# Yet another pre-emptive move to the pit
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [December 23, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365 "2009-12-23T20:32:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/21 "2009-12-23T22:51:01Z")
> [@ivn1188](#):
>
> That’s true, you have been doing an effective job at removing offensive posts. (By offensive, I mean boring.)
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/22 "2009-12-23T22:51:35Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> That’s not true. Didn’t one or two people say your actions weren’t so bad? And there’s no rule against sticking to the original topic (cruel actions) in the Pit.
> Sorry you feel this way, but it’s not true at all. In and out of the Pit, the OP of a thread ends up getting bashed sometimes. There’s no ‘let’s you and him fight’ to it, and her move didn’t close the thread for you. People were going to “kick” you regardless of what forum the thread was in. The only difference was what kind of language they were going to use, and whether the mods were going to have to police the responses. So she moved it to the Pit. The other alternative was for **Twickster** to keep warning people to be polite in expressing their feelings about what you did. Would you have felt better if there were _two_ threads where people were calling you a bad person - one in MPSIMS and one in the Pit? I don’t see how that’s preferable.
Seriously? It would’ve been vastly preferable. There would’ve been a thread that I could’ve continued to participate in. She closed the MPSIMS thread, and opened a Pit thread. I wasn’t interested in crawling, ass-first, into a Pit thread. So the MPSIMS thread was closed, shutting me out.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/23 "2009-12-23T23:02:48Z")
> [@lissener](#):
>
> She closed the MPSIMS thread, and opened a Pit thread. I wasn’t interested in crawling, ass-first, into a Pit thread. So the MPSIMS thread was closed, shutting me out.
Your interests and expectations aren’t the only criteria that determine where a thread goes: the content and the tone also matter. You might have intended for other people to post about things they don’t regret and not respond that much to your post, but that wasn’t going to happen. The determining factor wasn’t the forum, it was what you posted.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/24 "2009-12-23T23:10:47Z")
> [@lissener](#):
>
> Seriously? It would’ve been vastly preferable. There would’ve been a thread that I could’ve continued to participate in. She closed the MPSIMS thread, and opened a Pit thread. I wasn’t interested in crawling, ass-first, into a Pit thread. So the MPSIMS thread was closed, shutting me out.
Maybe she was trying to head off the likely need to warn posters for insulting you in your thread. She was doing herself and the rest of the board a small favor at small consequences to you.
You’ve been here forever, how did you think that thread was going to go? You had to know it would at least lead to a pitting.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/25 "2009-12-23T23:14:34Z")
In response to my question about your intentions, you say:
> [@lissener](#):
>
> Obviously my naivete filters were clogged. Nonetheless, I don’t see that as relevant…
Not relevant? You accuse me of sabotaging your efforts to do X, but refuse to tell me what X is.
> [@lissener](#):
>
> … if I’d expected nothing put Pit responses, I would have chosen between the two legitimate options: put it in the Pit, or not started it at all. …
Again, what exactly were the non-Pit responses that you’d expected or hoped for?
Regardless of your rather mysterious intentions, I could only take the OP at face value, and at face value it was inevitably going to evoke extremely strong reactions, as it had begun to before I arrived in the thread.
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/26 "2009-12-23T23:23:47Z")
> [@lissener](#):
>
> Moving it to the Pit effectively gives people no choice but to personally attack the OP. If that was what I’d wanted I’d’ve opened it in the Pit. Twickster pitted me by proxy, effectively pulling a “let’s you and him fight,” signed by a moderator’s authority. Dickish.
Incorrect. Plenty of posts are all “kumbaya” in the Pit before their threads get moved out for being way too boring and uncontroversial.
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/27 "2009-12-23T23:34:23Z")
> [@twickster](#):
>
> In response to my question about your intentions, you say:
>
> Not relevant? You accuse me of sabotaging your efforts to do X, but refuse to tell me what X is.
>
> Again, what exactly were the non-Pit responses that you’d expected or hoped for?
>
> Regardless of your rather mysterious intentions, I could only take the OP at face value, and at face value it was inevitably going to evoke extremely strong reactions, as it had begun to before I arrived in the thread.
I didn’t have any intentions. I _expected_, obviously naively, that others would share acts of cruelty they weren’t ashamed of.
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/28 "2009-12-23T23:36:15Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#):
>
> Incorrect. Plenty of posts are all “kumbaya” in the Pit before their threads get moved out for being way too boring and uncontroversial.
Moving a thread \*out \*of the Pit is NOT an invitation to personally attack a poster.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/29 "2009-12-23T23:37:20Z")
> [@lissener](#):
>
> I didn’t have any intentions. I _expected_, obviously naively, that others would share acts of cruelty they weren’t ashamed of.
So you are completely tone-deaf to the hatred on this board for people that abandon pets? Especially cats? That is fairly humorous.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/30 "2009-12-23T23:50:53Z")
> [@lissener](#):
>
> I didn’t have any intentions. I _expected_, obviously naively, that others would share acts of cruelty they weren’t ashamed of.
Ah. That explains the disconnect. Most people consider cruelty something to be ashamed of. If you were going to get such posts, those posts also would have gotten outraged reactions that would have belonged in the Pit.
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/31 "2009-12-23T23:53:35Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> So you are completely tone-deaf to the hatred on this board for people that abandon pets? Especially cats? That is fairly humorous.
That’s why I put so much effort into the back story. And again, I’ve mentioned that here before, and no mod came along and pinned a kick-me sign to my back.
Every single time I’ve told that story in person, every single time, even to cat lovers, the universal response has been sympathy. “I would have done it when she \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.” Maybe people IRL are afraid of me. Maybe telling the story in person is more effective than typing it. Who knows.
In any case, the truth is since she was a very expensive looking cat, and had no tags on her, I have very little doubt she was picked up by someone in no time. Hopefully a little nicer and more grateful for her experience.
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/32 "2009-12-23T23:57:17Z")
> [@twickster](#):
>
> Ah. That explains the disconnect. Most people consider cruelty something to be ashamed of. If you were going to get such posts, those posts also would have gotten outraged reactions that would have belonged in the Pit.
Hence the contradictions of the post, of which I was fully aware, and which made it an interesting topic for discussion. I was prepared to admit that my lack of shame may be partly bluster, or denial; why would I keep coming back to the story 20 years later if it actually had no effect on me? It seemed a rich subject for discussion. And obviously I was prepared to take some lumps in service of that discussion, else why bring it up at all? But you made that impossible by tossing it into the fight cage.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/33 "2009-12-23T23:59:23Z")
> [@lissener](#):
>
> That’s why I put so much effort into the back story. And again, I’ve mentioned that here before, and no mod came along and pinned a kick-me sign to my back.
>
> Every single time I’ve told that story in person, every single time, even to cat lovers, the universal response has been sympathy. “I would have done it when she \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.” Maybe people IRL are afraid of me. Maybe telling the story in person is more effective than typing it. Who knows.
>
> In any case, the truth is since she was a very expensive looking cat, and had no tags on her, I have very little doubt she was picked up by someone in no time. Hopefully a little nicer and more grateful for her experience.
Hope you are right. Surprised you could not gauge the reaction it would get here. I saw it and immediately said you were going to get flamed and pitted. I think **Twicks** did the right thing for the board.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/34 "2009-12-24T00:03:12Z")
> [@lissener](#):
>
> Hence the contradictions of the post, of which I was fully aware, and which made it an interesting topic for discussion. I was prepared to admit that my lack of shame may be partly bluster, or denial; why would I keep coming back to the story 20 years later if it actually had no effect on me? It seemed a rich subject for discussion. And obviously I was prepared to take some lumps in service of that discussion, else why bring it up at all? But you made that impossible by tossing it into the fight cage.
No, you failed to so much as hint at any of that in the OP.
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### Author:  [@tacoloco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tacoloco)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/35 "2009-12-24T00:53:32Z")
> [@lissener](#):
>
> I didn’t have any intentions. I _expected_, obviously naively, that others would share acts of cruelty they weren’t ashamed of.
I don’t believe that for a second.
Nope, sorry. Try again. This time think about your response first.
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### Author:  [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/36 "2009-12-24T01:49:20Z")
> [@twickster](#):
>
> Ah. That explains the disconnect. Most people consider cruelty something to be ashamed of. If you were going to get such posts, those posts also would have gotten outraged reactions that would have belonged in the Pit.
This is the same poster who less than 4 months ago announced he was going to stiff his “German speaking” landlady out of over $1000 in due rent, afterwhich he then accepted cash donations from a few very kindhearted, generous Dopers who felt badly for someone in such obviously dire straits.
Less than two months after that, he then started a thread asking for advice on a good restaurant in Seattle where he could treat a visiting friend to a gourmet splurge (though in his defense, he specified not more than $200 a plate, as he didnt want to go overboard)
Disconnect indeed…
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/37 "2009-12-24T02:02:55Z")
> [@lissener](#):
>
> That’s why I put so much effort into the back story. And again, I’ve mentioned that here before, and no mod came along and pinned a kick-me sign to my back.
It doesn’t look like you’ve ever started a thread about it, but maybe I’m wrong. If you posted about it in someone else’s thread, yes, the thread might not get moved to the Pit. Would you mind linking to these posts if possible?
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/38 "2009-12-24T02:03:38Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#):
>
> This is the same poster who less than 4 months ago announced he was going to stiff his “German speaking” landlady out of over $1000 in due rent, afterwhich he then accepted cash donations from a few very kindhearted, generous Dopers who felt badly for someone in such obviously dire straits.
>
> Less than two months after that, he then started a thread asking for advice on a good restaurant in Seattle where he could treat a visiting friend to a gourmet splurge (though in his defense, he specified not more than $200 a plate, as he didnt want to go overboard)
>
> Disconnect indeed…
I missed that, Holy cow. :smack:
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### Author:  [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/39 "2009-12-24T02:08:55Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> Mods are not allowed to Pit posters here.
Wait, really? Since when?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-pre-emptive-move-to-the-pit/522365/40 "2009-12-24T02:17:00Z")
> [@pedescribe](#):
>
> Wait, really? Since when?
I think the rule was put in place in 2003. We can Pit off-board stuff, but not other posters.
EDIT: In case people understand the word different ways, we can’t start Pit threads about other posters. We can participate in Pittings.
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