Pitting the latest trend to hit the SDMB: starting every Pit thread with "Pitting".

The BBQ Pit
#1

Maybe I’ve just been ultra-sensitive recently, but it seems to me that the latest fad around here is to begin every thread with one of three things:

1)“Pitting…”, as in “Pitting my dead goldfish and the toilet I flushed him down”

  1. “I Pit thee…”, as in “I Pit thee, guy who left the giant log in my toilet”

3)“In which I Pit…”, as in “In which I Pit my dog for some esoteric reason that doesn’t matter”

Again, this may be my imagination, but this seems to be the latest fad in Pit thread titling. I haven’t bothered to do a search, but on the front page right now there are 6 examples of this type of thread titling (7 if you count this parody of those threads), and there are countless other examples that aren’t on the front page but are pretty easily searched out if you want to do so.

The reason why I take such careful note of this, and the reason why I find it so mindlessly annoying, is because it is a restatement of something totally obvious. You’re posting it in the Pit. I think it’s safe to say that we know what’s coming, being in the Pit and all. It shows a total lack of creativity, and the threads with those titles suffer as a result.

Since this is a thread about things that really annoy me, I’ll just pile on and say a few more things that irritate me, the fads that never die:

  1. “Oh, and since this is the Pit”, followed by gratuitous swearing.
  2. “Gotcha ya”, “I burning your dog”, and numerous other catch phrases.
    3)“Hi, Opal!” Need I say more?
  3. “Ah, they’re 1920s Style Death Rays…”

I once again respectfully submit that if you use any of those examples more than one or two times in your entire existence here on the SDMB you are a mindless, humorless automaton and should probably think about taking classes in creative writing or English composition so that you don’t have to rely on trite, boring, and juvenile writing examples that have long since worn out their welcome here.

As it is, I know this is a petty complaint, because nobody types stuff like “j00 r teh su><><0r!!!111!!1!” on a regular basis, and I think we’re all thankful for that, but with just a little effort, we can end this dependence on mind-numbingly stupid catch phrases and boring fads and make the SDMB a better place, and we can reclaim the Pit as a place where original and creative vitriol can be spewed once more without the restraints put upon us by inane thread titles and old-and-busted catch phrases. Thank you.

#2

Joke thread?

#3

Or more specifically, parody sans link?
Overall, however, I agree with you for the most part. Barring that my latest pit thread starts with “Pitting…”

#4

  1. Airman, I trust you realize that this thread is doomed to become a litany of posts utilizing precisely the catchphrases about which you are complaining.

  2. Use of catchphrases and inside jokes is ubiquitous in every group of people I’ve ever been a part of, and likely most every group I’ve not been a part of as well. Is there a message board out there that doesn’t contain this sort of thing? Slashdot, the only other board I read with any regularity, certainly has it in abundance, with “In Soviet Russia” jokes, and faux business models ending in “3) ??? 4) Profit!”, etc. I suppose some boards focusing on technical matters and where posters are not spending recreational time might be exempt, but that’s not going to be the case here.

  3. No, I must refrain. It’s just too obvious.

#5

Do you know what bothers me? It doesn’t have anything to do with this rant, but it’s not annoying enough for its own thread.
Folks who quote an entire post and then add a one word or one smiley face afterwards.

#6

:: catchphrase ::

:: catchphrase ::

:: catchphrase-catchphrase ::

There. Now that that’s out of my system (a log in the hopper, as it were?), I tend to agree that putting “Pit” in Pit thread titles is lame. Especially when there are so many excellent words – deride, condemn, loathe, execrate, despise, spit on, pooh-pooh (okay, so that’s lame too), backhand, call down Jehovah’s wrath upon, skewer upon my rapier of repugnance, etc., etc. – that can do the job.

As Gorsnak says, though, catchphrases are damn near impossible to eradicate. Used sparingly, and in just the right context, they can be the perfect rejoinder. Of course, they’re always overused. Wouldn’t be catchphrases if they weren’t, eh?

#7

I considered opening a new thread, Pitting the pitting of pitting pits: Pitting Pit Pitter, I pit thee, but figured I would only get pitted in kind. Pitting the pitter who pitted the pitting of pitting pits.

It gets really repititious.

#8

It does seem pretty damned redundant to say in the Pit, that ‘I’m pitting whatever.’

There are some things that do not have to be spelled out, right?

So what is with this trend?

#9

I think it was a spontaneous witticism from someone that just got carried away.

“I Pit thee…” sounds vaguely Shakespearean, and the first time I saw it I will admit that it was kinda clever, but now it’s a dead horse. Unfortunately, as with all clever things it has worn out its welcome because everyone thinks they’re being clever by copying it.

#10

So, a lot of Pit threads are uninteresting to you. I also am frequently disappointed by SDMB content, and I’m even more sure that others are disappointed by my additions to the content.

I only opened this thread because you are Airman Doors, and you often have something interesting to say. You have achieved a reputation, at least in my mind, of worthwhileness. So the many threads in the Pit lately don’t rise to that designation. What are you gonna do? Skip 'em, or bitch about them?

At least we have a firm prohibition against joke threads now. I heartily approve. Read the OPs of posters you like, and skip the rest. If the requirement were “be interesting” most people would be afraid to post at all, ever.

#11

At least “pitting the _____” threads are clear what they’re about. Much better than topic titles like Fuck you asshole fuck you shit fuck or Goddmaned that pisses me off you goddamned nitwit", which give the reader no idea what the thread is about. The new thing where you can read part of the message by mousing on it is good for that.

#12

Amen, brother or sister. That is almost as irritating as that dumbass death ray thing.

#13

I am only a Pit dilettante, but I have to agree with Airman Doors, at least as far as Pit thread names go. The words “The thread in which I Pit” are extraneous; titles are limited in length. Why waste one’s precious character allotment on puffery? It’s like saying “because of the fact that” instead of “since.” I don’t care if it’s a tradition or a fad. Either way, it’s simply bad writing.

I’m less enthusiastic about shooting down catchphrases when they’ve been too often used. To everyone on the board, at one time, everything is new and clever. Of course, at some point, everyone asked the questions that are being asked now in GQ. Are we next to forbid certain questions because they’ve been asked before?

Somewhere there’s a line between letting people post those catchphrases and culling out unnecessary count-bumping posts like “hey, how you doin?’” and “Batman, if he’s prepared.” One-liner posts probably consume a large amount of the server’s time.

Then again, if it were up to me, I’d question how much of the board’s bandwidth is sucked up by The BBQ Pit itself. Whose ignorance does the Pit dispel? I venture to say that with our recent in-and-outflux of now-banned members, some people spend far, far too much time posting rants and venting flames without contributing anything meaningful. I don’t dare mention names, but I’d love to see profile stats that show how often a user posts in a particular forum. I question why some of us spend so much time posting here.

#14

I almost started this thread just now. In fact, thats why I came into the Pit: I had time to compose my OP.

So, instead of now taking the time to do that, let me just add a “me too” to the OP.

#15

You know what really bugs me?

Good, then I don’t have to go on about it at length.

#16

I’m really, really tired of “Since this is the Pit, let me just say” followed by nonsense vulgarity. Swearing is NOT mandatory in the Pit. And if a thread should be moved, yet has vulgarity in it, then mostly I won’t move the thread. I’m not going to make a rule about it, not yet anyway, but it does bother me. I’d like to move threads to the other forums if they would be more appropriate. IF the board is moving with any speed at all, that is. If the board is slow, I’m just as likely to close the thread because it’s not in the right spot. Moving a thread can take a few seconds, or it can take ages.

#17

Here’s a little mini-pit within your own pit, just for you, Airman Doors, USAF, for starting this Pit thread about Pitting the latest trend to hit the SDMB: starting every Pit thread with “Pitting”. with ‘Pitting…’.

I mean, what kind of ‘Post as I say, not as I post.’ kinda malarkey is that?

The worst thing about starting Pit threads with ‘Pitting…’ is that it’s a promulgation of that Evil of Evils… The Verbing of a Noun!

Back up to the main pit…

#18

:: can’t resist … the obvious! ::

Hi, Opal! I burning your OP. Ah, it’s 1920’s style sarcasm. Oh, and since this is the Pit, fuck.

:: Aaaaaaaaaaaa!!! ::

:eek:

#19

Stay with any community, actual or virtual, long enough and you’ll have to either suffer the stupid buzzwords catch phrases that come with the territory or give in and be part of the problem.

I was once in a Fantasy Football League, and their catchphrase was, “I wish my (insert position here) had the talent of an Olympic Level Athlete.”

WHY? I DON’T KNOW!

I once dated a chick whose friends were all SCA posers. Their catchphrase was “Chompy chomp. Chompy chewy chomp.” Even if they weren’t eating.

WHY? I DON’T KNOW!

I don’t ask because that would give them the satisfaction of thinking somebody cared.

The 1920’s death style rays thing annoys me the most here at SDMB, I’ll admit, at the risk of getting inundated with it. I started putting the most guilty offenders on ignore, but the content of too many threads got blanked out, so in a sense they won. Shows you what a major power the abundance of assholishness can be.

#20

I’m gonna go ahead and get all psychological and shit here. I think people have an innate tendency to find comfort in the familiar. Consider the similarities in the following:

“All your base are belong to us”

“When come back bring pie”

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…”

“I pledge allegiance to the flag…”

Constant repetition of trite phrases gives people a sense of belonging, like they’re all part of the same group and all utter the same phrase.