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I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 8:21 pm
by Lsuoma
In July this year the it will have been open for seven years, and I can't help but think it's run its course.

I'll do a mass email to all Pitters, but I think that its precious bodily fluids have been diluted beyond acceptability.

Unless there is a Pitnaissance, I think I should place the pennies on the eyelids on 2019-07-02.

Thoughts?

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 8:37 pm
by MarcusAu
A bitter-sweet moment at the very least - but better to burn out than fade away.

Hopefully people will find someplace to argue about politics on the Internet.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 9:26 pm
by Keating
Yeah, I feel the same.

It would be good to know if anyone has any suggestions for other places that are like the Pit was in its heyday.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 11:04 pm
by HunnyBunny
Sad times. I was thinking the other day of John Greg, his words on here the last remnant of him still left perhaps. But, yes, I used to read the Pit every day, now it's more every week or 2.

Did we win?

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 11:38 pm
by Brive1987
Any organisation without a mission devolves into something less than the sum of its parts.

The A/S thing and SJ entryism was just an opening skirmish in something that morphed into a broad culture war. In its own way it turned into the Balkan Front, initially relevant but quickly secondary and ultimately a whimper amidst a louder groan.

The A/S campaign itself ended when A/S became a luxury. Who has time to navel gaze at alt-med, Thunderfoot and Bigfoot when Islamist, Brexit, EU migration, SM censorship, Trump, mad Democrats, liberal fascism et al figures large? And this resonated not just here but in the wider community. Where now Skeptoid, Skepticality, JREF, TAM and DJ? When this structure died, so did PZ’s horde.

Team Slymepit can’t maintain focus when the target evaporates. The wider conflict revealed our own ideological differences and the debate turned internal. And has run it’s course. I won’t be able to convince anyone new that historical geo-culture is real and desirable expressed as a diverse series of unique but interconnected nations. Or that demonstrated demographic change we choose to embrace will break down this global diversity. And so far no-one has shown me a best practice progressive liberal experiment which isn’t destroying itself.

Lacking good faith arguments the current vibe feels like some form of abusive relationship.

So yeah. The personalities are intriguing. Ill never again meet a non self-aware liberal Muslim Turkish Swiss dude. Or the eclectic mix of American and Canadian backwoodsmen or artsy Frenchmen.

But game over.

Maybe reactivate for a day when PZ’s long suffering heart explodes or when Trump sails in for “four more years”.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:54 am
by MarcusAu
To add a little - currently it seems most peoples views of religion tend towards faitheism rather than anti-theism, making them out of line with the implicit (if not explicit) goals of most atheist activist organisations - ie to decrease religious influence.

Anyone taking the positive view of religion and also seeing Watson as having had a major disruptive effect on said organisations - owes her a dept of gratitude.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 2:52 am
by Keating
MarcusAu wrote: To add a little - currently it seems most peoples views of religion tend towards faitheism rather than anti-theism, making them out of line with the implicit (if not explicit) goals of most atheist activist organisations - ie to decrease religious influence.
Yeah, despite still being an atheist, I'm certainly no longer convinced that decreasing religious influence is a net good, particularly if you don't have a good plan for what replaces it. In other words, the only thing worse than Christianity may be lack of Christianity.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 4:39 am
by Tigzy
Seems fair enough. It was largely an exercise in countering Peez's, Watson's and FTB's nonsense when it seemed as if that lot were on the verge of becoming mainstream, but now that they've all attained their well-deserved obscurity, there's not a lot else to talk about really.

Damn good fun while it lasted, though. Elfwick, the A+ debacle, Mykeru's vids - I'd say the last real moment of amusement on FTB came with Carrier's spunking all over Ophelia Benson's blog, and subsequent fallout. After that, FTB became a lot duller.

Let us not be complacent, though. The bad guys have a habit of coming back when you think you've killed them off, and there's every chance that Peez et al could break out into relevance like another flare-up of herpes. I'd recommend staying in touch via social networks and the like - you'll find me on twitter as Tigzy_J - just in case the monster returns and it needs the old crew to come back and give it another kicking.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 6:49 am
by MarcusAu
Keating wrote: Yeah, despite still being an atheist, I'm certainly no longer convinced that decreasing religious influence is a net good, particularly if you don't have a good plan for what replaces it. In other words, the only thing worse than Christianity may be lack of Christianity.
I don't have the guile or skill to convincingly propagate 'The 'Noble Lie' and probably not the temperament to maintain 'The Great Silence' (even if the phrase had not been put to other uses).

The truth will (not) set you free.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 8:27 am
by Gumby
Well that's a shame. I have had nothing of value to contribute for a long time but still lurk daily and have watched the long slow decline in posting. Since FT pays for hosting it's understandable that he might feel like it's not worth the financial outlay anymore.

My question is, would people be interested in a mini-Pit, a free forum where people could still keep in touch? It would not be difficult to set up, and if there's enough interest I'll be happy to set it up when the time comes. I don't have much interest in being the admin, or at least the only admin, so volunteers are welcome. This way the Pit will continue to live on, if enough people are interested in keeping it alive. Let me know here.

Thanks FT, you made this the rockingest place on the net for a long time.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 9:29 am
by Lsuoma
I don't pay the hosting as such - this is co-hosted with a site I get paid to run.

I have no objection to keeping it open if people want me too, even if it's just for occasional shits 'n' grins.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 9:32 am
by MarcusAu
At the very least - it might be a good idea for the domain name not to be available for other less benevolent parties to use.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:45 pm
by Stankeye
Lsuoma wrote: I don't pay the hosting as such - this is co-hosted with a site I get paid to run.

I have no objection to keeping it open if people want me too, even if it's just for occasional shits 'n' grins.
I'm like gumby. I like to check in daily to see what's up and I like a lot of the posts here as it keeps me up on the latest things. Otherwise I am stuck reading JREF and that is a boondoggle.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 2:22 pm
by Keating
MarcusAu wrote: I don't have the guile or skill to convincingly propagate 'The 'Noble Lie' and probably not the temperament to maintain 'The Great Silence' (even if the phrase had not been put to other uses).

The truth will (not) set you free.
Sure, but there's a problem when you insist that atheism implies specific political positions. Indeed, that's basically the whole reason the Slympit exists.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 3:19 pm
by CommanderTuvok
I'm welling up at the thought of it, but I can understand the decision.

It woz the Pit that won it, and PZ and his baboons are largely irrelevant these days. Althuogh saying that, the poison that indoctrinated them has spread far and wide, and that will need to valiantly opposed and defeated outside the Pit.

Here's to Arnie - the Pit mascot!

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 4:18 pm
by MarcusAu
Keating wrote: Sure, but there's a problem when you insist that atheism implies specific political positions. Indeed, that's basically the whole reason the Slympit exists.
The 'Pyt's founding myth would be Elevatorgate. But even that would probably not be sufficient with PZ's ban-happy behaviour and the complications that came with Abbie hosting the proto-pyt. Atheism-Plus came later. though obviously it fed into the momentum. As did the Block-Bot and the scurrilous behaviour of the usual suspects - Orgvorbis et al.

It's likely there are as many reasons for the 'Pyt as there are members - but my guess would be that amusement, venting frustration (at least initially) and perhaps even spite account for quite a lot.

People can insist on any number of things - it's not really a problem unless there is no right of reply. Atheism may imply political positions - but I not (yet) seen a convincing argument for it.

The other interpretation of Atheism+ is that atheism in itself is not enough to constitute a coherent world view and other (arbitrary) principles must be added. In practice any and all atheist organisations or atheists were expected to sign up for this and anyone questioning them soon find themselves swiftly excommunicated.

But it was never really my bag - so I hope no one was under the misapprehension that I was insisting the atheism implied specific political positions.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 5:20 pm
by Keating
It's like you're making my point for me. What was Elevatorgate other than the instance that a particular interpretation of feminism was the only one that Good People™ could make?

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 6:13 pm
by MarcusAu
Keating wrote: It's like you're making my point for me. What was Elevatorgate other than the instance that a particular interpretation of feminism was the only one that Good People™ could make?
OK - I'm glad (enough) that you are seeing agreement.

And yes there was an insistence by a certain faction that something something, feminism, something was involved. And that all decent moral people should see it that way.

I was probably equally dogmatic in thinking that at least one of the parties involved was a privileged condescending cunt. Though I was not insistent on everyone seeing things as I did.

In any case it's not clear the events were contingent on atheism (or it's presumed corollaries) or even a particular sect of feminism, no matter who insists on it.

Elevatorgate could be described as the event itself, the post-event reaction and counter-reaction to it - which is one way how it is something other (or at least involves something other) than the insistence that to be both a good person and a particular type of feminist is tautological.


I think there was some other point I was making - but I'll let it die quietly, unless someone else wants to hunt it down.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 7:59 pm
by Old_ones
I have mixed feelings, but I will actually agree with Brive (shock) on one thing:
Team Slymepit can’t maintain focus when the target evaporates. The wider conflict revealed our own ideological differences and the debate turned internal. And has run it’s course.

It seems to me that the slymepit used to share an amusing structural similarity with the broader a/s community. We were all primarily united by that which we opposed. The FTB and A+ camp were so ridiculous, in so many ways, that they brought a fairly politically diverse community together to oppose them. Those fools have been irrelevant since mid 2015, though. The terf wars and the launch of the Orbit were the end.

Once the conversation shifted to Brexit, Trump, and politics more broadly, there was less of a sense that we were held together by common values. Honestly none of my favorite conversations on the slymepit have happened since that transition.

Should it be filled in? It's up to you, FT. I don't have to put time into keeping the place up, so I don't have any sense of the cost-benefit calculation. If it feels like more trouble than it is worth, then you should probably shut it down. If you are feeling unsure, then maybe you can archive most of the site, and transition to a minimalist version of the pit that would take less time and effort on your part.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 8:19 pm
by MarcusAu
Well the other perspective is that there are fresh atheists being minted anew everyday - mostly coming from the standard religious backgrounds. Perhaps they are not best served by existing online atheist communities or offline atheist organisations. But for the uninitiated everything old is new again - and there are still monkeys, after all. (Even if nobody knows why).

nb I'm not being theoretical about this - just on YouTube there is:

Paulogia
Genetically Modified Skeptic
The Non Sequitur Show
The Secular Jihadists (ex-muslims)
ShanonQ
Ozymandias Ramses II
Godless Engineer
Rationality Rules
etc, etc, ad infinitum...


The Slympyt's unstated defacto remit being mainly to point and laugh at PZ & co, and then SJWs & feminists, and finally take the same attitude to politics in general - so these things may have gone unnoticed by many.

But the world didn't stand still, the world grew, and in a couple of years...

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 8:27 pm
by KiwiInOz
It'll be a bit like having one's favourite pub bulldozed. But yeah it has probably done its dash as a force for good. Still, I think I'd miss the personalities manifested here.


Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 8:32 pm
by KiwiInOz
Old_ones wrote: I have mixed feelings, but I will actually agree with Brive (shock) on one thing:
Team Slymepit can’t maintain focus when the target evaporates. The wider conflict revealed our own ideological differences and the debate turned internal. And has run it’s course.

It seems to me that the slymepit used to share an amusing structural similarity with the broader a/s community. We were all primarily united by that which we opposed. The FTB and A+ camp were so ridiculous, in so many ways, that they brought a fairly politically diverse community together to oppose them. Those fools have been irrelevant since mid 2015, though. The terf wars and the launch of the Orbit were the end.

Once the conversation shifted to Brexit, Trump, and politics more broadly, there was less of a sense that we were held together by common values. Honestly none of my favorite conversations on the slymepit have happened since that transition.

Should it be filled in? It's up to you, FT. I don't have to put time into keeping the place up, so I don't have any sense of the cost-benefit calculation. If it feels like more trouble than it is worth, then you should probably shut it down. If you are feeling unsure, then maybe you can archive most of the site, and transition to a minimalist version of the pit that would take less time and effort on your part.
The ideological differences didn't matter so much when people didn't take themselves too seriously, didn't assume malice aforethought from other Pitizens, and gave as good as they got.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 4:46 pm
by Lsuoma
KiwiInOz wrote:
Old_ones wrote: I have mixed feelings, but I will actually agree with Brive (shock) on one thing:
Team Slymepit can’t maintain focus when the target evaporates. The wider conflict revealed our own ideological differences and the debate turned internal. And has run it’s course.

It seems to me that the slymepit used to share an amusing structural similarity with the broader a/s community. We were all primarily united by that which we opposed. The FTB and A+ camp were so ridiculous, in so many ways, that they brought a fairly politically diverse community together to oppose them. Those fools have been irrelevant since mid 2015, though. The terf wars and the launch of the Orbit were the end.

Once the conversation shifted to Brexit, Trump, and politics more broadly, there was less of a sense that we were held together by common values. Honestly none of my favorite conversations on the slymepit have happened since that transition.

Should it be filled in? It's up to you, FT. I don't have to put time into keeping the place up, so I don't have any sense of the cost-benefit calculation. If it feels like more trouble than it is worth, then you should probably shut it down. If you are feeling unsure, then maybe you can archive most of the site, and transition to a minimalist version of the pit that would take less time and effort on your part.
The ideological differences didn't matter so much when people didn't take themselves too seriously, didn't assume malice aforethought from other Pitizens, and gave as good as they got.
Yep. The Brive/FTP/CFB/Kirbo stuff really gives me severe torsion of the testes.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 2:42 am
by KiwiInOz
When you were promised a reach around and got torsion of the testes instead.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 5:32 am
by Keating
Is that we are calling it now?

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 1:20 pm
by ConcentratedH2O, OM
MFW I read this: :(

Well I will miss the place of course, but you might be right to shutter it now. Though if it is free for you to host then I sure would appreciate some time before closing to look back through everything. After that, is there a way you can save the whole damn site and distribute it in a format which we can open in years to come, on any old browser? I feel like I want to have the Pit at hand forever, for when I want to remember the old times.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 1:48 pm
by fuzzy
I was kind of enjoying the Brive dicing cfb/ftp stuff. It reminded me of when that red-shirted Irish fellow was running intellectual rings around P Zed Myers. But I agree it's fill-in time. The pit is turning into the same old political soup you can find a zillion places on the internet. It dilutes the value of what it once was.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 1:58 pm
by Matt Cavanaugh
Don't you do it!


Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 2:27 pm
by Bhurzum
The depth of my sorrow cannot easily be measured.



:?

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 3:47 pm
by Stout
I'm going to miss this place.

I didn't post very much but I read you guys daily and sometimes, I even stole your stuff and hauled it over to the JREF forum.

I'm mostly at the JREF for the moral panic over Nazis and Trump, it's kind of fun, but tiring at the same time.

So i guess I better start paying more attention to Kiwi Farms, unless anyone else has any better suggestions.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 5:08 pm
by Lsuoma
I'm not definitely committed to closing - I'm happy to let it mosey along.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:17 pm
by Matt Cavanaugh
Stankeye wrote:
Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:45 pm
I'm like gumby. I like to check in daily to see what's up and I like a lot of the posts here as it keeps me up on the latest things. Otherwise I am stuck reading JREF and that is a boondoggle.
Same here. The Pit is in part a news clipping service for me.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 11:47 pm
by Phil_Giordana_FCD
Matt Cavanaugh wrote:
Stankeye wrote:
Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:45 pm
I'm like gumby. I like to check in daily to see what's up and I like a lot of the posts here as it keeps me up on the latest things. Otherwise I am stuck reading JREF and that is a boondoggle.
Same here. The Pit is in part a news clipping service for me.
And same here as well.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 12:04 am
by Brive1987

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 2:09 am
by shoutinghorse
Where will Sargon get half his content from if the pit is filled in. Won't someone think of the Sumerians? :cry:

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 3:27 am
by InfraRedBucket
Phil_Giordana_FCD wrote:
Matt Cavanaugh wrote:
Stankeye wrote:
Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:45 pm
I'm like gumby. I like to check in daily to see what's up and I like a lot of the posts here as it keeps me up on the latest things. Otherwise I am stuck reading JREF and that is a boondoggle.
Same here. The Pit is in part a news clipping service for me.
And same here as well.
Similar. I came here originally as it was the place to keep up to date with the latest goings on - Previously on the JREF forum but havent been back there since their rebranding. I'd always thought of the pit as just one thread basically (I know there are other threads started)
maybe just think of it as waxing and waning as necessary - depending on what's happening - or evolving - but no obligation to keep up a long conversation as such (I must admit I scrolled past more stuff recently but part part of me vaguely reassured thinking there's activity).

Way back no one had heard of Myers apart from a tiny obscure corner of the internet and .. err.. that is still the case.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 3:42 am
by MarcusAu
shoutinghorse wrote: Where will Sargon get half his content from if the pit is filled in. Won't someone think of the Sumerians? :cry:
Well, Jim Goad's twitter feed - might be a place to start.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 7:52 am
by John D
Lsuoma wrote: I'm not definitely committed to closing - I'm happy to let it mosey along.
Mosey along is fine. I still checkin here a few times a day. We don't have the same shared opinions since the collapse of PZ and company.... but I respect the opinions here.... and people are honest here.... which can be hard to find.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 8:05 am
by BoxNDox
FWIW, I think this is the wrong time, not for any emotional reasons, but rather because the fun is just beginning. Myers may have been reduced to a small festering nodule of irrelevancy, but the hateful forces he was complicit in releasing on the world are still in the early stages of tearing things apart.

Sometimes it may seem like people are finally waking up, but this is mostly wishful thinking based on anecdotes. Various sorts of polling data tells us the scale of the crisis is far greater than that of any real opposition right now. And having a "safe space" from which to comment does and will continue to be valuable.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 8:41 am
by Edina Monsoon
Heyooo... I haven't logged in since forever, but I lurk the hell out of this place every day. Hope it continues, but if not, thanks for everything.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 9:08 am
by Lsuoma
OK, keep it open appears to be the preferred option. Let's see if we can at least make it to 10 years in 2022.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 11:18 am
by InfraRedBucket
John D wrote:
Mon Apr 08, 2019 7:52 am
Lsuoma wrote: I'm not definitely committed to closing - I'm happy to let it mosey along.
Mosey along is fine. I still checkin here a few times a day. We don't have the same shared opinions since the collapse of PZ and company.... but I respect the opinions here.... and people are honest here.... which can be hard to find.
When there are sometimes quite strong disagreements here , I sorta want us to get along but it at least shows it isn't a "bubble" and we at least get exposed to stuff we might normally not - that sort of arena is increasing rare - can't say that is always comfortable and that I wouldn't flounce off if someone touched a nerve but maybe at least give us a bit more time to engineer a walkout on a matter of moral high ground so we can say "I told you so" when the Pit finally dies a slow death by a thousand cuts or should that be cunts?
Among everything else , the threads often end up being a historical record of links to SJW madness - who else is collecting this stuff in one place?
Also there are people I've never heard being nominated for the Cunties. Then I have to google them or at least treat with extreme caution/disdain/hilarity when I see their names elsewhere. You're expanding horizons here.

Except for the scat gifs. I don't miss the scat gifs. That nearly made me stay away.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 11:52 am
by Pitchguest
Should compile some of the Pit's greatest hits, to show we're not just a bunch of useless gits!

Heh. :lol:

The zenith was Avicenna, I think. When that whistle was blown, the 'Pit was like a tourist attraction.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 11:55 am
by MarcusAu
John D wrote: Mosey along is fine. I still checkin here a few times a day. We don't have the same shared opinions since the collapse of PZ and company.... but I respect the opinions here.... and people are honest here.... which can be hard to find.
Now there's a bitter curse, and a heavy burden for anyone to carry.

Having to tell the truth I mean.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 12:24 pm
by Lsuoma
Pitchguest wrote: Should compile some of the Pit's greatest hits, to show we're not just a bunch of useless gits!

Heh. :lol:

The zenith was Avicenna, I think. When that whistle was blown, the 'Pit was like a tourist attraction.
IIRC, though everybody involved said it was Hemant Mehta who blew the whistle on that, whereas it was our own, special Pit Sleuth Hunny Bunny.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 12:24 pm
by Lsuoma
And I still have a mirror of the A Million Gods website, BTW.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 12:29 pm
by Lsuoma
Actually, Mehta did credit the Pit:
"I’ll stop there for now. (The denizens of the Slymepit forum — normally people I’d prefer to ignore — have uncovered these examples and then some and they’re showing no signs of stopping.)"
(https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/201 ... lagiarism/)

But I know that PeeZus and Two Cows tried to ignore that as much as poss...

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 12:41 pm
by Lsuoma
Just re-reading some of the comments on that thread. I think that was where the Blessed St Godfrey of Elfwick began to bloom. He even hooked Aneris with his Poedom.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 1:37 am
by Basement
I like skimming the thread every one or two weeks. I really enjoyed the skeptical movement of the 2000's and I really believed that it was a growing community of people who had the top insights into what reality is. Ah well... Anyways, I like popping in to get updated. I don't spend a lot of time on this bullshit, but this is one of the few places I do visit. If nothing else, it serves as a memorial to something that was lost. What's the harm in keeping it?

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 1:43 am
by HunnyBunny
I miss Avi, he was guaranteed point and laugh. I look for traces now and then, on r/atheism - his god-complex doctoring is hard to miss. I was so in awe of this place back then, when people labelled me as a pitter in the aftermath I felt unworthy of such an honorific. I made the first shot, but it was dedicated Pitters like Parody Accountant et al that took it to the next level.

Zenith for me was the Dick splash on Oafie though. Sadly, his over-sharing was severely curtailed when Skepticon gave him the boot. It was all downhill from there for FTB.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:38 am
by MarcusAu
Ahh - it's too for an Irish wake.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 4:42 am
by Tigzy
Lsuoma wrote: Actually, Mehta did credit the Pit:
"I’ll stop there for now. (The denizens of the Slymepit forum — normally people I’d prefer to ignore — have uncovered these examples and then some and they’re showing no signs of stopping.)"
(https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/201 ... lagiarism/)

But I know that PeeZus and Two Cows tried to ignore that as much as poss...
Hahaa - I'd completely forgotten the sheer mentalness involved when getting into an argument with Blondeintokyo.

Blondeintokyo: *bullshit wrong nonsense bollocks blather*

Everyone else: No, that's incorrect. *proceeds to labouriously detail everything Blondeintokyo got wrong*

Blondeintokyo: I never said that.

Everyone else: You bloody did! *proceeds to quote everything that blondeintokyo claims she never said.

Blondeintokyo: I have no idea what you're talking about.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 5:33 am
by Lsuoma
Yeah, that thread was a thing of beauty.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 7:28 am
by Matt Cavanaugh
The Pit should have official holy days, like the church. January 3 is the Epiphany of Avicenna's Plagiarism.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 7:33 am
by Matt Cavanaugh
Oh, and Hemant's an even bigger twat than he was back then.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:55 pm
by TheMudbrooker
So, time to take that old hound for a little walk behind the barn or wait and see if he still has a couple more years left in him.....tough call. What set the Pyt apart was the fact that while in general the folks here believed in the ideals of fairness, equality of opportunity and the right to choose your own way, we rejected any particular "isms" and the dogmatism that comes with them. Sadly that dogmatic thinking has been creeping in...Orange Man Bad!, Orange Man Good!...Brexit Now!, Remain Forever!...Erase the Borders!, Shoot the Foreigners!...There's only one true and correct opinion and its mine!
C'mon boy, once you finish your treat and I dry my eyes, we'll go for a little walk.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:31 pm
by Brive1987
TheMudbrooker wrote: So, time to take that old hound for a little walk behind the barn or wait and see if he still has a couple more years left in him.....tough call. What set the Pyt apart was the fact that while in general the folks here believed in the ideals of fairness, equality of opportunity and the right to choose your own way, we rejected any particular "isms" and the dogmatism that comes with them. Sadly that dogmatic thinking has been creeping in...Orange Man Bad!, Orange Man Good!...Brexit Now!, Remain Forever!...Erase the Borders!, Shoot the Foreigners!...There's only one true and correct opinion and its mine!
C'mon boy, once you finish your treat and I dry my eyes, we'll go for a little walk.
A well deserved arrogant smugness coupled to diversity of opinion has defined the pit since inception.

“Shoot the Foreigners!” Is a nicely hyperbolic framing which goes a long way to proving my point.

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 12:00 am
by Kirbmarc
Brive1987 wrote:
Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:31 pm
TheMudbrooker wrote: So, time to take that old hound for a little walk behind the barn or wait and see if he still has a couple more years left in him.....tough call. What set the Pyt apart was the fact that while in general the folks here believed in the ideals of fairness, equality of opportunity and the right to choose your own way, we rejected any particular "isms" and the dogmatism that comes with them. Sadly that dogmatic thinking has been creeping in...Orange Man Bad!, Orange Man Good!...Brexit Now!, Remain Forever!...Erase the Borders!, Shoot the Foreigners!...There's only one true and correct opinion and its mine!
C'mon boy, once you finish your treat and I dry my eyes, we'll go for a little walk.
A well deserved arrogant smugness coupled to diversity of opinion has defined the pit since inception.

“Shoot the Foreigners!” Is a nicely hyperbolic framing which goes a long way to proving my point.
So is "erase the borders".

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 12:16 am
by Brive1987
Kirbmarc wrote:
Brive1987 wrote:
Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:31 pm
TheMudbrooker wrote: So, time to take that old hound for a little walk behind the barn or wait and see if he still has a couple more years left in him.....tough call. What set the Pyt apart was the fact that while in general the folks here believed in the ideals of fairness, equality of opportunity and the right to choose your own way, we rejected any particular "isms" and the dogmatism that comes with them. Sadly that dogmatic thinking has been creeping in...Orange Man Bad!, Orange Man Good!...Brexit Now!, Remain Forever!...Erase the Borders!, Shoot the Foreigners!...There's only one true and correct opinion and its mine!
C'mon boy, once you finish your treat and I dry my eyes, we'll go for a little walk.
A well deserved arrogant smugness coupled to diversity of opinion has defined the pit since inception.

“Shoot the Foreigners!” Is a nicely hyperbolic framing which goes a long way to proving my point.
So is "erase the borders".
Imagine if you are wrong

Beto O'Rourke: Tear down existing border walls

https://www.wnd.com/2019/02/beto-orourk ... der-walls/

Re: I think the Pit is ready to be filled in...

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 12:23 am
by Kirbmarc
Brive1987 wrote:
Kirbmarc wrote:
Brive1987 wrote:
Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:31 pm
TheMudbrooker wrote: So, time to take that old hound for a little walk behind the barn or wait and see if he still has a couple more years left in him.....tough call. What set the Pyt apart was the fact that while in general the folks here believed in the ideals of fairness, equality of opportunity and the right to choose your own way, we rejected any particular "isms" and the dogmatism that comes with them. Sadly that dogmatic thinking has been creeping in...Orange Man Bad!, Orange Man Good!...Brexit Now!, Remain Forever!...Erase the Borders!, Shoot the Foreigners!...There's only one true and correct opinion and its mine!
C'mon boy, once you finish your treat and I dry my eyes, we'll go for a little walk.
A well deserved arrogant smugness coupled to diversity of opinion has defined the pit since inception.

“Shoot the Foreigners!” Is a nicely hyperbolic framing which goes a long way to proving my point.
So is "erase the borders".
Imagine if you are wrong

Beto O'Rourke: Tear down existing border walls

https://www.wnd.com/2019/02/beto-orourk ... der-walls/
A politician making hyperbolic statements during an electoral campaign. Shocking. Next you'll tell me that Trump didn't actually lock Clinton up. Bht that's impossible, because he was so hell-bent and sincere about it.