Recently, a thread by Granny Rainbow on the Ten Commandments (that ended up with mindless glossolalia on her part) appeared in The BBQ Pit, which is where I entered the thread.
Later, Granny and I ended up throwing some verbal abuse at each other that did not violate Pit rules, but a bit later I was informed via PM by another poster that the thread had been moved out of the Pit into GD, which as we all know has very different rules, rules that made our use of language forbidden (even though my screen capture still showed that the thread title was indeed listed as a Pit thread). There was no reliable way to know that the thread had been moved out of the Pit, so the thread basically became more or less a hidden “Mod Trap”!
Fortunately, I was not warned or penalized, so this isn’t a complaint about the modding in this instance. But it surely could have ended up with a mod’s black mark against me and/or Granny, which prompts this OP: I hold that no thread should ever be moved from the Pit once it appears there! Moving threads to and from other sections is fine because it cannot produce this dilemma, but as far as Pit threads go, this situation is inherently risky and troubling.
I think a new rule forbidding moving threads out of the Pit should be implemented. What say you?
What? Miller moved the thread around 12 hours before your insults were posted, and he announced the move:
No, sometimes a thread just doesn’t belong in the Pit- usually the threads that get moved are of the “I pit my life/myself” type, but this thread just wasn’t a Pitting. Miller handled everything appropriately and we’re not interested in trapping people with secret thread moves. It looks like you just didn’t notice Miller’s announcement, because you responded to posts by me and Granny Rainbow that were made after the thread was moved and announced. Nobody was warned because the thread went off the rails anyway, but even if you’d received a warning it wouldn’t have been a big deal. Once in a while people forget which forum they’re in.
No. If you read the thread before you post, you’ll usually see a mod note explaining the move. Otherwise, check which forum you’re in before posting. Easy peasy.
In my experience there is always a Mod Notice about the move. Even if that’s something you skip over (not that you normally skip mod posts, but a one-liner when you’re following a heated exchange may slip by), getting a single warning–if it came to that–wouldn’t amount to any significant jeopardy (or so I believe). From what I understand, it takes repeated actions to elicit mod action, not just a one-off or several-off (I guess you’d have to be quite a jerk … oh, nevermind) post with a reasonable explanation. Miss a move out of the Pit several times and it could look like you’re playing coy, but that sounds like an outlier of a case.
Also, I can’t imagine any mod here is setting a Mod Trap by hiding a move. Even if the receiving mod didn’t recognize the move, once something is said (warning, note, whatever), a host of other posters would clarify.
Unless they’re out to get you.
I’d hate to accidentally post in the pit and be forced to ask for its closure and then repost in the right forum–particularly if there are a few posts already. Just my .03, but it seems that there isn’t the peril you’re concerned about and locking things down will add calcification where none is needed.
I completely disagree. I have photographic proof that the thread was still listed as a Pit thread even several hours later! Logic strongly suggests that that should override anything else, especially since everything else is spectacularly easy to miss.
Furthermore, Granny started a Pit thread as a Pit thread with full deliberation and the full knowledge that she was going to get her ass Pitted and Pitted and Pitted, which she emphatically did. The notion that mods be allowed to so casually override a posters’ intention to choose the Pit for a Pitting (in this case, against people who don’t follow the Ten Commandments) is more than a little self-indulgent and peremptory.
There’s nothing to gain and a much to lose by so casually overriding a poster’s intention to start a Pit thread. Leaving a Pit thread in the Pit harms no one, whereas ignoring a poster’s intent and moving their Pit threads out of the Pit serves no one and helps nothing.
Are you sure your proof isn’t a move notice next to the thread title in the forum page? If there’s an arrow by the title, it’s a symbol meaning that the thread is no longer in that forum and has been moved elsewhere. They last for something like half a day to alert posters that a threads in a new location.
The thread was moved at 12:57 a.m. eastern time on Saturday, which is the same minute as Miller’s mod note. If you have a screen grab, it probably shows the thread redirect. The other possibility is that you hadn’t refreshed the page in several hours, like Musicat suggests. But the thread was definitely moved at that time and the mod note was posted at that time.
She wasn’t Pitting people who didn’t follow the Ten Commandments. This is the OP:
That’s not a Pitting of anybody. It’s a discussion topic. The OP may have expected some flaming; she seemed kind of indifferent to the possibility. This is the only insult that was posted while the thread was in the Pit:
Which wouldn’t be allowed in GD, but it’s not egregious. If 10 posters had torn the OP a new one, I think the thread probably would not have been moved. Your comments about the attitude the mods take to this sort of thing - that we’re casually ignoring what the OP wants and being self-indulgent and peremptory - is inaccurate and doesn’t add anything to the discussion. The thread wasn’t a Pitting. Miller made a very understandable call and did nothing wrong. You happened to overlook his instructions. You weren’t warned for that. You could’ve been, but even if it had happened, it would’ve been small potatoes unless you made a habit of ignoring what forum you were posting in. I don’t think threads get moved out of the Pit all that often, but it’s sometimes appropriate and I think this is one of those times.
People get too worked up over Mod notes here. Often, they’re just friendly reminders. In the case of a Pit thread that was moved to GD, I can’t see the Mods giving anyone a formal warning for thinking the thread was still in the Pit.
eta: I can’t help but think of Admiral Ackbar when I read this thread, and I think any warnings given to someone who posts in a thread after it has been moved out of the pit should be given by him. To me, this would be a much more reasonable rule for dealing with the situation.
You can also see what forum a thread is in from within the thread itself. From the top of this page, for instance, we have the links " Straight Dope Message Board > Main > About This Message Board". And then at the bottom of the page, the “Forum Jump” drop-down box starts at “About This Message Board”. So if you’re ever unsure, just scroll to the top or bottom, whichever is closer, and take a look.
Why would he be unsure? He clicked into the topic from the pit, at which point he’s probably just going to assume the topic is in the pit, not start wondering to himself “is this still in the pit?”
People do sometimes forget which forum they’re in. There are ways to check.
I think the point was this: ambushed almost certainly clicked on a thread redirect (which puts the word “Moved” before the thread title), which would mean the thread wasn’t in the Pit anymore. If he was unsure of where he was, there were at least a couple of opportunities for him to see the thread was in GD before he posted: there is the heading at the top of the page, the Forum Jump, and Miller’s mod note.
Granny was a newbie who didn’t seem to know what she was doing. She acted as if she was surprised by the hostility her thread engendered. In fact, she didn’t seem to know much about this board in general. Now, this might have been pretense, but her reactions didn’t make it look that she really knew what she was getting herself into.
She actually joined the board in September 2008 and made three posts (to a thread in IMHO) way back then. But these were her first posts since then and her first posts in the Pit. I agree she didn’t seem to get what the Pit is about, and that she wasn’t looking for a Pitting.