In response to poster feedback, TVeblen, fluiddruid and I have come up with new consolidated rules thread to replace the hodgepodge of stickies, rumor and hearsay that we’ve been using so far. We’d like to hear your thoughts. Is it clear? Are we missing anything? Would a new poster be able to read this and immediately become a good Pit citizen? (No, I’m not writing Pitizen. Stop it.) Any and all feedback and suggestions are welcome.
Once that thread seems to contain everything needed to run a forum, we will (insert drumroll here) unstick all the other stickies and let them sink gracefully to the depths.
About the “no wishing death” rule. If I’m reading it correctly, wishing death on a member is a no-no, wishing death on a broad group (level 4 Thetans, Opthamologists, Commodore 64 fanciers, etc.) which may include non-specific members is ok, as long as I’m not trying to indirectly sneak a reference to a specific member or members.
Is wishing death on a specific non-member ok? For example, whenever there’s a news report of animal abusers, child molesters, etc., the vitriol runs pretty hot. What’s acceptable and unacceptable in that case?
In addition to the ones mentioned by Maureen and Metacom, here are some old rules that I didn’t see in the new post (although it might be my otherwise perfect eyesight acting up):
Also, it might be a good idea to explicitly mention another activity that results in a lockdown that doesn’t appear in the rules: self-pitting. Not as in, “I pit myself for my insatiable obsession with goats”; more like “Hey, fellow Dopers, I love being the centre of attention and the universe should revolve around me, so pit me now!!”.
That’s right. Saying you wish all opthalmologists would drop dead is different from saying you wish poster X who happens to be an opthalmologist would drop dead. Unless, as we mentioned, the context or specificity of the death wish makes it obvious you’re trying to obliquely tell another poster you wish they’d drop dead.
It’s fine. If they don’t post here, you can wish for their demise.
Can we unstick some or all of the stickies here in light of this new rules post and new rules discussion thread? A half-dozen stickies at the top of the thread is…untidy.
We will, soon. For now, it’s good to have them as reference in case people want to compare and contrast. Or, like Maureen, point out glaring inconsistencies.
I wanna know where this “reasoned vitriol” came from. Unreasoned vitriol was good enough for our forefathers, and dadgumit, it should be good enough for us!
More generally, thanks for doing this. I appreciate the overall tone which reflects what I first loved about this place when I joined, i.e. it doesn’t feel like the administration is some distant, cold, unapproachable entity characterized by rules with subsets upon subsets written by a team of corporate lawyers. You trust our common sense. (you’ll of course live to regret that, but I still appreciate it )
OK, I fixed the typos caught by twickster and Moe, and added a section called “Pitting other posters”, which includes the rule on linked to parodied threads. (I also noted that it’s always appreciated to include links when Pitting another poster, because really it just can’t be said enough.)
And our vitriol was unheated! Young 'uns these days with their namby-pamby heated vitriol - our vitriol was cold, and that was how we liked it.
Ahem. Mixed metaphors aside, I liked it. One thing that occurred was a warning against pitting other posters {especially one’s nearest and dearest} for real-life stuff might be handy: if it happens off the board, it stays off the board.
I don’t know if it’s been covered elsewhere, but a warning against links to snark sites might come in handy, too, since those always seem to get stepped on pretty quick: oxygen of publicity and all that, as well as the potential for board wars.
I think there should be a line saying that swearing is not actually required for a pitting… Call me irrational, but it just drives me nuts to see someone say “Sorry there’s no swearing or anything” or, “And this being the pit, fuck shit damn!” Since when did vitriol=required swearing?
Hmm, the perfect thread to say something that’s been bothering me …
I loathe this rule. I’m allowed to call another poster most names under the sun, possibly using a big red font, but I can’t call a troll a troll. Can I accuse someone of lying ? Can I accuse someone of being deliberately obtuse ? I’ve seen posts that start “Assuming your not lying …” or “I think you’re trying to get a rise out of us here but in case you’re not I’ll answer …” are they accusations of trollery ?
The rule just seems very arbitrary given what we are allow to say, and I’m sorry that it didn’t get dumped with this revamp of the rules. Any chance you’d consider ditching it ?
