# Question about Pit language rules **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 14, 2017, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pit-language-rules/788934 "2017-06-14T14:38:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [June 26, 2017, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pit-language-rules/788934/61 "2017-06-26T18:10:28Z")
I think it’s arguable that the insult “cunt” is inherently derogatory toward women, but that is neither here nor there. I seem to remember both things happening at the same time, though I may be mistaken. I remember getting PMs encouraging me to leave the boards in protest. Might as well ask now… What is the difference between an administrator and a mod, anyhow? ---
**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:** [June 26, 2017, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pit-language-rules/788934/62 "2017-06-26T18:25:35Z")
Cuntgate happened maybe a few years earlier. And while “cunt” might be misogynistic normally, the usage of it in that specific instance wasn’t even remotely sexually aggressive. The poster’s usage clearly seemed to be intended as a harsher version of “bitch”. As to mods/admin. In the board’s software Admins simply have more rights to do stuff (ban people, things like that). Admins have an extra control panel that allows user name-changes and similar for admins. I vaguely think I remember something about the SDMB not actually giving Admins here actual admin access–they have the title, but not the access/power. I could be 100% wrong on this though. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pit-language-rules/788934/63 "2017-06-26T18:41:05Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Cuntgate happened maybe a few years earlier. > > And while “cunt” might be misogynistic normally, the usage of it in that specific instance wasn’t even remotely sexually aggressive. The poster’s usage clearly seemed to be intended as a harsher version of “bitch”. > > As to mods/admin. In the board’s software Admins simply have more rights to do stuff (ban people, things like that). Admins have an extra control panel that allows user name-changes and similar for admins. I vaguely think I remember something about the SDMB not actually giving Admins here actual admin access–they have the title, but not the access/power. I could be 100% wrong on this though. Mods can ban though, right? I know they usually discuss a banning before one occurs, except for spammers, in which case they just go right in for the kill. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2017, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pit-language-rules/788934/64 "2017-06-26T19:01:30Z")
Mods can ban user accounts and look up IP addresses. Looking up IP addresses is useful for sock hunting. Admins can ban IP addresses, change passwords and look up email addresses of user even if they are hidden by the user. They can also make changes to the board layout, add or remove subforums and change the permissions to the subforums. For example, there is a subforum here, like on most moderated boards, only visible to moderators. Lots of other stuff too. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pit-language-rules/788934/65 "2017-06-26T19:02:53Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > As to mods/admin. In the board’s software Admins simply have more rights to do stuff (ban people, things like that). Admins have an extra control panel that allows user name-changes and similar for admins. I vaguely think I remember something about the SDMB not actually giving Admins here actual admin access–they have the title, but not the access/power. I could be 100% wrong on this though. [Yep.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=718511) It happened subsequent to a database breach where users’ passwords were potentially at risk and the assumption is (but I believe never confirmed) that an administrator account was somehow used in the hacking hence the ‘demotions’. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pit-language-rules/788934/66 "2017-06-28T01:40:55Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > This isn’t a great secret is it? Why so evasive? People were calling a female moderator a cunt and slinging insults she interpreted as sexually aggressive. Then there was an entire hoopla about the shitty treatment of women on this board, which was a real problem at the time. Some posters including many women fled in droves to the Giraffe Boards. The rules were changed to make this place less hostile toward women. I don’t agree with all the changes, but I appreciate the intent behind them. It also included a lot tighter moderation of pervs crashing women’s threads with “show me your titties” nonsense, which used to happen constantly. I’m avoiding letting slip the name of the person in question, which includes any identifying details that aren’t necessary. And it sure seems like a secret, since it seemed everyone was avoiding saying why the rules were put in place. And the rule about “pervs crashing women’s threads” came a whole lot later. I had barely been here when “cunt-gate” started, but I was very much involved in getting that rule enforced. (I even actually deliberately stayed out of certain parts to avoid the mods who hate me not doing it because they hate me.) ---
**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:** [June 28, 2017, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pit-language-rules/788934/67 "2017-06-28T02:46:11Z")
They seemed like a single chain of events. I’ve been here too fucking long. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pit-language-rules/788934/68 "2017-06-29T18:40:32Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I had barely been here when “cunt-gate” started, but I was very much involved in getting that rule enforced. (I even actually deliberately stayed out of certain parts to avoid the mods who hate me not doing it because they hate me.) Wow, you were only here shortly and mods already hated you? You must have really toned it down since then since now you post reasonably and calmly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-pit-language-rules/788934.md?page=3)