# Outsource the Pit **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 22, 2001, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126 "2001-09-22T00:30:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/1 "2001-09-22T00:30:05Z")
In another thread, **k.os** wrote > [@](#): > > I’m reading the thread provided by Mu Mu and I’m shocked that so many people seem to be into SDMB-Bashing over there. I Didn’t know of that Forum before. Hey, how about if we outsource the Pit that direction? It seems to be one of the primary purposes there anyway. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/2 "2001-09-22T01:14:18Z")
So what happened to Mu Mu? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/3 "2001-09-22T02:59:58Z")
Basically, Mu Mu said that someone had been deleting posts because of favoritism in a thread. I had deleted one post in the thread in question, but that was because the poster was a returning sock, and I was tracking down and deleting all posts by that sock. Not because of favoritism. Mu Mu has chosen as his/her username something designed to defeat the search engine. However, s/he has seemed to make posts only to criticize the running of the SDMB, thus violating the “Don’t be a jerk” rule. This was just the most recent example. Mu Mu has consistently ascribed the worst motives to the actions of the admins and mods. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/4 "2001-09-22T03:26:10Z")
Thanks! I was genuinely curious. (By the way, that is quite a strange “feature” of Mu Mu’s username. I tried a search to see what post(s) had prompted the ban, and came up with nothing. Also, it now occurs to me that Mu Mu’s signature and profile seem a bit forced in their justification for the significance of the username. Pretty fishy…) ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/5 "2001-09-22T03:47:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bill H. \* > \*\*Hey, how about if we outsource the Pit that direction? It seems to be one of the primary purposes there anyway. \*\* Not any more. OpalCat recently changed the title of the forum from “SDMB Haven” to “Heads Up!”, with the express stated purpose of making it less of a SD-bashing forum and more of a general chit-chat forum. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/6 "2001-09-22T06:01:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by robby \* > \*\* > (By the way, that is quite a strange “feature” of Mu Mu’s username. I tried a search to see what post(s) had prompted the ban, and came up with nothing. Also, it now occurs to me that Mu Mu’s signature and profile seem a bit forced in their justification for the significance of the username. Pretty fishy…) \*\* IIRC, the search engine can only search for things with at least 3 consectutive alpha numeric characters. Mu Mu’s user name only had 2. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/7 "2001-09-22T11:54:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by robby \* > \*\*Thanks! I was genuinely curious. > > (By the way, that is quite a strange “feature” of Mu Mu’s username. I tried a search to see what post(s) had prompted the ban, and came up with nothing. \*\* Just as an aside, in a number of replies to Mu Mu, I misspelled it’s name \ purely by accident, of course \. If you search for Mu-Shu, Mu Shu, Moo Moo, Moo-Moo or several others, you can find a number of it’s threads. Not all, certainly, but… Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/8 "2001-09-22T13:20:20Z")
Fenris, sweetie, take a hint–just let it go. 😉 There will be others, trust me. 🙂 [sub]walk towards the light[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/9 "2001-09-22T13:24:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by robby \* > \*\*So what happened to Mu Mu? \*\* We outsourced him. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_2fl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Tim\_2fl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_2fl)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/10 "2001-09-22T17:29:51Z")
The “problem” with Mu Mu’s name is one that the mods know how to solve and have refused to do so. They have even “threated” to solve it in the past. The problem is a many-times discussed bug in the search, where you can’t search on strings of two characters. Solution: You just email him that his name is a problem and it is being changed to “MuMu”, which would be searchable. End of “problem”. Since that was never done, it’s pretty clear what the mod’s motives were. They didn’t like his calling them a liar every time they lied, and since they couldn’t debate the point they kept claiming he was some sort of hacker with a magical name. ---
**Author:** ![schief2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@schief2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schief2)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/11 "2001-09-22T17:38:07Z")
[hijack] Out of curiousity, I just tried using the “search” button below **Tim # 2½** ’s post to see what could work a um…‘piece of laundry’ into such a lather in just 8 posts, and it seemed to be showing me all the recent postings for **The Tim** instead. Is that some sort of a bug, or just a software quirk? ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/12 "2001-09-22T18:22:01Z")
Eh. Who knows? We’ll take care of him; he’s done. Kind of a pity. Someone who thinks “assholes aren’t worth the hassle” = “mods are lying” could seriously benefit from some ignorance eradication. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/13 "2001-09-22T19:29:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by schief2 \* > \*\*[hijack] > Out of curiousity, I just tried using the “search” button below **Tim # 2½** ’s post to see what could work a um…‘piece of laundry’ into such a lather in just 8 posts, and it seemed to be showing me all the recent postings for **The Tim** instead. Is that some sort of a bug, or just a software quirk? \*\* We suspect it’s some sort of bug in the search engine software, I’ve sent this over to the techs for an inquiry. Dunno when they’ll get to it or if they’ll be able to do anything but you have to start somewhere. Might wander over to the vB site and see what, if anything, they have to say on the subject as well. Spaces seem to be the deal, I received email on someone else that had a space in their username, seaching on that one was weird too. That makes me inclined to think “bug.” your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/14 "2001-09-22T19:33:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tim # 2½ \* > \*\*The “problem” with Mu Mu’s name is one that the mods know how to solve and have refused to do so. > > They have even “threated” to solve it in the past. The problem is a many-times discussed bug in the search, where you can’t search on strings of two characters. > Solution: You just email him that his name is a problem and it is being changed to “MuMu”, which would be searchable. End of “problem”. > > Since that was never done, it’s pretty clear what the mod’s motives were. They didn’t like his calling them a liar every time they lied, and since they couldn’t debate the point they kept claiming he was some sort of hacker with a magical name. \*\* Now you’re just playing with us, this won’t do at all. your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_and\_I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Cat\_and\_I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_and_I)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/15 "2001-09-22T20:25:04Z")
I don’t think he’s playing with you. You did a similar thing before, don’t you recall? Changing “Do Z” to “DoZ” so you could track her movements. Didn’t work like expected, though. Only let you find the most recent posts. But still, that was enough to make her avoid using the name until she was ready to let it go. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/16 "2001-09-23T01:05:22Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Tim # 2½_: > > Solution: You just email him that his name is a problem and it is being changed to “MuMu”, which would be searchable. End of “problem”. > > Since that was never done, it’s pretty clear what the mod’s motives were. Now how would _you_ know that another member had not received an email to this effect? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/17 "2001-09-23T04:37:56Z")
Jimminy Christmas! What is with you sock people? Look, do you want us to tell your Mom that you’ve been bothering people on the computer again? You could be grounded for a week! ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/18 "2001-09-23T05:33:50Z")
Geez, I started this as a joke and it’s turned into a channel for sock puppets. Mods, close it or not at your will. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/19 "2001-09-23T12:51:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bill H. \* > \*\*Geez, I started this as a joke and it’s turned into a channel for sock puppets. Mods, close it or not at your will. \*\* Actually, **Bill,** this thread is apparently the Roach Motel[sup]tm[/sup] for socks. The check in and they _don’t_ check out. And they’re not even newbie socks. Check out their reg. dates! Yer catching one per day here! All hail **Bill**! (And of course, **Tuba** ) Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsource-the-pit/83126/20 "2001-09-23T13:03:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bill H. \* > \*\*Geez, I started this as a joke and it’s turned into a channel for sock puppets. Mods, close it or not at your will. \*\* Yes, you’re right.