Quick question:
If someone insults you in the monthly mini-rant thread, is that actually allowed (since it’s in the Pit after all) or does it violate the 'being a jerk" rule?
Personally I would take advantage of all the freedoms the pit has to offer and use the opportunity to eviscerate them. Of course that’s not everyone’s style. 
NM. Not in the place I thought I was.
Still, I think her minirant is that she finds you tiresome. That seems unfortunate, but fair.
It is the Pit, it’s allowed. Feel free to rip into him, or ignore him, or “tsk, tsk, tsk, you couldn’t even come up with a good insult?” him. Your choice.
I’m not really sure why the mini-rants threads live in the Pit in the first place. It’s just a whinier version of the MMP threads in MPSIMS and they’d be perfectly at home in that forum (where whining and complaining (and gasp, swearing!) are perfectly allowed, as long as it’s not directed at other posters.
EmilyG, remember this: the Internet is anonymous.
These people don’t know me. They don’t care about me. They couldn’t give a flying rat’s ass about me. When someone puts down another person online, they’re doing it to make themselves feel superior or to simply be a troll.
Do not, for even a tiny minute, put any worth into what somebody on a message board says about you because they don’t know you.
And as my mom used to say when someone made me feel bad about myself: “Yeah well, consider the source.”
Bob Ducca nailed it. There’s no reason for it to be in the Pit–I believe that this month, other than the direct insult to Emily G., there was a pro forma “fuck off” from Chimera because someone didn’t like the thread title.
As for the initial question–it’s the Pit–if you don’t want to have your ass handed to you then don’t post there. Conversely, feel free to flame the person who insulted you.
That was me. (I mean, I got told). But I warranted it, I guess, I did complain about the thread title, and he made it, and I pretty much didn’t feel offended.
I don’t really get what calling someone retarded and developmentally disabled does for a person in this case…I mean, “tiresome” and those other two phrases are not remotely comparable. It just seemed a little over the top.
But yes, everyone has a point: don’t care what they say, don’t let it get to you (easier said than done, I know) and it is in the Pit and some people just like to be nasty because they can. Deflect with humor, insult back, or rise above and ignore.
Possible responses:
La la la, I can’t hear you!
I know you are, but what am I?
You could always put me on ignore, fuckface.
Once more, with feeling.
Who pissed in your cheerios?
From the forum description:
So yeah, the rules are slightly different in The Pit than elsewhere on the board, whee people are expected to have more front parlor manners and be more civil. In the Pit, not so much, though there are limits even there.
In one of the stickies at the top of the thread listing in the Pit Ed Zotti sez:
None of the phrasing in that post is on the “restricted words” list.
No one should take any advice from that dork.
dealwithit.jpg
A laser powerful enough to zap gnats would be too heavy.
The sonic zapper I built that worked is painful to some folks.
A small fan, perhaps…
Deal with it. (fixed your link, stickler)
Agreed. It’s the pit she should just deal with it.
It wasn’t broken and it wasn’t a link, but thank you.
(I think kayaker knew that.)
Another vote for deal with it. You knew you were posting in the Pit. There are always going to be people posting snark just because the rules of that forum give them a license to do so. My inclination would be to ignore posts like that and not respond. YMMV, however. If you want to let one fly right back, go for it.