Keep the pit! It’s often funny,and it’s nice to have a place to unload. It isn’t just for
fighting with other posters – sometimes you just want to sound off about something that really bugs you, and it’s nice to hear from other people who feel the same way. If you don’t like it, don’t go there!
Let’s vote for it.
Wait a minute here.
When did you get the idea that this is a matter – that you have a vote on in the first place?
Do you go to AOL and vote on policy? Does Steve Case abide by your wishes?
Are you routinely asked your opinion on business matters on other websites?
Do other companies run their sites at your dictate?
What makes you think you have the right to call policy here?
We want your input – we want to know what you think and how you use the site, sure we do – but this is not the Straight Dope Democracy, it’s a commercial site and it’s run as the Chicago Reader sees fit.
Until you work for the Reader in a sufficient place of responsibility and oversight of this place, sorry, you do not have a vote.
I’m crossposting this notice in the other threads – so don’t think you’re seeing duplicates.
your humble TubaDiva/SDStaffDiv
for the Straight Dope
You know what, TubaDiva? We get that. You are so ham-handed about pounding into our heads the fact that we have no say in how things are run that everyone with a single brain cell in their head is aware of that. How could we not be? You tell us every chance you get.
The people around here can vote on any damn thing they please, and they don’t need your permission to do so. That doesn’t serve to change the Board into a democracy (which it isn’t and shouldn’t be), but you don’t have to leap in and underscore how little the opinion of the Board patrons means to “management” before anyone has even asked you to change anything.
I like the Pit. I like the Board. I have no problem with how it’s run; I know it’s Ed’s party and if I don’t like it I can leave. But it seems to me you ought to save the repression until such time as someone tries to get a revolution under way.
[[The boards are already being censored by the moderators.]]
I keep seeing this and I just wanted to say again that this board is very very very rarely “censored.” I also keep hearing that we don’t allow members to criticize or disrespect moderators. Take a look around the board. Don’t look like much of that is censored out to me.
Jill
I was merely using a standard definition of a censor: an official with the power to examine publications, movies, television programs, etc. and to remove or prohibit anything considered obscene, libelous, etc. As far as I can tell, 100% of this board is reviewed–censored if you will–by the moderators. However, as we both point out, very little is ever excised.
(Don’t tell the other moderators, 'cause they’ll get jealous, but I think Comments on Cecil’s Columns is the best message board, and it reflects highly on you that you were the one chosen as moderator).
Maybe I jumped a bit, sure . . . and maybe I even jumped more than the event warranted.
It’s easy to let common sense get overrun by negative energy. Feeling attacked will make a person defensive.
I’m sorry that I’m not always able to shrug it off and I’m even sorrier when that sort of thing causes me to lose perspective.
Usually this place is fun. I need to remember that more.
your humble TubaDiva
being disgustingly human.
[[(Don’t tell the other moderators, 'cause they’ll get jealous, but I think Comments on Cecil’s Columns is the best message board, and it reflects highly on you that you were the one chosen as moderator).]]
Thanks, Whitetho! It’s an easier board to moderate than some of the others. And I won’t tell you what I had to do to get that job.
Jill
Tuba Diva says:
Didn’t nearly all the brouhahas of the last week or so get started by someone thinking they were being attacked and then getting defensive? The Pit at least lets those that feel they have been attacked express/defend themselves.
As to the “vote”. I don’t think anyone feels it would be binding on the board gods. But I am surprised that you would get so upset that the posters on this board would have an opinion. I get the feeling that the only opinions you think we should be allowed to have are those you give to us. But this is all a tempest in a teapot anyway, last time I checked there were only about 46 votes, not exactly a screaming mandate one way or the other.
A hat with bells on is not funny, it is the jester underneath.
47 votes. Keep it.
Trust me, you don’t want Pit-izens in MPSIMS.
We’d come storming into that nice happy forum if the Pit were shut down. Grizzly unwashed angry men and women shouting and screaming all over MPSIMS. Knocking all the stuffed animals off the bed, decapitating the Barbie dolls, and smoking the potpourri.
Plus, if this thread is any indication, we’d probably empty out the fridge pretty quick, too. 
Back off, man. I’m a scientist.
Hey, Whitetho … Maybe the line is thinner than you think! Maybe the BBQ is preventing ‘Act II’ up in the Dallas Tower! Folks need to vent. BBQ is a great place to do that. The spill-over, thereof, is incidental! Ya’ know, I could be wrong…but seems to me, there’s room for everybody.
Gee, I post in BOTH the pit and MPSIMS. Have I got one of them split poisonalities?
Granted, I don’t flame all that much in the Pit, being essentially level-headed and angelic and as cute as the dickens.
And formulating one of those rants always drains me; I have to go and lie down for a few hours afterward.
Uke
Gee, I post in BOTH the Pit and MPSIMS. Have I got one of them split poisonalities?
Granted, I don’t flame all that much in the Pit, being essentially level-headed and angelic and as cute as the dickens.
And formulating one of those rants always drains me; I have to go and lie down for a few hours afterward.
Uke
[Note to self: STOP button does NOT stop a “Submit Reply” command. Do a better job of proofreading and capitalizing things like “Pit” the FIRST time around.]
Ike, it’s not a split personality you’ve got, it’s a dual personality.
Most people seem to be in favour of keeping the BBQ pit.
All I can say is the thread that Alphagene mentioned above, this thread, seems to me another good example of why the BBQ pit is not constructive and if anything increases hostility amongst members. Flame wars are counter-productive.
La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit.
H. de Livry
I’m just happy to discover that jodih was never seriously torqued with me. Woohoo!
“Come on, Phonics Monkey–drum!”
Well, Phil, there’s torqued and then there’s ape-shit torqued. You may drive me nuts occasionally, but at least you fight fair. Besides, I find myself <gulp> agreeing with you on an alarming number of (non-religious) subjects, so that also dials down the Torque-O-Meter.
TubaDiva – I understand, and I apologize for my asperity. I just wanted to point out that the truly benign dictator only points out he’s a dictator when it’s absolutely necessary. Don’t let one or two (or nine or ten) posters or posting debacles make you defensive; the vast majority of us like it here just the way it is, and we express that by hanging around.
Two things.
-
Until quite recently I ONLY hung out in the Pit. It’s the place I can go, say exactly what’s on my mind, and expect to get straight opinions in return. You flush the Pit, I’m instantly gone.
[Wait a minute here.
When did you get the idea that this is a matter – that you have a vote on in the first place?]
Everywhere I go it’s the same old horse exhaust. Let’s go over it again. You guys put up the framework, and we bring it to life. Sure, you can pull the plug or paint the place oxblood if you like. And us teeming millions can vote with our keyboards and surf on. So think before you yank on that choker chain again.
Hasta
The Pit is a useful forum. I think some threads have gotten out of hand, but for the most part, it’s a great place to disagree with someone a bit louder than elsewhere.
Everyt civilized society has it’s places where one can unwind and act a little uncivilized, no? And our very civilized society has a place as well. Let it be… Nobody makes you go there!
Yer pal,
Satan