Sounds like a dumb question on its face, I know. However (and keep in mind I only started reading the dope a year ago), it seems to me that if someone posts for a long time and never gets pitted it might mean they have nothing to say that is cutting or intelligent enough to rattle the sensibilities of people who have an opposing ideology. I am well aware that many pittings are not about that; they are justified frustration at disruptive posters who can barely follow the rules, but i’m no talking about *those * pittings.
Well, that’s one way to look at it. Or, the poster is able to share thoughts and debate with others in a manner that avoids gratuitous insult, repetitious nonsense and general spewage. I suspect if you can stick with sane, rational, and reasonably intelligent, you’ll find many in the community who appreciate you just fine.
You could be right; but usually those posters run afoul of the moderators. There are a few posters who seem to be reviled and have a large number of people who can not stand them but never run afoul of the moderators. It’s not something I noticed when I first started reading the board, but now that I’m noticing it I’m finding the board more interesting. I think a few posters make the perfect “heel.”
But aside from that, almost everyone has their “pet” issues and you’d think that at least once they would push someone’s buttons in a way that isn’t against any rules and get pitted.
I don’t really think anyone would pit me (unless of course someone opens a pit thread after reading this just to be a smart ass), I’m just too innocuous, and not really passionate about anything to the point that I could get in to a long debate about it. But sometimes I’m a wee bit envious of the posters who are not so bland.
I think the first time you get pitted is sort of like being blooded, you know then that you are a true man who has fought the fight, stood up to be counted, won your right to belong to the band of brothers, the inner ring of the faithful.
So, hey, go for it.
I’ll sit here and watch. I have licorice.
Beer 
I have some very controversial opinions, and sometimes even start topics I have no intention of participating in to stimulate debate. (aka trolling)
I’ve never been pitted, except the one time I was feeling really depressed andpitted myself
It depends a lot on where you (any you) post.
If you live in Great Debates, you’re expected to take strident stands. As are your opponents. Pretty soon somebody is going to cross somebody else’s red line and pitting ensues. In GQ, not so much.
You’ve got to be pretty tone-deaf to elicit a pitting for something posted in IMHO, MPSIMS, CS, or GR. It can be done, but it takes work unless one is already a cast-iron jerk or an autistic-class obsessive.
If one really wants to get pitted, maybe try pitting several of the usual suspects; I bet one will get a rise out of somebody.
How would you know if you WERE pitted? I’m new here, and I’ve wondered how that works.
Sometimes people don’t know; there is no alert system that tells you you’ve been pitted - as far as I know anyway.
It’s a good question, that I’ve sometimes pondered. I’ve been here for almost twelve years and never been pitted (that I know of, pace your comment about there being no warning system save for a vanity search).
But then, I usually keep to Café Society, MPSIMS, and IMHO. And I use “But then,” an awful lot.
I understand your question though - are posters like you and I never pitted because we are respectful and civil, or are we just so bland that no one notices us? Like you, I share a certain admiration for guys like Clothahump, Der Trihs, Shodan and Bricker, who have strong opinions and aren’t afraid to go to the mattresses to defend them.
There are a lot of different reasons to be pitted, though. Some are for holding offensive ideological views but many are because of some Great Debates drama spilling into the Pit. I look at how often someone like Bricker gets pitted just because someone doesn’t like the manner of his argument, not because he’s ever said anything truly offensive. If I were someone like Bricker I wouldn’t want to be lumped in with someone like the now-banned New Deal Democrat, who was like 1860s racist.
I don’t think I’ve ever been pitted, but I had a Pit thread I started go bad once, and I had no less than four people message me to tell me what was going down. So I think if you’ve been here long enough to have friends, you’ll know.
I’ve been posting here occasionally for well over ten years, and I don’t think I’ve ever been pitted.
I’ve been posting pretty much on a daily basis since the board began and, as far as I recall, I’ve never been pitted. I’ve also never had any serious issues with the moderators either. So I can serve as proof that it is possible to be a long-standing regular member here without problems.
I suspect I’m widely ignored. Just like real life.
I don’t think I’ve ever been pitted, but I do argue with [del]dumbasses[/del] people in the Pit from time to time. That’s good enough for me.
I’ve never been pitted and it (my profile) says I’ve been here since 2003. I thought it was longer, but I’ve learned not to trust my concept of time. I think before I’d gotten here, I’d learned from life (and other message boards) that there are some things that people have to agree to disagree on and drop it and be civil. I enjoy watching the debates (and the pittings–omg, they are so fun!) but I know someone else with more of a gift of making my point will probably say something.
It sounds like I have a ‘meh’ personality, and I don’t. I’m just not going to get into an argument with everyone everywhere. When you get into an argument online, it seems it always turns into you against the wolves, or the wolves against you.
There is the school of thought that says there’s no such thing as bad publicity. (“I don’t care what you write about me as long as you spell my name right.”) Sometimes if you want to be loved, or even remembered, you have to risk being hated. I’ve never been one to take that attitude to heart, but I can’t say it’s entirely wrong, either.
Everything being said about being pitted could also be said about getting warnings. If you don’t get some warnings once in a while, you’re being too bland.
The trick, of course, is to calibrate your pit-worthy or warn-worthy rantings just right, such that you get pitted or warned, but not banned. And we’ve seen the departures of all the posters who’ve mis-calculated that.
ETA: I’ve never gotten pitted (that I know of) and only one warning that I recall, exactly because I’ve deliberately adopted a rather bland and non-confrontational persona here. If I actually wrote the things I want to write about certain topics that I’ve decided not to participate in here, I’d be gone by sundown fer sure.
I think about this sometimes. I try to be clear and thoughtful with my posts, but in the 14 or so years I have been posting here, I haven’t been pitted.
I think it is because I tend to focus on Music, Art and Philosophy type threads. I mean, I will assert that Jim Morrison is a douchebag or that the Grateful Dead are sloppy and dull, but that rarely leads to Pittable exchanges.
I had an encounter with a newbie poster a few weeks ago where I was trying to help him realize how much his posting style was an issue - I ended up reporting my own threads along the way, in case I was crossing the line into junior modding…
That’s all I got. I dunno - would it be better if I was more…provocative…to the point of getting pitted? Not sure how entertaining that would be…
Well they do say that a man without enemies is no kind of man at all.
I wouldn’t worry about it, it probably just means that you’re a nice guy.