When posting a link, it would be nice if you could provide a synoposis of the content. If it’s an article, post an excerpt. Yes, I know I could just click on the link, but I usually don’t without knowing what kind of stuff I’m getting into (especially at work).
Please don’t use dismissive phrases like “End of story”. Example: The OP asks “What was the best live band ever?” and you post “Milli Vanilli. End of story” This is just plain rude and implies that no other opinion matters.
I realise this is going to be a less acceptable opinion, but I’d go so far as to say “Use short paragraphs.” Though it’s more noticable on a message board, I think paragraphs should be reasonably concise generally.
Capitalization. Please, use capitalization. Typing sentences like “when i did such and so…” make you seem immature and uneducated. I can understand a tpyo* now and then, but to just not bother capitalizing? It can be very annoying, and often makes others dismiss your posts.
[sub]*yes, I did that on purpose.[/sub]
Brevity.
Can be overrated. However,
(1) It is better to be too brief than to be too loquacious.
(2) Messages that fill six screens don’t get read by many people, and
(3) Hello Opal!*
[sub]* Though I haven’t belonged to this board long enough to remember Opal.[/sub]
Read the whole thread before replying… Oh, wait.
Seriously, would it be too much to ask for people to explain their opinions? To steal Honey’s example: In the mythical “What was the best live band ever?” thread, Smarmy Threadshitter posted, “Millie Vanilli, End of story.”
If Smarmy had gone on to explain the incredible vocal range and tight harmonies Millie Vanilli are capable of, and how their live performances sound like their studio recordings, then that would have been a post worth reading.
In addition, for people like me who have certain visual problems, w/o capitalization and punctuation, it makes your post **much more difficult to read.
Hee hee - Smarmy Threadshitter. I believe I’ve seen a post or two of his. He’s the same guy who willfully misunderstands everything too, isn’t he?
As much as I’d like to steal credit for Smarmy, I have to give props to Dooku who mentioned Smarmy Threadshitter in his thread here.
And the unwritten rule around here is-if you make a claim, YOU have to back it up with cites. Not “My post is my cite”. Not “My grandfather is such and such and so I know this!” Not “It’s common sense.”
If you don’t have any evidence, but feel it’s an important point, say, “Well, I don’t have a site, unfortunately, but I HAVE heard blah blah, and I was wondering if anyone else was familiar with this?”
And when someone asks you for a cite, don’t say, “Go look it up-google is free!” No, I am not going to do your work for you.
Can I still say “You can’t make me!” Or “I don’t have to - everybody knows that!” Or “Help! I’m being oppressed by the system!”
Sure. We still need someone to laugh at when the TM begin following all the other rules in this thread.
We ARE the system.
Cite, please? 
I just wanted this repeated. I hate it when people do this.
Giraffe, I even would like to expand. If you’re going to have an OP with minimal verbiage, and one of your words is a link (as in, one that’s coded so we can’t see the web address) please give us a hint to what we’re being linked to.
Is it an image? Is it a joke? A movie clip? A news article? Just a little something, please.
Don’t say “mmm’kay?” or some variant thereof. It sounds smarmy and it makes me want to dropkick disabled chihuahuas collecting for easter seals.
This goes both ways, unfortunately. If you make an incorrect assertion, and when it is proven incorrect, you back off the position and retract the assertion, good for you. But don’t assume that everybody who comments on your assertion has read your retraction. Don’t spin yourself up to the ceiling again when the refutations continue; if you must respond to them, simply refer to your retraction by post number.
It would be nice if everybody read the entire thread before posting, and brought himself up to speed before re-posting. It would also be nice if everybody would voluntarily retract rebuttals of already-retracted positions.* But these nice things often don’t happen. Someone needs to be the first person to take the high road in situations such as these.
The other way leads to trainwrecks and meltdowns.
[sub]* And as long as I’m making wishes, can somebody give me the California Super Lotto numbers for next Saturday?[/sub]
OTOH, I approve of drop-kicking chihuahuas (disabled or otherwise) who are soliciting door-to-door, thus giving me an incentive to increase my usage of “mmm’kay?” seven fold.
It is not a requirement to swear in a Pit post. The mods won’t ban you if your post doesn’t have enough swear words. Saying shit like, “Oh, and since this is the pit, piss shit cunt fucker goat cum” is not cute, is not funny, is not badass, yet it is annoying, played-out, and makes me think that you’re juvenile and that you derive a secret giggly pleasure from saying those words.
If the OP rants against some annoying practice, it’s not cute/funny/badass to do that exact behavior in the very next post.