Then you need to Warn him about calling himself that. What you seem to be saying is that if a poster picks a self-insulting name, he gets special treatment and protection.
You weren’t modded just for mentioning his name, you were modded for using his name as an insult. You wouldn’t get modded if you said something like “Half Man Half Wit is wrong here” but you basically called him a half wit. Granted he threw that ball across the plate by picking a self deprecatory user name, but you shouldn’t have swung at it. Calling someone a half wit is an insult, which is against the rules.
Also, I’m trying to see how anyone could make a similar insult out of DrDeth. Could you give an example?
We don’t have to read your mind. It doesn’t necessarily matter what your intent was. You can’t assume that everyone else will know you were joking.
Read the rule again:
Please provide a link to someone saying “appropriate user name” to you where it was intended as an insult.
Yes. We reject usernames we regard as inappropriate.
I’m saying the opposite: even if a poster makes a joke about himself with his username or picks a username that could be taken as an insult, you don’t get a free pass to call him a name every time you disagree with him.
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I didn’t use his name as an insult. I used it as a joke.
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I didn’t call him a half wit.
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Ah, so if I say “poisoned anyone recently, Borgia?” then is it a joke or a insult? In order to be an insult one has to mean it as one, and the other person has to take offense, neither of which occurred here.
My favorite was the ‘fuckthemods’ registrant from several years ago (God, maybe ten years ago).
DrDeth, you need to learn to let it go. You got dinged, you took a lump. You should have known better. The fact that you’re bringing it up again now - after a few weeks of various messages asking me to change it…and including other posters - is silly.
Since it would be more reasonable to select Half Man, the first half of his name, or abbreviate it as HMHW, I would assume that if you focused on the Half Wit part you intended it as an insult, especially if you were “calling him out.”
People regularly abbreviate Really Not All That Bright’s name as RNATB. It shouldn’t be a problem.
A joke can still be an insult. If someone jokingly commented to me “your user name is quite appropriate considering your apparent brain capacity,” it is an insult. Many jokes are funny because they are insults, but they are still insults.
But it’s also possible to reference my user name in a non-insulting manner. I was in a debate once with poster Troutsqueezer, and a few other posters riffed off that. Also a joke, but not insulting.
I don’t know if a warning was justified for you, but you certainly did insult the poster, and claiming it was only a joke isn’t a defense. And comparing it to other people referencing your user name is unrelated unless their usage was insulting in some way.
What are you saying your post meant, then?
The bottom line is that you can’t call a poster a halfwit in GD. There are no exceptions. It doesn’t matter if his username happens to have the word halfwit in it.
But it was an insult.
Yes you did.
Depends on the context. If you said that in the midst of a heated debate in GD, then maybe it would be insulting.
You still haven’t provided an instance of your name being used in an insulting fashion.
It remains forever. You guys never drop a warning. Every fucking time I come to this MB it’s right there in front of me. No other MB I know of keeps Warnings forever and ever and ever. And, here’s what’s worse. Ten years from now, if I say something weird again, it’s be “Well, you were warned for this before!”. The fact I posted here for 13 years before getting a Warning and might post for another 13 would be beside the point. TWO WARNINGS!!! This is why so many old time posters are gone.
So, yeah, I’d be willing to let it go- if you guys would be willing to let it go- ever. But you’re not. *You *will cherish and hug and keep that “ding” for decades. You will bring it up later- in fact you will never, *ever *forget it.
I even asked you guys to just do it for the sake of Customer Service. But the idea of Customer Service seems to be at odds here.
So, no problem, Jonathan- I will drop it- when you guys do. Deal? You guys make the warnings go away after a year or even two, and sure- it’s a “ding” and I can forget it.
But this isn’t a “ding”. It’s not a “lump”. It’s fucking** forever. **
It wasn’t a personal insult, it wasn’t meant or taken as one.
A Joke?
I didn’t call him a half-wit. Where did I use that word?
We have explained in hundreds of threads that warnings count less and less as time goes on as long as you don’t repeat the thing you got warned for. Assuming we’re all still here and using this system in 10 years, will that warnings still be there? I guess. Will anyone use it as the basis for a banning or suspension or even give a crap? No. So please, get over it.
You said halfwit was an appropriate username. That’s calling him a halfwit and you know it. You shouldn’t have done it, but if you don’t do it again it’s no big deal.
I disagree. I think what you said is the equivalent of saying “You’re a half-wit, yuk yuk”. Adding the laughs or assuming that people will think it’s ok because it’s funny doesn’t make it less of an insult.
A person (such as that other poster) should be able to indulge a little self-deprecating humor without having it be turned into a personal attack* by someone else in Great Debates.
*Yes, personal attack. You asked for opinions, there is mine.
Are you even listening to yourself DrDeth? Can you see how extreme you appear to be?
Hell, I got a warning a couple of years ago and I corresponded with the moderator who dinged me to acknowledge it and move on. It’s not the end of the world. It should be a teachable moment if you’ll let it be so.
…and call it George.
I got my first recently. I consider it a brown badge of courage!
Y’know, most of us on the moderation staff, as well as most of the posters reading this thread, wouldn’t have been aware of the warning if you hadn’t brought it up. I glance through the warnings files every once in a while, but I don’t keep track of if someone gets a single warning. I didn’t know about your warning until you brought it up. Warnings only really become an issue if someone gets several within a short period of time. A single warning from years ago is essentially irrelevant.
If your objective is to have the warning be forgotten about, you’re going about it in exactly the wrong way.
Very good. But be careful now, that’s actually funny. 
Hmm, according to Jonathan, this was discussed “in the Mod loop” whatever that is.
Anyway, my point is that in order for it to be 'an insult" you should have either it be intended or taken as a insult. In this case- neither. For a third party to say “Hey, you were insulted there, don’t worry I got your back” is a bit out of line.
No insult was intended or taken. Ipso facto, no insult occurred.