# What happened to the Liberal pit thread? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 5, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444 "2009-05-05T18:18:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/1 "2009-05-05T18:18:55Z")
Titled: "Liberal, you dickwad hypocrite " The OP was, as many suspected, a sock. We banned the account. No, \*\*Marley \*\*didn’t do it. We disappeared the thread because the OP was a sock. We don’t have a problem with the topic. A non-sock may start a new thread on the topic. **Gfactor** Moderator ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/2 "2009-05-05T18:23:56Z")
Now **Bricker** will never see where I insinuated I slept with his wife. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/3 "2009-05-05T18:32:22Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > We disappeared the thread because the OP was a sock. We don’t have a problem with the topic. > > **Gfactor** > Moderator Yeah, but there was a pretty important, nay, precedent setting ruling in that thread that should have been stickied. It involved, uh, crowing thunts. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/4 "2009-05-05T18:37:17Z")
just when it was starting to get interesting! darn you, **Gfactor**! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/5 "2009-05-05T18:45:29Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > stickied. . . . crowing thunts. I see what you did there, sort of. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/6 "2009-05-05T19:10:14Z")
Couldn’t you just delete the post made by the sock (1) and leave the rest of it? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/7 "2009-05-05T19:12:03Z")
Oh, come on, it’s not like there was much of anything happening that hasn’t happened in dozens of **Lib** pittings in the past, and won’t happen in dozens of **Lib** pittings in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/8 "2009-05-05T19:17:10Z")
> [@Sapo](#): > > Couldn’t you just delete the post made by the sock (1) and leave the rest of it? It’s not in the way of things. 😉 (name the source of that quote, if you can). Besides, we’ve got a new spiffier one, right here: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11108748](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11108748) ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/9 "2009-05-05T19:36:52Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Oh, come on, it’s not like there was much of anything happening that hasn’t happened in dozens of **Lib** pittings in the past, and won’t happen in dozens of **Lib** pittings in the future. Maybe the world ends after a set number of Lib pittings and this is setting us back. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/10 "2009-05-05T19:39:08Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > It’s not in the way of things. or your genuine urge?, is it instead just something you do with no rational reason whatsoever? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/11 "2009-05-05T20:10:47Z")
> [@Sapo](#): > > Maybe the world ends after a set number of Lib pittings and this is setting us back. Yes, the Mayan thread counter of **Lib** pittings stops at 5,126! Be afraid, be very afraid. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/12 "2009-05-05T20:14:13Z")
> [@Sapo](#): > > or your genuine urge?, is it instead just something you do with no rational reason whatsoever? In this case, it’s not something that \*I \*did. Somebody else did it. I just posted this thread to explain what had happened. But it _is_ consistent with the way we have customarily handled these matters. The quote, by the way, is from the movie Circle of Iron. In an early scene, the hero is challenged by a monkey-man, who taunts him mercilessly. The hero asks, as we’ve all wondered during scenes like this, “What if I just go around you?” And the monkey guy responds, “It’s not in the way of things.” The monkey guy had a better answer up his sleeve, though, because the hero didn’t know where the next destination on his quest was until he’d beaten the monkey guy, but that’d be a less mysterious answer. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/13 "2009-05-05T20:51:17Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Yes, the Mayan thread counter of **Lib** pittings stops at 5,126! Be afraid, be very afraid. We must already be dead then! This must be the Mayan afterlife! [looks around] ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/14 "2009-05-05T21:06:18Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > In this case, it’s not something that \*I \*did. Somebody else did it. I just posted this thread to explain what had happened. But it _is_ consistent with the way we have customarily handled these matters. > > The quote, by the way, is from the movie Circle of Iron. In an early scene, the hero is challenged by a monkey-man, who taunts him mercilessly. The hero asks, as we’ve all wondered during scenes like this, “What if I just go around you?” And the monkey guy responds, “It’s not in the way of things.” The monkey guy had a better answer up his sleeve, though, because the hero didn’t know where the next destination on his quest was until he’d beaten the monkey guy, but that’d be a less mysterious answer. Oh, this is all Google got me: > **[Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1C1CHMI_enPR306PR306&q=%22It%27s+not+in+the+way+of+things%22&btnG=Search)** Hmm… Why does linkie no workie? (It does if you cut and paste it) ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/15 "2009-05-05T21:21:04Z")
> [@Sapo](#): > > Oh, this is all Google got me: > > [Google Search](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1C1CHMI_enPR306PR306&q=%22It's+not+in+the+way+of+things%22&btnG=Search) > > Hmm… Why does linkie no workie? (It does if you cut and paste it) You have parse links turned off. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/16 "2009-05-06T11:42:20Z")
Can we know who was the banned sock wearer? ---
**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:** [May 6, 2009, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/17 "2009-05-06T12:23:05Z")
Can I suggest that this policy be revisited? I _hate_ the idea that posts by legit users get thrown out because a sock posted. It seems like you’re punishing legit posters for falling for a troll’s scam. Granted, this case doesn’t seem to be a big deal, but I’ve seen a number of fun and/or interesting threads disappeared because a troll started them. If the idea is to stop the troll by getting attention, this policy isn’t working–the one who posted the original thread now has 3 threads about him/her. (the original, this, the reboot thread)–and telling people not to ask is like saying “DNFTT”–nice theory, doesn’t work. Wouldn’t a better solution just be to change the name of the troll to “SOCK10010100111001” or something? It removes any “fame” they might have in their name (who’s gonna keep a long binary sequence straight?) but doesn’t punish the posters. My 2c. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/18 "2009-05-06T12:42:57Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Can I suggest that this policy be revisited? > > I _hate_ the idea that posts by legit users get thrown out because a sock posted. It seems like you’re punishing legit posters for falling for a troll’s scam. Granted, this case doesn’t seem to be a big deal, but I’ve seen a number of fun and/or interesting threads disappeared because a troll started them. > > If the idea is to stop the troll by getting attention, this policy isn’t working–the one who posted the original thread now has 3 threads about him/her. (the original, this, the reboot thread)–and telling people not to ask is like saying “DNFTT”–nice theory, doesn’t work. > > Wouldn’t a better solution just be to change the name of the troll to “SOCK10010100111001” or something? It removes any “fame” they might have in their name (who’s gonna keep a long binary sequence straight?) but doesn’t punish the posters. > > My 2c. It’s easy to remove a sock’s posts. But if a scok starts a thread, it is impossible to delete the initial post to a thread while leaving the rest in place. (I presume this has to do with how the database ties posts to threads and threads to forums, but it does seem to be inherent in VBulletin and unchangeable. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2009, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/19 "2009-05-06T12:49:52Z")
No–leave the post, change the name of the sock so they don’t get any recognition. Or edit the post to say “This was a sock who said… (one or two sentence precis)” ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444/20 "2009-05-06T12:55:16Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > No–leave the post, change the name of the sock so they don’t get any recognition. Or edit the post to say “This was a sock who said… (one or two sentence precis)” I was actually screwing around with something like this second method when I got busy with the current \*\*Liberal \*\*pitting. I may see if I can finish it up at work today. But Lost is on tonight, so if I don’t; I don’t. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-liberal-pit-thread/495444.md?page=2)