There’s too many serious debates going on in here. This forum is losing its soul!
This place needs some threads like "So I sez to my bleeding back I sez ‘god damn that cat,’ " or else I’ll get out the robots.
And you dont want that.
Lord knows you dont want that. 
Um, cite?
No! I wont give you a cite! YOU GOD DAMN MONKEY FELCHING JEW LOVER*!
*Please dont take that seriously. Thank you.
No, what you have are a lot of well-respected posters disagreeing on a topic without using lashing words at the poster, only at the opinions. Not agreeing with an opinion does not mean that you don’t respect the person. I’m amazed that it’s stayed so civil. A good sign that we’ve progressed.
I disagree. Even if you are roasting someone it’s nice to keep a reasonable level of debate going lest the thread dissolve into variants of “You suck!” “No, you suck!” which are never as interesting as watching some of the most intelligent people in the world hash it out over politics, sexuality, morality, whatever, all while hurling the most creative and breathtakingly obscene insults.
I disagree with the OP there, not ultress. :smack:
cough cough cough
Great Debates
For long-running discussions of the great questions of our time. This is also the place for religious debates and (if you feel you must) witnessing.
Myrnalene: No no no, you get me wrong. I’m not talking about the lack of profanities in the debates, I’m talking about the fact that a lot of threads are turning into Great Debate material.
Threads about how you’re pissed off at PMS, or about dropping a Big Heavy Object on your foot makes the robots happy.
Oh. Okay, then, uh…
Cite?
(Don’t talk to me about monkeys!!) Seriously, man, it would help if you would provide an example of what you’re talking about.
And I wasn’t talking about the “lack of profanities in the debates”, 'cause I like my debates nice and profane. That’s why I love the Pit. (No more smilies for a week, guys, I promise.)
Ok, if you want to make the robots cry, I’ll give you a cite.
“South Africa More Progressive than the U.S.”
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=127683
Or two…
“Hiroshima Day: A Worthy Cause”
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=128244
Or maybe 3…
“Is revenge ok?”
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=128555
*Number 3 is kind of borderline.
Let’s see. You can hardly gripe that thread #3 “turned into” a Great Debate - it may not be great but the OP was obviously looking for discussion from the beginning. I am disinclined to give you #1 as well. Homebrew’s been around and I’m sure he knew what kind of dialogue would result from the linked article and his statements in the OP. #2 is a bit trickier as the poster who started the thread was certainly just looking for a place to vent his frustrations and not a place to argue the worthiness of his cause. However, this IS a public message board, in which the act of posting automatically invites comment. I think that because of the nature of the Pit, people are perfectly justified in voicing their opinion if they see something that they disagree with. If these people feel passionately about a subject, and there are other people who feel just as passionately but differently about the same subject, there is no way it is not going to turn into a debate. I’m sorry that you find threads like a distraction, because I think that they are some of the most interesting and worthwhile in the forum. And what’s with the robots?
#2 turned GDish because we took our debate from GD into the thread with no little acrimony to begin with. Compulsive GD denizens as there were many in the thread we just couldn’t stop ourselves from not only spouting invective, bile or mindless rants, so I guess we got a little erudite as is our habits. After we eggheads finished up our business it is now back to a pretty sordid pitting of the OP, getting uglier by the post, if that makes you feel any better.
Awfully sorry to have polluted the Pit airways with reason for you there fallom.
Sparc
Oh and fallom, lest I forget to be condescending and patronizing; should you find that the fight against ignorance gets too lofty for your mundane tastes you might want to hang out here instead.
I always thought of the Pit as an area with a split personality. One part “curse out posters/people/society for being annoying” and one part Great Debates that turned/started out ugly, but can keep going with a little bit of cursing (“No, Jane you ignorant slut”). YMMV. :shrug:
Oh, I had sex with you mother. Not bad, but there’s better. Your dog for example.
Way to pull an ad hominem, Sparc. You could’ve left it after the first paragraph, but then you chose to insult my intelligence. Great job.
And right here, you ruined the whole thread. Based on your OP, you should have responded with something like:
“Fuck you, you donkey-felching ass hat!”
Using the phrase “ad hominem” is just so GD… 
Okay, to the extent this may be about the thread I started . . . .
I made a conscious decision to put it in the Pit because the chances of a discussion involving (a) religion and (b) accusations that some are being (intentionally or not) disrespectful about religion, – wait, I lost the thread of this sentence . . . oh, yes – the chances of such a discussion remaining civil are about one in a million. (Adjust for metric weights and measures. No, I don’t have a cite.)
Color me surprised that it’s remained as civil as it has, for as long as it has. Color me very surprised.
I suppose an apology is in order for the civility and thought of that Pit thread. But, of course, it’s the Pit, so there’ll be no apology.
This is a place to vent frustration, not to have rational discussions!
Apparently, the OP’s frustrations ARE with rational discussions…
Maybe this is some sort of subtle parody. You, uh, fucking jack-rabbit salad-tossing donkey ballsweat-swallowing rimjob.