After skimming that thread, it seems like there is little to no contention in it. I think I saw 3 opposing arguments and those just seemed like obtuse contradictions. Other than that it was about 50% random personal whining, and 50% sympathy. IMHO, the move was warranted.
Mini-rants just don’t belong in the Pit, most of them fit MPSIMS as a hand fits the glove for which it was tailored - mundane pointless stuff that people feel they must share.
The move was well-advised and long overdue.
Agreed. I don’t understand why this move was controversial.
I don’t have anything against mini-rants, but they aren’t rants, just as they are not debates or factual questions. Fortunately, we have a forum for this type of thing–not that there’s anything wrong with it!
I appreciate the recent efforts to make the Pit more Pit-ty again.
Apparently not, 
since the thread in question has been moved back to the Pit. Are the “Revised Forum Rules for the BBQ Pit” going to be edited to reflect this change?
No need. The rule says threads “will be moved or closed as we see fit.” We saw fit to respect tradition. Moreover, there wasn’t any change. They’ve been there all along and the rule been the same for some time.
Obviously, you have your out in the “as we see fit” phrase. I can’t argue with that. But, what tradition are you respecting?
“I have a zit in my ear. C’mon guys, feel sorry for me” has traditionally been a MPSIMS topic, not a Pit thread. What has changed?
Were mini-rants not in the Pit last year?
I’m late to the party, but I’ll say my piece anyway:
When people are mad, as they usually are when they write a rant, they are much more likely to insult other people. Although the mini-rants often involve a decreased amount of anger, it’s still easy to accidentally cross the line, as the Warnings show. Furthermore, the Pit mods seem to be more forgiving, even when Pit rules are violated–they know the poster often isn’t trying to break the rules. They just got caught up in the emotion.
Ergo, I don’t see any way to take the mini-rant thread out of the pit. Well, unless they get their own forum. laughs his head off
(There’s no laughing smiley.)
A year is a tradition? When I joined three years ago, the “I have a zit thread” wouldn’t have been in the Pit.
Actually, mini-rants have been in the Pit longer than you have:
Seems Like Time for More Mini-Rants - The BBQ Pit - Straight Dope Message Board (2005)
Post-vacation mini-rants - The BBQ Pit - Straight Dope Message Board (2003)
In fact, of the 28 mini-rants threads that I found when I searched for threads with “mini-rants” in their titles, all but three were in the Pit. So you are proposing a change, and pretending as if the tradition is one.
What, then, are the MPSIMS moderators’ objections to “I have a zit in my ear. C’mon guys, feel sorry for me” type threads in that forum? In other words, why does such have to be in the Pit?
We don’t object to having them there. We pretty much all felt that these threads could go in either forum. Personally I thought they should be in the Pit because that’s where they traditionally went, and I think most mini-rants posters prefer it that way.
Do Ed’s guidelines for the Pit regarding tepid or mundane rants mean anything? If not, the sticky should be updated to reflect that fact.
Actually, that part predates Ed’s revisions. It’s been around for some time.
Our categories are not perfect: there are always some thread topics that overlap. It’s not like we can neatly categorize them as economics vs astronomy. So, there’s always going to be some ambiguity and diff of opinion. Basically: no big deal. Putting a thread in the wrong forum is not a warnable offense (unless the person is doing it deliberately, many times, to be destructive.) So, what the heck.
Why can’t it be in the Pit? I’m not sure why this has such importance to you. Personally, I’d vote “Pit” but when it was moved to MPSIMS it didn’t bother me, I just figured we had a mini-rant thread that the mods thought more suited to that forum, shrugged, and moved on. The only reason I weighed in at all was because of this thread discussing it. I’m not sure what compels you to pop into those threads and declare “this doesn’t belong here”. Or maybe I just have no interest in taking on voluntary policy duties and you do.
Looking at the matter again, I think it just happens to be something that doesn’t fall neatly into our current categories and clearly (as has been demonstrated) there is room for debate. If something straddles categories, well, there it is. I’d be perfectly happy with a situation where a mini rant could be started in either forum and, if necessary, moved if it starts to lean more one way than another. That really wouldn’t bother me. The only concern is whether or not that’s unnecessary work for the mods, but if they aren’t bothered by it I wouldn’t be either.
“Tradition” is fine, but we shouldn’t be a slave to it, either.