Just out of curiosity, really. Would you do it? It seems to me that a lot of people take big shots at others by way of this grand old electronic anonymity that they probably wouldn’t even think of trying in person. What about you? Me, you betcha. 
It depends on the situation. Generally, no. But in some cases yes.
It would depend on where I was, who was with me, and how frightened I would be of the person in question using physical violence against me. Well, actually this last one is the most important.
OK. Situations I would talk the same as I do in the Pit.
To family - yes.
To “friends” - yes.
To co-workers - yes.
To random people at my house - yes.
To random people in a public place (mall, supermarket) - sorta. I would temper it a lot.
To random people in a strange place - not really, but maybe.
To random people in a foreign country - no. Eyes to the front, head down, ignore them and keeeeeep walkin’…
But of course! I do so as often as necessary.
Since I have to be furious to flame someone in the Pit, I’d say yes. I’m normally even-tempered, but every once in a while I’ll explode if I get pissed off enough.
I actually think I’ve only flamed two people here…Lyndsey and Needs2Know. Both of them pushed me to my limit.
I have also posted rants about things that pissed me off, but they weren’t directed to a specific person. I also do that IRL… rant and rave, stomp my feet and be generally pissy until I calm down.
Rose
I’m usually not nasty in the pit so much as I am snide. That is until someone takes a shot at me.
Exactly the way I am in real life. In real life, I’m snide without even knowing it. I have been told that I was mean when I was trying to be pleasant. Come to think of it, this happens here in MPSIMS and IMHO.
It’s a joke folks! Don’t be so thin-skinned!
Sure, just as long as I had a weight advantage…and they were in a wheelchair…and blind…and deaf…and a midgit.
Yes, if I was confronted by a particularly obnoxious blind, deaf, crippled midgit then I would give them a pit like rant of epic proportions.
Uh, I’d have a gun, wouldn’t I?
I wouldn’t even talk to someone face to face like I do in GQ or MPSIMS.
:eek:
You mean . . . there are real people in the world? People with faces? People with faces to whom one can speak directly?!
Really, there is nothing I’d say here that I wouldn’t say in live conversation. However, I tend to have an easier time ignoring stupid things said in live conversation. Here on the SDMB, I am quicker to judge and to attack while the severity is no different from “real” interactions.
Nah. I stutter too much.
That’s not why I don’t post there.
Sometimes there’s a nearly-normal thread I might make a normal comment on, but I think better of it.
It’s the thought of them talking to me like they do.
I couldn’t take that.
God, don’t you know it. There’s been times when I wanted to send people my home address, and invite them to speak to me like that in person! 
Yeah, I would. But it usually doesn’t come up. I can’t remember the last time someone made me angry enough to go on a pit-style rant in verbo.
Well, there was that one time in the pit…
What was her name again?
–Tim
Do you even have to ask?
Do I talk to people face to face like I do in the Pit?
Does the Pope wear a funny hat?
Lexicon is hereby vouched for. Yikes!
Have you seen those evolution threads? Have you winced through those election threads? Have you laughed through those circumcision threads?
I’ve said this before and I’ll repeat it here. Great Debates can get far nastier than the Pit, they just don’t use as many curse words.
Yes I do/will/have. Actually I’m probably worse in real life than I am on the board. The only difference is I tend to be more sarcastic IRL and on the boards that sometimes comes across in the wrong way.
Weeellll…it depends on the time-frame. A while ago I went back through some of the first threads I posted to, and was shocked at my willingness to go on the offensive. I don’t think I would ever talk to people in person that way. The way I am now, which is much nicer, would be acceptable most places and times.
Sometimes I wonder whether people would be more or less polite if blunt honesty were more common. I mean, knowing that your idiocy could be pointed out at any time by anyone would certainly make me think more before I spoke.
I believe I’ve said it before but here goes.
::ahem::
“I will not post something I would not say to that person in person. Ever. In fact, most (if not all)of the misunderstandings I have had online would have never occurred IRL as the nuances of conversation are woefully inadequate here.”
I also try extremely hard not to post anything that is not true, even if it reflects badly on me. One of the mods said recently (paraphrased) “This board functions only so long as a base of trust in the other posters can be maintained”
Well, they said it better and there was some stuff about responsibility but you get the point.