# Most common reason to be Pitted Appears to be Dishonesty? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 13, 2021, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422 "2021-07-13T20:44:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/161 "2021-07-17T20:29:17Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Not even a mild demur is allowed or you will be shouted down and pitted. I’m having a hard time with this one. I’ve recently participated in two highly contentious political threads in which people expressed a wide range of opinions and I don’t think anybody was shouted down. One was about virtue - signaling, exactly the sort of subject that would draw controversy. Now I think Pitters can be unfair at times, twisting people’s words to make them seem worse than they really are. But I really don’t see this as a board - wide problem. What is a board - wide problem is people playing out their personal grudge matches all over the board. The Pit stuff spills over, mucks up other threads, and then it goes back to the Pit, and round and round we go. I wish people would just keep it in the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/162 "2021-07-17T23:07:11Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I’m having a hard time with this one. I’ve recently participated in two highly contentious political threads in which people expressed a wide range of opinions and I don’t think anybody was shouted down. One was about virtue - signaling, exactly the sort of subject that would draw controversy. I was thinking things actually have improved a little recently. No idea why. > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > What is a board - wide problem is people playing out their personal grudge matches all over the board. The Pit stuff spills over, mucks up other threads, and then it goes back to the Pit, and round and round we go. I wish people would just keep it in the Pit. It’s inevitably going to affect interactions outside the Pit. We’re not robots that can just forget whatever abuse we’ve suffered when interacting in other forums. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/163 "2021-07-17T23:10:51Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > It doesn’t even have to be Conservative leaning. You must be in 100% agreement, nothing is allowed other than “we are the chorus and we agree!” . > > Not even a mild demur is allowed or you will be shouted down and pitted. I don’t think you and I can possibly be reading the same boards. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/164 "2021-07-17T23:51:07Z")
And yet, despite all your complaints and accusations, you yourself continue to use the Pit, starting threads and Pitting other users. Why would that be? Hmmm? ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/165 "2021-07-18T00:38:20Z")
the problem is as I see it is 90 percent of everyone in this or any thread saying we dont need the pit are the ones that have long pit threads about them often going back years and years and they get called out on the same old thing over and over by the same people over and over … if no ones changing or their actions or opinions its just the serpent eating its tail … But we do need a place where you can yell f\*\*\* taxes and the irs after they lose your tax return for the 4th time or about those sorry SOBS driving like grandma going to church that infest the 405 during rush hour .making you late … ---
**Author:** ![ZosterSandstorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e0b2c6/32.png) [@ZosterSandstorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZosterSandstorm)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/166 "2021-07-18T01:36:29Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > the problem is as I see it is 90 percent of everyone in this or any thread saying we dont need the pit are the ones that have long pit threads about them often going back years and years and they get called out on the same old thing over and over by the same people over and over … You’re armoring the parts of the plane that have bullet holes. The people still posting here at all are dwarfed in number by the ones who just don’t feel like dealing with the board at all after one experience with the absolutely absurd chain of events that happens whenever someone dares to express an opinion in the debate forum. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/167 "2021-07-18T01:40:59Z")
No one is arguing that the Put should be completely eliminated. We’re saying it is destructive to give users a place where they can attack one another. The idea was that it woud be an escape valve to allow people to blow off steam so they wouldn’t snipe at each other in other forums. I don’t think that works, and I think the pit is simply a festering wound on the board that encourages people’s worst tendencies and drives away potential users who look there and just see a whole lot of nastiness and want no part of it. I also think the put is used by the majority faction on this board to make the minority’s life here as hard as possible, possibly because their real goal is to silence people with opinions they don’t like and not give them a ‘platform’. By all means keep the Pit as a vehicle for venting at the outside world. Just make personal attacks on other members off limits. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/168 "2021-07-18T01:41:54Z")
> [@ZosterSandstorm](#): > > The people still posting here at all are dwarfed in number by the ones who just don’t feel like dealing with the board at all after one experience with the absolutely absurd chain of events that happens whenever someone dares to express an opinion in the debate forum. Ya got any evidence to back up that claim? ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/169 "2021-07-18T01:42:07Z")
> [@ZosterSandstorm](#): > > The people still posting here at all are dwarfed in number by the ones who just don’t feel like dealing with the board at all after one experience with the absolutely absurd chain of events that happens whenever someone dares to express an opinion in the debate forum. You’ve presented no evidence of that whatsoever. Eta: 🥷 ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/170 "2021-07-18T02:31:59Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Ya got any evidence to back up that claim? [Here’s one.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sdmb-membership-declining-and-whats-the-best-way-to-add-younger-members/944208/557) > [@](#): > > Aside from the fact that participating in any directly political threads just turns into a huge unpleasant pile-on against me, even the non-political threads are tiresome. People constantly find ways to slip in leftist political remarks in any thread regardless of topic and you get slapped down as being off-topic if you ever take the bait and respond to something you fundamentally object to. > > I got tired of constantly having to bite my tongue so I don’t hang out here much anymore. Another data point is that Bricker’s last thread is asking what happened to Shodan before he stopped posting in a long while. I’m sure you’ll say it’s a coincidence. > [@Question about the new rules that got Shodan banned](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-new-rules-that-got-shodan-banned/855724): > > I’ve been away. But as I understand it, and please correct me if I am wrong, it would draw a warning, or at least a note, to say something in Politics and Elections about, say, a prominent female politician, that the politician’s spouse was to be pitied for having to look at her (the politician) naked . . . that the politician was so physically unattractive, in other words, that no spouse could be expected to enjoy the sight, and the necessity of doing so was to be pitied. Is that a fair guess… Some other data points are people getting frustrated in this thread. Other data points are the reason this thread started – multiple people who want the Pit to be shut down from the thread that spawned this one. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/171 "2021-07-18T02:56:45Z")
Can confirm. I was that Bricker. To be crystal clear, the reason I stopped participating here was the ultra one-sided unpleasant experience of being attacked, especially in the Pit, by tactics that I was not permitted to use in equal measure in reverse… not that such reversal would be particularly palatable. It’s darkly amusing to now read that there’s no proof that this might have contributed to my SDMB demise. Perhaps I just took up crochet and got too tired of typing— who can know these things, after all? So, not that I expect this clear and unambiguous statement to sway many partisans… but I left because of precisely the factors suggested by Heffalump. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/172 "2021-07-18T03:04:15Z")
From the linked thread, presented without comment: > [@](#): > > The OP seems to be based on misinformation. I suggest that you review the announcement of [Shodan’s banning,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=896190&highlight=shodan) and [the extensive discussion on the banning.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=896195&highlight=shodan) > > **Shodan’s** banning was not due to the offense you describe, and I would not call the rules exactly new. If you still have questions after reading these threads, you are free to open another thread. Given that we had a long and contentious discussion only a month ago I am closing this one. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/173 "2021-07-18T12:43:52Z")
There’s also [this](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-luck-signing-off/843952): > [@Good luck, signing off](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-luck-signing-off/843952/1): > > I always strived to be impartial – often withdrawing from threads where I had to moderate, or not even starting to participate when I felt the thread may need moderation in the future. But that meant I got to participate a lot less. And as more and more likeminded folks have left the board, it became increasingly frustrating when good arguments were not made in lieu of bad ones. > > Lately I’ve been a bit disillusioned with the state of things. Most conservative voices on the Dope are gone. There are a few voices left who I think always present strong arguments, but their voices are few and far between. What’s left are many of the dregs, and it brings down the quality of discourse. Nearly any prolific conservative poster has a running pit thread. Every comment is interpreted in the most negative way possible, and after a while it gets pretty tedious. Granted, much of what is said is well deserved. But some of it isn’t. But rather than quality argument, intelligent voices gets drowned out by low quality bickering. > > The board just isn’t the place it once was for me – a place to engage in spirited debate. And as more and more conservative voices leave, the chance of that coming back gets less and less. I can’t do it as a moderator, and there are few conservative posters left who can and are willing to engage in the level of debate that I enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/174 "2021-07-18T12:54:49Z")
Hi, **Bricker!** Sorry you felt you had to leave. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/175 "2021-07-18T13:23:58Z")
Hi Bricker! I’m happy to see you post. I enjoy spirited debate, although i suppose i now have the same problem Bone complained of. I will be happy if you choose to post again, though, even though i tend towards more liberal perspectives than you. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/176 "2021-07-18T14:07:14Z")
Bricker’s back! Yay! Bricker’s just back to complain. Awww… We miss you Bricker! And yes, you did get more then your fair share of heat. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/177 "2021-07-18T14:09:22Z")
Hi Bricker, I hope that with Trump\* gone, maybe you’ll be willing to post again. I always thought you took far more crap that you deserved. As in I thought you were a good poster that contributed to the boards. I know you weren’t a Trumper, but Trump increased the attack anyone to the right of center or a Republican on this board a lot. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/178 "2021-07-18T18:10:39Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I hope that with Trump\* gone, maybe you’ll be willing to post again. Really? This is your takeaway from all of this? That it is Trump’s fault? It is not that the board allows personal attacks and even dedicates a forum to it. It is not that posters are intolerant and attack those with other beliefs. It is not that mods will moderate based upon left leaning political beliefs. It is not that Bricker is even a Trump supporter, but it is Trump’s fault for making posters act so daggone mean. This attitude is the issue. Bricker told you exactly why he left and instead of responding in substance it becomes about Trump. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/179 "2021-07-18T18:19:19Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > There’s also [this](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-luck-signing-off/843952) I see you cut it just before he gave the _real_ reason he had to sign off… ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422/180 "2021-07-18T18:19:27Z")
Yes, really. I think the board got meaner if you like during Trump. But I was just popping in to say hi to @Bricker. I miss his posting. Not sure I why I should feel a need to defend my post, I think this is all on you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-common-reason-to-be-pitted-appears-to-be-dishonesty/946422.md?page=10)