Was the flame pit a successful idea?

[Sapphire]

No, because we don't all care about the same stuff. Given that most of you are young and inexperienced, you're not going to care about a lot of stuff that might preoccupy someone older or wiser like me.

You're not actually 42 are you?

I don't even like sports, though I was an athletic trainer for three years. (lolz) The only real sports are dodgeball and kickball!

[Abdula]

Ofcourse he isn't. I think he is in his late 20's 32 at the oldest.

[Animeniax]

You're not actually 42 are you?

I don't even like sports, though I was an athletic trainer for three years. (lolz) The only real sports are dodgeball and kickball!

Only if you're actually 13, sweetie.

@Abdula: how did you come up with those numbers?

[Sapphire]

If you're really 42 and I'm really 13, isn't it odd for me to be called sweetie by a 42 year old on the internet? XD

[Abdula]

Really Sapphire how old are you?

@Abdula: how did you come up with those numbers?

Its just the feeling I get from you thats all.

[XanBcoo]

Secondly, all the conversational random spam and off-topic chatter is accomplished a just as well by visiting #gotwoot on irc.

I guess the flame pit is for those of us who don't like using IRC. Like it was said before, a few people don't actually "Flame" in the flame-pit. We just use it as an off-topic section. I think it's a pretty good substitution.

I know that in my sociolinguistics class we looked at how in general guys bonded more through challenging each other and tossing back and forth insults, whereas girls would bond through affirming and sympathizing with each other.

Heh, looks like your Sociolinguistics class was as useless as mine was. I don't think I know any guy who has "bonded" with their friends by acting like that.

Coincidentally, I was taught in Sociolinguistics that terms like "sweetie", "Cupcake", and "honey" were terms of latent chauvinism, referring to how men saw women as frivolous, inconsequential portions of a more substantial "meal".

[Abdula]

"sweetie", "Cupcake", and "honey" were terms of latent chauvinism, referring to how men saw women as frivolous, inconsequential portions of a more substantial "meal".

That sounds about right.

[XanBcoo]

It also sounds about right that your "lost in the darkness" quote refers to you struggling with urges of Pedophilia, but that doesn't make it accurate

Maybe in 1930s gangster movies it's true, but it sounds more like Feminists trying to get attention by attributing connotative meanings to pretty neutral (often non-gender-specific) terms of endearment. I don't care how "deep" someone thinks it is, making up deep-rooted solutions for trivial conventions is not an intelligent observation.

Edit: And yes, it was a Feminist who made that argument. And yes, my entire class (75% girls) knew it was bullshit.

[Sapphire]

I agree with Xan.

That aside, I feel like submerging myself in Bollywood music.

[Assassin]

That aside, I feel like submerging myself in Bollywood music.

seriously? wtf


As for the flame pit....well i've noticed that the number of warnings i've given out has gone down since the flamepit was created. Though like kitkat said, it could just be due to a lack of activity on the forums overall.

[Abdula]

It also sounds about right that your "lost in the darkness" quote refers to you struggling with urges of Pedophilia, but that doesn't make it accurate

Actually its strong homicidal urges among other things but thats another matter.

Maybe in 1930s gangster movies it's true, but it sounds more like Feminists trying to get attention by attributing connotative meanings to pretty neutral (often non-gender-specific) terms of endearment. I don't care how "deep" someone thinks it is, making up deep-rooted solutions for trivial conventions is not an intelligent observation.

Edit: And yes, it was a Feminist who made that argument. And yes, my entire class (75% girls) knew it was bullshit.

Well true it doesn't have to be accurate it depends completely on the person using the term but this

"sweetie", "Cupcake", and "honey" were terms of latent chauvinism, referring to how men saw women as frivolous, inconsequential portions of a more substantial "meal"

sounds just like a few "people" I have met.

[Board of Command]

Actually its strong homicidal urges among other things but thats another matter.

I get that a lot too.

[DB_Hunter]

You know we actually get more flaming in the General section of the forum than anywhere else. Especially when discussing topics like sexuality, politics and wars. These sort of things don't really come naturally to the flame pit, as these issues are real ones that are quite close to people, as they are often defined by what views they have on them. And its not a natural inclination to discuss these in an environment where ostensibly the idea is to ridicule or mock your views on such topics.

As KitKat said, a lot of people here know each other well enough now that they won't want to offend or insult each other. This place is an online community, with regulars and some passers by. For what its worth, there is a sense of community about this place and a lot of people don't want to jeapordize that.

[complich8]

I never thought the flame pit was a good idea. I'm still not sold on it, to be honest. People seem to like it, so I leave it be, but it's not the sort of place I find myself going a whole lot.

A couple people have been banned because they couldn't figure out how to effectively partition off their attitudes and conduct in the flame pit from the way they approached the rest of the forums.

To answer the question "why is it members-only" ... basically, I had two lines of thinking when I did that. First of all, the posts down there are pretty shitty. They're things that, as a community, we can't really take a whole lot of pride in. Basically, I see it as potentially offputting to people who might sign up to see a shitpost-flood on the forums, and generally bad for our reputation.

The second thought is, a lot of people here use names that one way or another track back to their real-life presence (eg: aim screen names that are also forum handles). For the people
that are in that situation, I'd rather give at least a little bit of shielding against casual investigators (parents, potential employers, etc), because ... well, honestly do you want your mother reading the shit you've posted there?

[Board of Command]

I think every forum needs, in one form or another, a section where anything happens. RealGM (generally a basketball forum) is a good example of this. RealGM is one of the busiest forums in the world, with hundreds of people posting every minute. Due to the traffic, it's heavily policed by dedicated teams of mods for each section of the forum. For all of the "regular" sections, people are given a very short leash and law and order are in effect, so to speak.

However, there's one section called "General Discussion" which is actually a disguise for a dump where thousands of people on the forum can go and shitpost. The amount of traffic that General Discussion gets is mind-boggling. That one section alone probably gets around 50 posts per minute. Like the flame pit, "General Discussion" is only visible to registered members. Overall, it doesn't really have any effect on the rest of the forum.

Even without all the policing in the other sections, I've never seen garbage from General Discussion leaking out onto the other sections. I think that has been the case as well on Gotwoot, but at a much smaller scale.

[David75]

Is there an option somewhere where I could deactivate my ability to see anything from the FlamePit?

[Animeniax]

You'll be missing out on a vital part of the experience of being a part of these forums.

@Sapphire: Since I'm not 42 and you're not 13, it's ok for me to call you sweetie, though I usually prefer to call girls "skirt" or "sweet cheeks".

Once again, BoC shows why people like us understand the world better than mere mortals.

[David75]

You'll be missing out on a vital part of the experience of being a part of these forums.

@Sapphire: Since I'm not 42 and you're not 13, it's ok for me to call you sweetie, though I usually prefer to call girls "skirt" or "sweet cheeks".

Once again, BoC shows why people like us understand the world better than mere mortals.

As I explained in a previous post, I do not like the Flame Pit for many reasons.
And since the search function I use let me see it, if I could find a way to prevent this (without affecting others choices) I would be very pleased.

To each their choices.

[Animeniax]

I stand by my assertion that you'll miss out on a vital part of membership in these forums if you exclude the flame pit. I'm being somewhat facetious, but not entirely. Besides, sometimes it's good to just act like a jackass, and the pit gives you that outlet.

[David75]

I stand by my assertion that you'll miss out on a vital part of membership in these forums if you exclude the flame pit. I'm being somewhat facetious, but not entirely. Besides, sometimes it's good to just act like a jackass, and the pit gives you that outlet.

Obviously we will never agree on this.
In the end we are both right anyway, since it's our individual choices we are discussing here