The Pit is a feature that first came to TT during January 2006. It was a free-for-all unmoderated mini message board which anyone could post anonymous short messages to. The posts were only kept online for 17 minutes, thereafter they were permanently deleted.
During the first two days that it came online the posts made to "The Pit" were mostly either sex oriented or personal insults directed at other members of the chat forum. So eventually it was decided that this feature was not such a good idea and it was switched off. In a way, the pit could be seen as an experiment which proved why moderation is a good thing. Or, it could be seen as an amusing experiment which shows what people do when there are no consequences - both good and bad.
The Pit is re-enabled very occasionally, but only a few times a year and only for an hour at a time. This usually happens when there is a high level of tension on the forum and members need an outlet through which to vent their frustrations at each other.
- Link to The Pit
- Chat topic: Pros and cons of The Pit
- Chat about the most recent activation: The Pit - Friday 16.Feb.2007
What they said about The Pit:
- "My first pit, I feel so alive" - Lassie
- "Some of the comments were funny, but I hope it never gets opened again" - Saint
- "It's a valid experiment in internet social relations, I think it's great, and fun" - Pirulero
- "I see absolutely no advantages to it, only disadvantages" - Keydeck
- "It's got the short term benefit of a line of coke, but the long term effects of crack addiction" - Lassie
- "The whole concept is totally gay" - don_riina
- "It's rather cathartic, kind of like a big TT orgasm" - Freiheit
The above image is of The Great Pit of Carkoon and the Sarlacc, from the Star Wars movie "Return of the Jedi". The Sarlacc is an inanimate hole in the desert sand which characters fall into and are consumed; some are pulled into the Sarlacc's mouth by its tentacles.