# The Powers That Be and Peons. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 21, 2013, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968 "2013-02-21T14:26:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pchaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/258eb7/32.png) [@pchaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pchaos)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/1 "2013-02-21T14:26:15Z")
Guys, Let’s be frank, my name is peon. We are all equal except there is the Powers to Be. It’s a book by the recently departed David Halberstam. A great writer that will be missed. At the SDMB who are the Powers that Be? Let me have your opinion so that I can bow and then politely stay out of their way. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/2 "2013-02-21T14:29:07Z")
The Mods and Admins. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/3 "2013-02-21T14:32:23Z")
Am I missing something? Who is being pitted? ---
**Author:** ![pchaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/258eb7/32.png) [@pchaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pchaos)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/4 "2013-02-21T14:34:43Z")
The Powers That Be are being pitted. I’m trying to figure out who they are so that I can wash their feet and kiss their ass. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/5 "2013-02-21T14:37:43Z")
I think this will be the end of pchaos the troll. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/6 "2013-02-21T14:40:57Z")
Drunk posting at 6:30 am? Niiiice. PS - I’m not a guy. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/7 "2013-02-21T14:44:21Z")
> [@pchaos](#): > > Guys, > > Let’s be frank, my name is peon. We are all equal except there is the Powers to Be. It’s a book by the recently departed David Halberstam. A great writer that will be missed. At the SDMB who are the Powers that Be? Let me have your opinion so that I can bow and then politely stay out of their way. Have you ever received a diagnosis for a mental health disorder? ---
**Author:** ![pchaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/258eb7/32.png) [@pchaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pchaos)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/8 "2013-02-21T14:49:41Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Have you ever received a diagnosis for a mental health disorder? Nah, I think I would drive the psychiatrist crazy. Actually, in my teens I had this weird insight. As we get older, don’t you ever get the feeling that this is a crazy world? What about the possibility of going crazy as a rational response to life? Then that would imply that crazy people are rational and rational people are crazy because they remain rational. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/9 "2013-02-21T14:51:31Z")
The farce is strong with this one. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/10 "2013-02-21T15:02:28Z")
> [@pchaos](#): > > As we get older, don’t you ever get the feeling that this is a crazy world? Yep. And after reading this thread I feel just a little bit older. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/11 "2013-02-21T15:02:38Z")
I think what we have here - pardon me, \*heah \*- is a faiiilyur to co’municate. Our pal \*\*pchaos \*\*is one of that group who don’t quite get what a forum is all about, especially an intellectually upscale and firmly moderated one. The endless sandboxes full of cat poop and discarded diapers - comment streams on bloggity things, if I wasn’t clear - have promoted the idea that any spew is equal to any other spew, and have brought in some fringes of the online spectrum (young and very naive, and older and still naive). The rulez there say that anyone can post any thing that falls out of their brain, considered or not, and are supposed to be allowed to, no matter how inflammatory, extreme, naive or just plain stupid it might be. When that attitude crosses with an old-school forum, some of the subjects burn their fingers and learn, but a regrettable number keep trying to piss upwind and can’t quite figure out why everyone getting splattered is annoyed with them. They’re just being suppressed, picked on, hammered down by the forum jackboots, etc. They learn, they go away in a sulk, or they get banned. Which makes wading in those sandboxes all the harder, since there’s no one there who can clue the idiots. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/12 "2013-02-21T15:04:45Z")
So now you know who the powers what be are here. So let’s have it, make with the Pitting. Don’t forget about the minimum number of swearwords. It think it’s up to 5? ---
**Author:** ![pchaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/258eb7/32.png) [@pchaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pchaos)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/13 "2013-02-21T15:06:56Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > Don’t forget about the minimum number of swearwords. It think it’s up to 5? Give me a break, at my last count there are now approximately three threads pitting me. There must be a maximum number of threads that can be running at one time. Let’s be fair guys. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/14 "2013-02-21T15:07:28Z")
Reported for forum change, although that may very quickly become unnecessary. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/15 "2013-02-21T15:12:03Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Reported for forum change, although that may very quickly become unnecessary. Agreed. Questions about the mechanics of the boards should go into ATMB instead of the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/16 "2013-02-21T15:15:30Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > I think what we have here - pardon me, \*heah \*- is a faiiilyur to co’municate. Our pal \*\*pchaos \*\*is one of that group who don’t quite get what a forum is all about, especially an intellectually upscale and firmly moderated one. The endless sandboxes full of cat poop and discarded diapers - (snip) I just kind of found this amusing because that thread about people throwing dog poop in other people’s garbage cans is up to 4 pages and still going 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/17 "2013-02-21T15:15:44Z")
I hope he lawyer’s up pretty quick before taking on the “Powers That Be.” I hear they can be pretty tough. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/18 "2013-02-21T15:17:02Z")
> [@pchaos](#): > > Guys, > > Let’s be frank, my name is peon. We are all equal except there is the Powers to Be. It’s a book by the recently departed David Halberstam. A great writer that will be missed. At the SDMB who are the Powers that Be? Let me have your opinion so that I can bow and then politely stay out of their way. People you should avoid on this board: The Moderators. The Aministrators. Posters that hate jerks. Posters that have an I.Q. over 75. Posters that hate being lied to. Posters that hate bigotry from ignorant religionists. Posters that understand how a dictionary works. Me. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/19 "2013-02-21T15:17:46Z")
> [@pchaos](#): > > Give me a break, at my last count there are now approximately three threads pitting me. There must be a maximum number of threads that can be running at one time. Let’s be fair guys. Hey - jackass - you started # 3 - you haven’t responded to thread #1 - and you could robopost the crap you’ve been posting everywhere else. TO complain that there are 3 and you started the third is - really - really - STUPID. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968/20 "2013-02-21T15:36:08Z")
> [@simster](#): > > TO complain that there are 3 and you started the third is - really - really - STUPID. You sound. . . surprised? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-powers-that-be-and-peons/650968.md?page=2)