# Thank you, Dopers and (eventually) Pitters!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [February 9, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500 "2007-02-09T15:18:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 19

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**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/361 "2007-02-18T17:04:48Z")

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[QUOTE=What Exit?]  
**Liberal** , in the end, you just paid a poster $500 to go away.  
[/QUOTE]  
Some people get it (e.g., Xeno); some people don’t (e.g., you). That’s just the nature of the thing. If I had a million to put away in a trust fund, I could afford to expose psycho-babble charlatans who claim they can bend forks with their minds. But I don’t. With my meager funds, I can expose only message board hacks who make people I respect among the atheists look bad, with arguments that consist of nothing more than taunting and pushing buttons, all the while claiming to carry the torch for a noble cause. Der Trihs would never sell out like that. Neither would Badchad. After the “faith is a choice” horseshit, I wanted to know whether Pseudotriton Ruber Ruber would. I got my answer. You don’t like it? Sorry.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/362 "2007-02-18T17:09:48Z")

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There once was a whore named Jodi  
Who sought employment as somebody’s toady  
She thought it nifty  
To slut for a fifty  
Though everyone said it was grody.

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**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/363 "2007-02-18T17:10:21Z")

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[QUOTE=EddyTeddyFreddy]  
The offer’s down to $39.95 for prenoticed adoration  
[/QUOTE]

I’ll do it for $34.95, and I’ll throw in the knife set–a $50 value–for free!

_crickets_

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**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/364 "2007-02-18T17:11:53Z")

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[QUOTE=jsgoddess]  
I’ll do it for $34.95, and I’ll throw in the knife set–a $50 value–for free!

_crickets_  
[/QUOTE]  
Hey! Watch where you throw those knives, dammit! Now I’ve got a cut on my pinkie, and you owe me big time for medical bills plus pain and suffering. :mad:

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/365 "2007-02-18T17:13:13Z")

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[QUOTE=Liberal]  
Der Trihs would never sell out like that.  
[/QUOTE]

Make him an offer and we’ll see.

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**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/366 "2007-02-18T17:13:18Z")

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[QUOTE=EddyTeddyFreddy]  
Hey! Watch where you throw those knives, dammit! Now I’ve got a cut on my pinkie, and you owe me big time for medical bills plus pain and suffering. :mad:  
[/QUOTE]

I’ve got a nickel and a piece of gum.

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/367 "2007-02-18T17:13:36Z")

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[QUOTE=hawthorne]  
Goose cooked. Has charms, but is greasy. Eat hot, repulsive served cold.  
[/QUOTE]

Ah, thanks, good advice in fact. Both the metaphoric advice and the actual.

[QUOTE=xenophon41]  
**What Exit** , it may help you to understand some of the posts that have gone past you to realize that, just occasionally, some of us post with a _wee tetch_ of humor… (See e.g. most of **Bryan Ekers** ’ posts in this thread.)

While the particular deal between **Lib** and the departed poster is too bizarre to be fall-on-the-floor, rip-your-pants funny, it’s certain to become part of board lore, related to disbelieving newbies by jaded Charter Members, in a “I seen a bit o’ everything in my time here, Junior” manner.

And just to say it, although it’s worth no more than your assessment, Jim… my respect for **Lib** remains as it was.

To have made the offer was crass and over the top. But not the most crass, nor the most over the top post on the SDMB (or from **Lib** for that matter), even in the 24 hour period in which it was made. To have accepted such an offer, on the other hand, whether the departed intends to honor it or not, sets a new standard for message board disingenuity after making such a point to be a crusader for a Cause. It’s not usually the _martyred_ ones who walk away with 30 pieces of silver…  
[/QUOTE]

Well I definitely see the entering the SDMB lore part.

I do think the 30 pieces of silver part stinks from both sides. It shows PRR did not care as much about his point as he could have, but on the other hand it is just a message board and he will in theory be $500 richer plus $7.99 per year. I do believe he might be poorer for the loss of the Dope, but then I think I like the Dope more than average. (possibly more than is healthy. 😉 )

I did ask for them to stand down or stop it many times. I even made a point of saying I do not want to see either stop posting, much earlier. As one of **PRR** ’s few defenders, I have been in this thread from near the start. I do not think I missed much of the humor, I just think the offer and the allowance of the offer stinks to a very high degree.

Did \*\*Lib \*\* just buy off a poster he found annoying, or did he not? Is this the conduct of a good person or a good member?

For the record I was one of the first people to welcome \*\*Lib \*\* back from is sabbatical and I meant it. So when I say my respect has sunk to a new low, I really mean something by this. I thought \*\*Liberal \*\* had been better since his sabbatical and in the last week he has pulled this stunt and the weird attack on \*\*ETF \*\* in the \*\*Lissa \*\* thread. I still have not figured out from where that came.

**twickster** , thank you for your post, this must be why you are among my very favorite posters.

Jim

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**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/368 "2007-02-18T18:03:49Z")

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[QUOTE=twickster]  
(I can, however, assure **Zoe** that he is, in fact, an English professor – and that his claim to have sold a piece of writing to another Doper for publication is true – I am that Doper, I’m editor in chief of a nationally distributed publication, and the piece will run in that publication. Let me know who you want to check \*my \* credentials, and I’ll proceed with that step.).  
[/QUOTE]

OK, Zoe, will you shut the fuck up about it now? Hell, if you were really a grown up, you might even apologize to PRR, but I know that’s probably too much to expect from a good Christian like you.

This thread is truly unbelievable.

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**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/369 "2007-02-18T18:08:09Z")

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[QUOTE=Rubystreak]  
OK, Zoe, will you shut the fuck up about it now? Hell, if you were really a grown up, you might even apologize to PRR, but I know that’s probably too much to expect from a good Christian like you.

This thread is truly unbelievable.  
[/QUOTE]  
It really is…I believe I have just about been rendered speechless.

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**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/370 "2007-02-18T18:10:01Z")

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[QUOTE=Sarahfeena]  
It really is…I believe I have just about been rendered speechless.  
[/QUOTE]

and for less than 500$, I suspect.

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**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/371 "2007-02-18T18:14:25Z")

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> [@What Exit?](#):
>
> Did Lib just buy off a poster he found annoying, or did he not? Is this the conduct of a good person or a good member?

It was crass and over the top conduct, which should have been taken as an insulting jibe by its target. Instead, the boorish offer was assumed to be an insincere bluff, which was then called. As an occasional explainer of (not _apologist for_) **Lib** and others’ --er, less accessible statements, I do my best to grok some of the board’s more interesting members. The first thing you learn about **Lib** using this approach is that sincerity drives _all_ of his posting excesses.

Had either poster more social grace, the snarky offer wouldn’t have developed into an agreement. (I note that a graceful alternative _was_ attempted by the buyer, who would’ve stuck to that had the seller not continued to pursue a contract.)

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**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/372 "2007-02-18T18:27:39Z")

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[QUOTE=wring]  
and for less than 500$, I suspect.  
[/QUOTE]  
Apparently, because it was this thread that did it, and it’s not worth 2 cents.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/373 "2007-02-18T18:27:52Z")

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[QUOTE=xenophon41]  
I note that a graceful alternative _was_ attempted by the buyer, who would’ve stuck to that had the seller not continued to pursue a contract.  
[/QUOTE]

Assuming buyer = Liberal, I have to disagree. He hasn’t shown a moment of grace in this whole thread. He came close in post #160 but blew it by tacking on “Don’t care if five of you think I’m a dick for it.” i.e. a pre-emptive claim of martyrdom. Had he left off that sentence and foregone all further comment (or at least stopped after the brief discussion of charities starting more-or-less at post #165), he might actually have salvaged some dignity from this entire preposterous business. As it is, it fell apart when in post #228, Liberal showed a positively Clintonian talent for minute parsing, followed by rather implausible fears that giving the money directly to prr would put lives at risk.

If there ever was grace in this thread, it was long-ago crushed into jelly.

As an afterthought, prr also had an opportunity at grace, but he blew it just as bad.

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**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/374 "2007-02-18T18:57:08Z")

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[QUOTE=jsgoddess]  
I’ve got a nickel and a piece of gum.  
[/QUOTE]  
:: Confers with attorney ::

The piece of gum is prechewed, I presume? Otherwise it’s no deal.

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**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/375 "2007-02-18T19:04:00Z")

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So why is it that in this particular buy-out, it seems to be only the buyer who’s being criticized, and the one who sold out is being defended as if he had no choice in the matter? I think it was a bit of a sleazy offer, but accepting a sleazy offer makes one pretty sleazy, too. It’s not as if it were a leveraged buyout, where he couldn’t stop it. The guy who takes a bribe is just as guilty as the guy who offers it.

Me, I think this is a low point in my years at the Dope. Makes me a bit sad.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/376 "2007-02-18T19:09:17Z")

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[QUOTE=thirdwarning]  
So why is it that in this particular buy-out, it seems to be only the buyer who’s being criticized, and the one who sold out is being defended as if he had no choice in the matter?  
[/QUOTE]

Are you reading the same thread as the rest of us?

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**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/377 "2007-02-18T19:11:21Z")

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[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers]  
Are you reading the same thread as the rest of us?  
[/QUOTE]

Maybe he’s reading [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=408995) and his question was answered there.

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**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/378 "2007-02-18T19:23:07Z")

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[QUOTE=What Exit?]  
…and the weird attack on \*\*ETF \*\* in the \*\*Lissa \*\* thread. I still have not figured out from where that came.  
[/QUOTE]  
Nor have you asked.

You say you’ve lost respect for me, and that’s regrettable certainly. But now I have to wonder what you meant by the word. Respect, to me, would have constituted at the very least, asking why it should not be withheld. I mean, if I respected a man, I would want to ask him why he did what he did, and get my answers directly from him.

The respect can’t go away if it never first existed.

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/379 "2007-02-18T19:32:17Z")

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[QUOTE=Liberal]  
Nor have you asked.

You say you’ve lost respect for me, and that’s regrettable certainly. But now I have to wonder what you meant by the word. Respect, to me, would have constituted at the very least, asking why it should not be withheld. I mean, if I respected a man, I would want to ask him why he did what he did, and get my answers directly from him.

The respect can’t go away if it never first existed.  
[/QUOTE]

Well you are correct about the **ETF** , part. Could you explain that, even if it is offline. You could email me or use the Private message system. I might have knee jerked this one as I like \*\*ETF \*\* and I am rather down about you currently. I am not being fair. I try to be, but I fail all to often.

As far as the respect part, I have little respect for the way you bought \*\*PRR \*\* out of your hair. If you could not deal with him, you should have ignored him. I can understand why you would be annoyed. I get it, I really do. The offer to buy him off, I thought was at first a joke and then it turned into a pissing contest.

Jim

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thank-you-dopers-and-eventually-pitters/391500/380 "2007-02-18T19:32:34Z")

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[QUOTE=thirdwarning]  
I think it was a bit of a sleazy offer, but accepting a sleazy offer makes one pretty sleazy, too. It’s not as if it were a leveraged buyout, where he couldn’t stop it. The guy who takes a bribe is just as guilty as the guy who offers it.  
[/QUOTE]

What is this all about? A bribe? No. Somehow a slur on PRR’s integrity that he took $500 for leaving a place that was already toxic for him and that he should have left anyway? No.

He did what any sane person would do-- nailed a weasel down and took his $500. Good for PRR.

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