted you to do so? I’ve not asked about pittings in the past. I do wonder what one gets outof it, since folks usually just scream at each other. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/69 "2011-12-12T16:22:58Z")
> [@minlokwat](#): > > Whatever dude. > > Get-out-of-jail free card? No, but how about just a little slack. > > If this thread is solely about what Opal did in the previous thread –fine, have at it. > > But take a look around. Evidently she’s an attention whore who gets a free pass due to her good looks and nice rack. :rolleyes: Also she’s needs to see a shrink and has been posting too much of late and oh yeah, she’s a shitty role model to her kid. > > All this because she didn’t fully read a posted link and then responded with a touch too much snark. Real fucking nice. > > You stay classy, SDMB! You missed the posts in this thread where other people have talked about the fact that it’s not just this one incident. It’s a pervasive, ongoing pattern of “me, me, what about me, look at me, no, not that way, give me information no not that information give me more but better and different don’t you know how hard my life has been?!?!” The wolf thread was just the catalyst. Opal’s gotten slack already for not being called out on her behavior. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I’ve not asked about pittings in the past. I do wonder what one gets outof it, since folks usually just scream at each other. 🙂 So, if you’ve not asked about pittings in the past, what exactly was it about this one that created the need to ask the question? ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/70 "2011-12-12T16:25:40Z")
> [@minlokwat](#): > > All this because she didn’t fully read a posted link and then responded with a touch too much snark. Real fucking nice. > > You stay classy, SDMB! Just for reference, for your sake, [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14441387&postcount=48) is a good run down of pretty recent annoying behavior on her part, lest you continue operating under the mistaken assumption that the vitriol is only related to this one incident on her part. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/71 "2011-12-12T16:32:58Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > So a thread with her is a lot like one of those cartoons where someone repeatedly steps on a rake, which then rises to strike them in the head with the handle. At first it’s reasonably harmless, maybe a bit off-putting, but after the fifth time of trying to help and getting rebuffed, usually in a short timeframe due to the rapid-fire nature of her posting, you’ve got the equivalent of spending a little time in the ring with a boxer going to town on your noggin. It reaches critical mass rapidly. Then she declares the thread over, with an unsatisfactory conclusion, and you’re left to stagger away with a headache and wondering why in the hell you were in the garden in the first place. How about this: There’s a brightly colored rake in the middle of a sidewalk. It’s been placed at the same spot since 1999. Despite the fact that every pedestrian knows where it it, many repeatedly step on it over and over again; some because it’s almost impossible to avoid, while others step on it willingly. A few passerby move the rake to the lawn or Samclem\* strip, but somehow it ends up back in the middle of the sidewalk. When some question the placement of the rake, or those who choose to repeatedly step on it, many run to defend it; the sidewalk rake is an institution that’s been there forever. It’s a mystery why so many _want_ to step on the rake, but they do. - I say this out of love, the regional nomenclature for the area between the sidewalk and strip being one of his favorite subjects. And mine, too. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/72 "2011-12-12T16:33:43Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > What I REALLY enjoy is watching her turn almost every single thread into The Opal Show. What else are we supposed to watch, now that The Dio Show is off the air? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/73 "2011-12-12T16:42:02Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > So, if you’ve not asked about pittings in the past, what exactly was it about this one that created the need to ask the question? Mother doesn’t let me post in the pit, but she’s not in at the moment. Gee, kinda touchy, fella. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/74 "2011-12-12T16:53:22Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Mother doesn’t let me post in the pit, but she’s not in at the moment. > > Gee, kinda touchy, fella. > > 🙂 I’m female, thanks. I’m thinking that there must be something about this particular thread that drove you to need to ask that question. Must be something…I wonder…it’s gotta be something pretty obvious…I’m sure it’ll come to me. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/75 "2011-12-12T16:55:02Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Gee, kinda touchy, fella. > > 🙂 I agree with **Kolga** ’s underlying question though. If you really have a problem with the concept of pitting people, why hang out in the pit, and further why post to the threads of people being pitted to decry the practice? On top of that, if you haven’t ever done that before, the fact that you’re doing it now seems to demonstrate the “Aww, poor **Opal** , she’s just been here so long, leave her alone!” mentality that **Kolga** seems to me commenting on. Even if, as you state, you’re just against the practice on principal. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/76 "2011-12-12T17:25:08Z")
I have no particular opinion of Opal as a poster or person, but I love that she’s not giving a bunch of internet critics the satisfaction of an indignant response. If it were me, I suspect I would enjoy watching the spectacle. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/77 "2011-12-12T17:30:14Z")
You’re clearly not familiar with [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=630519) then. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/78 "2011-12-12T17:45:30Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > I’m female, thanks. My apologies. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/79 "2011-12-12T17:52:38Z")
This may be a stupid annoyance, **carnivorousplant** but can you post a single thing without including some smiley to indicate just how happy you are to be posting? You have 9 posts in this thread. 7 of them end with “:)”. It’s retarded. ETA: Just rechecked my math. It’s actually 7/9. Even more retarded than previously calculated. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872/80 "2011-12-12T18:01:48Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > ETA: Just rechecked my math. It’s actually 7/9. Even more retarded than previously calculated. It’s an attempt to be pleasant. I’m probably in the wrong forum for that. :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-opalcat-but-my-hearts-not-really-in-it/605872.md?page=5)