Like Todd, I set up the meat and thermometers with the middle section set off to the side, but I do this on all cooks. For typical Minion method slow cooks, I have the charcoal arranged with a "hole" for the lit coals, and the chimney fired up sitting in my kettle grill. Once the coals are going good, I just pour them into the WSM, then set the middle section in place and I'm cooking (without the need for trying to place the meat, insert thermometers, etc. above burning coals). Also, if you like to foil your ribs during a cook (3-2-1 method or some variation) I would imagine it would be much simpler to set the whole middle section off to the side while doing so. I once burned up a Stoker probe wire by messing around with the lid off for too long (the fire got too hot and ruined the probe wire). Moving everything off the fire avoids that problem, too.