# Who started the most Pit threads this year? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 19, 2002, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720 "2002-12-19T02:10:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Buck\_The\_Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Buck\_The\_Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_The_Diver)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/1 "2002-12-19T02:10:10Z")
2002 is winding to a close. Being a curious sort, I wonder which doper fired the flames the most this year. Yet, I have no idea as to how one goes about determining this. So, I turn to the mods. Who was the biggest grouch in 2002? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/2 "2002-12-19T02:18:54Z")
The SDMB search function does not have an option to search for threads in which a particular user made the initial post. We do not do queries on the database that can’t be done through the vBulletin interface. Conclusion: Don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/3 "2002-12-19T04:14:33Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Buck The Diver \* > \*\* Yet, I have no idea as to how one goes about determining this._\* Change your “Show Threads” display for the BBQ Pit to “last year.” Then start counting. There are 4002 threads. Have fun. ---
**Author:** ![lel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8797f3/32.png) [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/4 "2002-12-19T04:57:29Z")
Actually, we’ll never know the exact number due to the wonder that was the Winter of our Missed Content. However, I have sampled five pages at fifty per page from roughly the middle of the following months – April, June, August, October and December – for a total of 250 threads and come up with the following: Four Pit threads started in sample: **Tuckerfan Guinastasia scott evil** Three Pit threads started in sample: **ralph124c Jeff Olsen Mangetout WSLer** All others started two or fewer Pit threads in the above sample. Well, that was mighty inconclusive 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/5 "2002-12-19T09:15:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Colibri \* > \*\*Change your “Show Threads” display for the BBQ Pit to “last year.” > > Then start counting. > > There are 4002 threads. > > Have fun. \*\* At the bottom of every forum are three drop-down boxes: - Sorted by - Ascending/Descending - from (date) In addition to **Colibri** ’s suggestion to set the Date field to “last year,” you should also set the Sort field to “thread starter.” Then start counting. There are 81 pages in the Pit as I write, so it’s probably best to wait until a low-traffic period to do it, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/6 "2002-12-19T10:26:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lel \* > \*\*Actually, we’ll never know the exact number due to the wonder that was the Winter of our Missed Content. However, I have sampled five pages at fifty per page from roughly the middle of the following months – April, June, August, October and December – for a total of 250 threads and come up with the following: > > Four Pit threads started in sample: > **Tuckerfan > Guinastasia > scott evil** > > Three Pit threads started in sample: > **ralph124c > Jeff Olsen > Mangetout > WSLer** > > All others started two or fewer Pit threads in the above sample. > > Well, that was mighty inconclusive 😃 \*\* Indeed; aptly demonstrates the problem with small samples; I don’t think I’ve started more than a handful of pit threads since I got here. ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/7 "2002-12-19T22:50:06Z")
I have an idea. Say we get a committee of Dopers with spair time who’ll search through oh, 10 pages each, to lessen the load on **Earthling**. Then we can tally each the totals ending at a certain pre-determined time (I say we use **Cecil Standard Time** ). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/8 "2002-12-19T23:14:12Z")
I hesitate to post this, since it will undoubtedly set off a competition between these two miscreants to out-do one another before the end of the year. The leader (if you can call it that) at this point is **Fenris** , with 41. The runner-up is **Scylla** , with 40. I believe the next one is **december** , but he hardly counts because I think a lot of those threads weren’t started in the Pit but were moved there from GD. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/9 "2002-12-20T00:47:47Z")
He’s beating me? Shit! I better go hack together some recycled shit and post it. ---
**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:** [December 20, 2002, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/10 "2002-12-20T02:02:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scylla \* > \*\*He’s beating me? > > Shit! > > I better go hack together some recycled shit and post it. \*\* Sooo…how would this differ from your normal posting style? GD&R. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![lel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8797f3/32.png) [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/11 "2002-12-20T02:10:21Z")
**Colibri** , did you just go count 4002 threads? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/12 "2002-12-20T13:24:23Z")
Where the hell is **kabbes** when you need him? ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/13 "2002-12-20T15:21:12Z")
Watching interestedly with everyone else. Hey - I don’t have any cleverer ways of counting 4002 threads than you do! 😃 Saying that, it appears that **Colibri** has actually done it. Phew-ee! Now we just want to know who is the most pitted-_about_ individual. I’m guessing a toss-up between Clinton, Bush and **december** 🙂 pan ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/14 "2002-12-20T15:34:18Z")
I think you’d have to adjust for length of thread, too. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/15 "2002-12-20T15:51:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lel \* > \*\ ***Colibri** , did you just go count 4002 threads? :eek: \*\* Well, it wasn’t necessary to actually count them. Few people started more than 20 threads. It was pretty easy to pick out the major contenders just by glancing at each page. It probably took 10 minutes tops. Note that this was done not by using a Search but simply changing the page view options. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_The\_Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Buck\_The\_Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_The_Diver)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/16 "2002-12-20T16:47:19Z")
Just a note to say “Thanks” to everyone who did the work of figuring out how to answer my question. And a special “Tip O’ The Lid” to **Colibri**. I am in awe. ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/17 "2002-12-21T04:50:57Z")
In retrospect, my idea was over-elaborate and needlessly complicated. Don’t _I_ feel foolish now. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/18 "2002-12-21T05:00:47Z")
I believe they are tied now. Oh, the suspense! ---
**Author:** ![lel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8797f3/32.png) [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/19 "2002-12-21T18:29:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Colibri \* > \*\*Well, it wasn’t necessary to actually count them. Few people started more than 20 threads. It was pretty easy to pick out the major contenders just by glancing at each page. It probably took 10 minutes tops. Note that this was done not by using a Search but simply changing the page view options. \*\* 10 minutes? You must have a much faster online connection than I do! It would probably take me an hour just to load all the pages even at show 100 per page, if they even loaded that quickly. (Not that I’m going to try it, the computer would crash.) So, who’s number three, by the way? ---
**Author:** ![I\_am\_Sparticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@I\_am\_Sparticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_am_Sparticus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720/20 "2002-12-21T19:20:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Colibri \* > \*\*I hesitate to post this, since it will undoubtedly set off a competition between these two miscreants to out-do one another before the end of the year. > > The leader (if you can call it that) at this point is **Fenris** , with 41. > > The runner-up is **Scylla** , with 40. > > I believe the next one is **december** , but he hardly counts because I think a lot of those threads weren’t started in the Pit but were moved there from GD. 😉 \*\* [Claude Raines] I am shocked! Shocked to find gambling going on here. [/Claude Raines] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-the-most-pit-threads-this-year/143720.md?page=2)