It’s tempting to say that if “false” and “inaccurate” postings were grounds for banning, a bunch of people would have been long gone. However, “knowingly” false or inaccurate would be pretty tough to prove. All kidding aside, I do have a question about “profane” and “vulgar” speech. “Obscene” I believe has a legal definition (and would not be protected under U.S. law by the First Amendment, and what exactly “obscene” is is a subject for Great Debates, not here, but that would clearly cover porn links). However, “profane” and “vulgar” surely describes 90% of what’s posted in the Pit, no? (“Hateful” speech might be problematic, too. Is there a distinction between hateful speech about another poster, and hateful speech about some guy who made the news for putting kittens in a blender and calling it “performance art”?)
Are we all going to be banned now, starting with jarbabyj? I mean, this ain’t a G-rated board, and I don’t think we should pretend it is.
The registration agreement is misleading in a number of respects. The first rule is the oft-quoted “Don’t be a jerk”, but we all know a few of the mods are jerks pretty much on all of their posts. So a profanity clause is the least of your worries.
Please don’t hijack this thread into yet another bash the Moderators rant, thanks. I’m asking about specific language in the Regisration Agreement which I think may be inaccurate, that’s all.
I had just read the agreement and wondered the same thing.
I am not complaining about it but the thread “Spit or swallow” would be a good example of what came to mind for me.
Indeed. It’s not just the Pit; practically all of our forums feature threads with “adult” content. Which is fine by me; I certainly don’t want the Registration Agreement to be actually enforced as it’s written. I’m just wondering about it. I believe there’s actually a rule that people under a certain age can’t register, yet that doesn’t appear in the agreement. Instead of pretending like we’re still on AOL, perhaps the “profane” and “vulgar” references should be deleted (“obscene” and “defamatory” and so on are a different matter) and a note should be put in that this is an adult board and you have to be a certain age to post here.
We’re redoing the FAQ. I know that we keep saying that it’s coming Real Soon Now, but we really ARE working on it. It’s hard to word something so that it’s OK to post a link to, say, a breast cancer self-examination site, but it’s not OK to post something like a site that asks if breasts are natural or enhanced. WE know what the difference is, it’s just hard, sometimes, to put that difference into words.
And there will always be those who try to skate right up to the edge.
We do enforce the “no-one under 13” rule. Our site is not appropriate for children under that age, and we don’t want it to be.
Not that I’m impatient for it (since I’ve already asked all my own questions long ago), but it has been taking a strangely long time. You are making this too hard.
The way to break the logjam is to remember the words of Turing: Change is hard, but experimentation is easy. So, set up an experimental FAQ page in an off moment. It’s less work than most of your posts.
If you want some help in that area, I could make up a page for you today with most of the FAQ’s on it, if you’d let the link remain. I think most of us who have been around a while know which questions are truly most frequently asked (Where are the People Pages photos, How do I submit URLs, What does “3.Hi OpalCat” mean, etc.)
But, of course I wouldn’t do such a thing if you said you’d erase the link right away.
So, what do you say? Want some help? It could be gone in a week if you thought it “didn’t have legs”.
" I believe there’s actually a rule that people under a certain
age can’t register, yet that doesn’t appear in the agreement."
I think you are talking about the COPPA agreement? That is one thing I asked about almost a year ago & I think it’s one of only a few posts that never got a reply. A copy of the COPPA should appear in the Rules, I think.