# Why was my Staving Artist Pit thread merged? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 4, 2012, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664 "2012-10-04T04:40:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/1 "2012-10-04T04:40:36Z")
According to this mods’ response to the original poll in IMHO, it was done in correct fashion: > [@Idle Thoughts, can you or someone else unlock and move my Starving Artist thread to the Pit](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idle-thoughts-can-you-or-someone-else-unlock-and-move-my-starving-artist-thread-to-the-pit/636613/3): > > You can just as easily start a new thread in the Pit if you wish to ask people about it. I understand you saying you were not pitting Starving Artist, but regardless of your intent, the thread had the great potential to become and was even starting to become just another topic to pile on a poster others don’t agree with. I was heading that off at the pass. > > I’m not going to move the poll there, either. While there has been instances of polls being moved to forums where they aren’t on by default (Great Debates, for example), I don’t think the BBQ Pit is the place for polls, especially concerning specific members of the board. > > If you’re okay with the poll being moved there and it being a Pit thread anyway, there should have no problem making another thread there about it if you really are curious to get other opinions. So I simply went ahead and did as suggested. And then, yet another mod, **Miller** , decided it was a “pseudo-poll” > [@It's time to officially Pit Joe Paterno and the Penn State football program.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/4940): > > [Moderating] > I’ve merged **RedFury** ’s pseudo-poll with this thread, as I don’t see any point in maintaining two separate threads on the same interminable subject. > [/Moderating] First off, let’s be perfectly clear here: it is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the **same subject**. One thread pits **Paterno, his actions and Penn State** , while the wrongfully merged one distinctly pits **StarvingArtist for his actions** _in the prior thread_. This is the OP: > [@It's time to officially Pit Joe Paterno and the Penn State football program.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/4856): > > Since a poll about this very topic has been closed in IMHO with the added suggestion that it’d be taken to the Pit, I am doing just that. > > These are the original choices: > > \*\*A-I have participated in the thread and I AGREE with Starving Artist’s arguments. > > B-I have participated in the thread and I DISAGREE with Starving Artist’s arguments. > > C-I have NOT participated in the thread and I AGREE with Starving Artist’s arguments. > > D-I have NOT participated in the thread and I DISAGREE with Starving Artist’s arguments. > \*\* > I do want to make clear that choices **“C” & “D”** implicitly state – in THIS poll – that you have at least read enough of the thread in question to know the position taken by The Undefeated King Of Encores, Mr. **StarvingArtist**. > > Any & all are welcome to tally the (running) total. Please try to keep your responses down to the bare minimum as I’d like this to be just that, a poll, and not a rehash of the original thread. If there are no objections, I’d like this thread to close by 6:00 P.M. this Friday, October 5th. > > * * * > > That said, my vote is **B** Now, reading _yet another thread_ on this topic, [Idle Thoughts, can you or someone else unlock and move my Starving Artist thread to the Pit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=667535), it appears that TPTB take a strong dislike to polling in the BBQ – for reasons, well, frankly, for no logical reason that I can see…other than “it’s hard work.” Besides contradicting their own rulings as per the first mod quoted in this OP. It would appear that the word “poll” should be banned from use it the Pit like its other infamous companions. If so, do it – I am more than capable of rewording my OP and still get answers to the questions I ask. If not, I ask that it be put back as intended, namely as a thread of its own. Which, incidentally, drew _close to 100 responses_ in the very short time it was allowed to stand. And many of them _from posters who simply refuse to participate_ in StarvingArtists “private XXX show” in the Paterno thread and said as much in their responses. Why is this important? Two reasons come immediately to mind. 1-The Pit thread/poll was placed so people could openly tell SA what they felt about him w/out having to deal with (and here I agree w/Miller) the unending barrage of nonsense (not what I’d call it in the Pit) he produces in the _other thread_. 2-Disprove his notion that he has the approval of any number of people that don’t post to the Paterno thread. Scientific? Meh. Would you say that of _any poll_ here? No, of course not. But a simple way of dispelling one of his claims – which in turn would make his wild “experiments” stand out for exactly what they are. In the Pit. So he really gets to now what members of this board really think about his whole routine. Again, _it’s personal_ – nothing to do with Paterno and/or Penn State. I await for your response. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/2 "2012-10-04T04:45:18Z")
The threads got merged? Sorry, but that’s the most ridiculous action I’ve seen a mod take in a long, long time. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/3 "2012-10-04T05:00:05Z")
As I mentioned in the Paterno thread before all this recent nonsense got started, there were a couple of spin-off threads attempted last winter, one in ATMB and one in the Pit, IIRC, trying like these have been to muster more widespread support for the anti-Paterno posters. Both got shut down. **RedFury** should consider himself lucky that his thread only got merged. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/4 "2012-10-04T05:10:03Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > As I mentioned in the Paterno thread before all this recent nonsense got started, there were a couple of spin-off threads attempted last winter, one in ATMB and one in the Pit, IIRC, trying like these have been to muster more widespread support for the anti-Paterno posters. Both got shut down. **RedFury** should consider himself lucky that his thread only got merged. Are you suggesting that the high number of pittings directed towards you is somehow a vindication? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/5 "2012-10-04T05:23:30Z")
Not at all. Though I do find it amusing that my opponents seem so desperately to feel the need for reinforcements. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/6 "2012-10-04T05:37:52Z")
I don’t really care about polling one way or the other. I merged the threads because it’s the same damn thing that’s been going on in the Paterno thread for the last _seventy fucking pages._ I’ve been keeping that one open because, for reasons that pass all human understanding, people appear to want to keep talking about it. If you actually think starting a new thread on the same subject is going to change absolutely anything about the conversation, well, I guess the politest thing I can say about that is that I admire your optimism. But not enough to have two interminable threads on the same topic at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/7 "2012-10-04T06:03:30Z")
God forbid anyone wants to have a discussion on a message board. No rules were being broken. People were responding. You didn’t even have to read the damn thing Miller. Very bad judgement. I’m sure there have been others but I can’t think of any. You are a very good mod. You blew this call. All you accomplished was to make the original thread harder to read. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/8 "2012-10-04T06:15:29Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > All you accomplished was to make the original thread harder to read. Which is no small feat. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/9 "2012-10-04T11:29:08Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I don’t really care about polling one way or the other. I merged the threads because it’s the same damn thing that’s been going on in the Paterno thread for the last _seventy fucking pages._ Well that’s pretty much 0-for-2 on the reading comprehension in the last couple days for you, isn’t it? Not the same thing. Not even close. Mod in ATMB: “Start a new thread in the pit if you want to continue polling.” Mod in IMHO: “You’re free to pit him.” **Miller** : “LOL WUT” ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/10 "2012-10-04T12:31:51Z")
Nothing about Miller’s explanation makes any fucking sense. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/11 "2012-10-04T12:46:16Z")
Paterno is Starving Artist? Who’d a thunk it! ---
**Author:** ![Snerky\_Snerk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Snerky\_Snerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snerky_Snerk)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/12 "2012-10-04T13:05:45Z")
D. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/13 "2012-10-04T13:13:59Z")
I love how now you read along the original thread and then come to a post that just says “B”. Or even odder, “BBBBBBBBBBBB!”. How did that merger possibly help? The first thread was a discussion of Paterno (which admittedly became about **SA** ). The second was a Pit thread about\*\* SA\*\* himself. Who cares if they overlap? If you do care- moderate it. Direct the Paterno thread to take bashing SA to the Pit thread. Re-direct the Pit thread discusion to the Paterno thread. Or just leave it alone and let them overlap and run their course. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/14 "2012-10-04T13:17:25Z")
Delmon Young. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/15 "2012-10-04T14:48:54Z")
> [@Snerky\_Snerk](#): > > D. You only voted that way because you desperately want to hang with the cool kids. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/16 "2012-10-04T15:31:44Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I don’t really care about polling one way or the other. I merged the threads because it’s the same damn thing that’s been going on in the Paterno thread for the last _seventy fucking pages._ I’ve been keeping that one open because, for reasons that pass all human understanding, people appear to want to keep talking about it. If you actually think starting a new thread on the same subject is going to change absolutely anything about the conversation, well, I guess the politest thing I can say about that is that I admire your optimism. But not enough to have two interminable threads on the same topic at the same time. **Miller** , thanks for the prompt response. But it appears to me you didn’t read the OP prior to your response. Three points – one of which has been mentioned by a few posters already. 1-No, it is not “it’s the same damn thing” at all and I explained why in the OP. > [@](#): > > First off, let’s be perfectly clear here: it is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the **same subject**. One thread pits **Paterno, his actions and Penn State** , while the wrongfully merged one distinctly pits **StarvingArtist for his actions** _in the prior thread_. 2-You say that “you admire my optimism” but “not enough to have two interminable threads on the same topic at the same time.” Well, again, I also said that “I agree w/Miller” regarding the endless nature of the Paterno thread. 3-Which is why, in the Pit OP you’ll notice that I asked for **that particular thread to remain open for a mere +/- 72 hours**. And I quote: > [@](#): > > **If there are no objections, I’d like this thread to close by 6:00 P.M. this Friday, October 5th.** Thus I don’t find your response applicable to either the request for reinstating the thread nor your claim that you’d have “two endless threads at the same time,” valid. Simply put, _a seventy-hours limit and endless_ are contradictions in terms. In closing, I want to Pit **StarvingArtist** over his actions in the Paterno thread. Is that a problem? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/17 "2012-10-04T16:28:25Z")
> [@RedFury](#): > > In closing, I want to Pit **StarvingArtist** over his actions in the Paterno thread. Is that a problem? And then of course I would need to respond, and then all the posters who disagree with me will start saying all the same things they’re saying in the Paterno thread and I will start rebutting with all the rebuttals I’ve been rebutting in the Paterno thread and then… Well, you get the picture. As for me I’d like to start a Pit thread pitting both you and **Enderw24** for starting Pit threads for specious reasons when what you really want to do is drum up support in numbers for your side of the argument. Plus I’d like to start a different Pit thread to explain my participation in the Paterno thread, the reasons for it, and why I’ve carried on the fight for so long, because not a soul has gotten the truth from any of my opponents and no one in the Paterno thread seems to be reading my posts for comprehension. And it would reach a wider audience that has clearly developed some erroneous beliefs. But I’ve created neither because when it comes to this subject the board’s moderation and readership in general seem to want to keep it confined to as small an area as possible and I know my threads would get shut down too. C’est la vie, **Red**. Suck it up! ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/18 "2012-10-04T16:31:40Z")
> [@RedFury](#): > > In closing, I want to Pit **StarvingArtist** over his actions in the Paterno thread. Is that a problem? That would just be the same damn thing. 🙂 Besides, what good would his approval do you? Some other mod might merge it with the little pony thread. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/19 "2012-10-04T16:45:11Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I don’t really care about polling one way or the other. I merged the threads because it’s the same damn thing that’s been going on in the Paterno thread for the last _seventy fucking pages._ I’ve been keeping that one open because, for reasons that pass all human understanding, people appear to want to keep talking about it. If you actually think starting a new thread on the same subject is going to change absolutely anything about the conversation, well, I guess the politest thing I can say about that is that I admire your optimism. But not enough to have two interminable threads on the same topic at the same time. You mean that thread had a purpose? I thought it was a post padding thread. User Name Posts Starving Artist 582 ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664/20 "2012-10-04T16:52:36Z")
Yeah, not really seeing the mod logic here. He was welcomed to start a Pit thread about it, did, then it was merged because we don’t need another thread on the topic. Well, okay, that’s fine, but why didn’t anyone say that in the first place? If the original IMHO thread were closed with a note that said “Take it to the existing Pit thread,” then I could see the reasoning, but we were told a new Pit thread would be fine, one was opened, then essentially closed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-my-staving-artist-pit-thread-merged/636664.md?page=2)