# Where would I put a "roast" thread? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 3, 2004, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-i-put-a-roast-thread/277986 "2004-12-03T23:41:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-i-put-a-roast-thread/277986/1 "2004-12-03T23:41:12Z")
So I was thinking today that I’d like to start a “roast” thread for **Liberal** , as he is fast approaching 20,000 posts. But where to put it? He certainly inflames people, so I’d be inclined to put it in the pit. But then again, I wouldn’t necessarily be pitting him, so would it then be construed as a joke thread, which wouldn’t be allowed? I could put it in MPSIMS, but I’m afraid it might get nasty. What to do? I don’t have any way of knowing which way it might turn…but I like the idea of a “roast” since we could give him a hard time…any advice, Oh Oracles? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-i-put-a-roast-thread/277986/2 "2004-12-04T00:24:52Z")
> [@Ghanima](#): > > But then again, I wouldn’t necessarily be pitting him, YOU wouldn’t, but, eventually, someone would. It would get ugly, hamsters would be sacrificed, and TVeblen or Lynn would leap from the shadows and open up a keg of whupass on everybody. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-i-put-a-roast-thread/277986/3 "2004-12-04T00:28:52Z")
Best not. We are generally opposed to post parties, it encourages posting just to pad the count, which is, no pun intended, counterproductive to what we’re about here. Though this is with the best of intentions, it’s not a good idea for quite a few reasons, not least of which is the aforementioned big mess o’upset to the Pit mods. Why don’t you just send him flowers? Chocolate’s nice too. 🙂 your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-i-put-a-roast-thread/277986/4 "2004-12-04T00:48:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Why don’t you just send him flowers? Chocolate’s nice too. Nah, I don’t like him _that_ much… ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-i-put-a-roast-thread/277986/5 "2004-12-04T02:46:09Z")
A roast!? A roast requires a certain mindset: Knowledge that the barbs, though accurate at times, are not meant as a sign of anger, distaste, or hatred; but are outweighed by a larger relationship of respect and love. It also requires knowing the difference between insults based on made-up stuff, exaggeration, and dead-on insight. Now, who will know who is roasting out of respect or grudge? And how will a board cope with over the top exaggerated humor when there are so many who don’t get a joke or hyperbolic statement unless it’s accompanied by an emoticon? Not to mention the ones who die a million aneurisms any time they see a rolls-eye emoticon, let alone a blatant ‘joke’ insult. Just a bad idea in this particular setting. Peace. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-i-put-a-roast-thread/277986/6 "2004-12-04T10:47:27Z")
It’s a really sweet thought, Ghanima, but I never held post parties even when it was okay. I’ve seen too many newbies (SentientMeat comes to mind) who proved that a post count is pretty irrelvant. If there were a light-to-heat stat for posts that are insightful, Sentient would be running at 90% and I’d be somewhere around maybe 50% — with generous interpretations applied. That said, I could always roast myself: I was astonished once when Lib proved that pigs can fly. He did it by redefining “fly” to mean “wallow in mud”. (bah-DUM!) Lib exploded one day, blasting my thread with a twenty-paragraph indictment of jackbooted government thugs. Unfortunately, he had misread the OP. I told him, “This is about _taxis_, dear.” (bah-DUM!) It’s a bit frustrating arguing with Lib about religion. I mean, what do you say to a guy who thinks God is a couple of squiggly lines and the letter “G”? (bah-DUM!) When Lib changed his username, I thought he’d finally come to his senses. But now it’s like someone named “Captain Ahab” on a “Save the Whales” mission. (bah-DUM!) I gotta admit, Lib has some interesting ideas for solving problems. I opened a Pit thread once, complaining about the damage from Hurricane Frances. Lib chimed in, “Why not just eliminate hurricanes?” (bah-DUM!) ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-i-put-a-roast-thread/277986/7 "2004-12-04T12:14:55Z")
> [@](#): > > _Liberal_ > “This is about taxis, dear.” There have been some bad puns on this Board. That is right up there. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-i-put-a-roast-thread/277986/8 "2004-12-13T14:51:15Z")
> [@](#): > > If there were a light-to-heat stat for posts that are insightful, Sentient would be running at 90% and I’d be somewhere around maybe 50%. Whatever efficiency you kindly ascribe to me, friend, much of my output is simply _reflected_ from others, no little of it from yourself. _Standing on the shoulders of giants_, and all that. (Which was actually a sly dig at the diminutive physical stature of Robert Hooke, Newton’s nemesis - _ie._ “All of my friends are tall, and I need no help from little runts like you.”)