# Mods and the Pit

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-and-the-pit/540404>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [May 22, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-and-the-pit/540404 "2010-05-22T21:23:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-and-the-pit/540404/1 "2010-05-22T21:23:47Z")

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I was in [the ATMB thread regarding **BigT** ’s thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=564081) and **Guinastasia** mentioned not being able to pit the mods. I’ve known this to be true for a while but I don’t know why that is. Is it the unrest that you guys figure this might cause? The mods can participate in discussions like other posters but they can’t be pitted for the things that they say, removing from them a layer of social accountability within the community. Was it always this way?

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**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-and-the-pit/540404/2 "2010-05-22T21:31:17Z")

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You can pit a mod as a poster, just not for mod actions.

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**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-and-the-pit/540404/3 "2010-05-22T21:35:04Z")

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It’s only been that way for about a year and a half. It used to be that you could Pit the Mods for Mod actions as well as Pit them as a poster. Now you can only Pit them for their actions as a normal poster. All Mod complaints have to go in ATMB and you have to be civil about it. This was in conjunction with a few other changes that were extremely controversial at the time and cause a large number of people to quit the boards, many of whom made their way back.

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**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-and-the-pit/540404/4 "2010-05-22T21:37:53Z")

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You can still pit a mod when they are acting as a regular poster. What you can’t do it pit a mod for something done while acting as a moderator. Ex: “I Pit **Marley23** for daring to question the SEC’s utter awesomeness in football”–would be allowed. “I Pit **Marley23** for locking my thread”—would not be allowed, though you could start an ATMB thread to discuss the issue.

I think the theory behind the change was that Mods shouldn’t be abused for performing their official functions, and there were a couple of incidents that were pretty over the top for that kind of thing.

Think the jury is still out on whether the change has made things better or worse. To me, as a casual observer, it seems that in general, Mod/Poster interactions are more terse and less pleasant now that they were before the change.

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**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-and-the-pit/540404/5 "2010-05-22T21:38:13Z")

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Ah, I wasn’t aware that you could pit the mods at all. Thanks for that clarification.