This is a picture perfect example of what’s wrong with having the Pit. When the board allows posters to use any insults of any wording against other posters yet then suddenly rears back and says, well, not those insults, confusion about the line is inevitable. Being a jerk is existentially part of the Pit. Having after-the-fact gradations of jerkiness in the Pit is Orwellian doublethink. There are Pit rules about what is impermissible. The word “jerk” is nowhere mentioned. Hate speech is banned, but the references are to slurs. Does this qualify as a slur? Not in normal English, but when everything is undefined, who knows?
Now, do I think what split_p_j said was jerkiness? Certainly I do. Do I want the mods to issue warnings for jerkiness? Absolutely.
But they don’t. Jerkiness is not moderated here, even outside the Pit. My reporting of jerks is shrugged off. Only organized campaigns protesting the treatment of certain groups creates enough pressure to issue belated rules. Meanwhile, the “don’t be a jerk” rule is violated daily with impunity.
The Pit is unworkable in its current form. I stay out of it for that reason, so I recognize I have little say in any decisions made about it. Once you mods figure out what constitutes jerkiness in the Pit, though, you need to start applying it everywhere because that problem is all pervasive.