# Are you allowed to insult a banned poster? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 14, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-allowed-to-insult-a-banned-poster/641001 "2012-11-14T17:06:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-allowed-to-insult-a-banned-poster/641001/21 "2012-11-15T22:42:40Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > No one’s commented on how off-base **Exapno** ’s remarks about how “insult-filled” my insult-free post was, btw. I mean if you accuse someone of pitting someone else outside of the Pit, and that’s your entire point, and it’s wrong, you’d think someone would care a little bit, wouldn’t you? Maybe not. There’s an easy solution. Why don’t you try posting these comments in another thread outside the Pit about a current poster? ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-allowed-to-insult-a-banned-poster/641001/22 "2012-11-16T01:41:24Z")
> [@the lone cashew](#): > > So you call the guy an idiot, clearly and as plain as day. Not quite plain as day. I called him an idiot after he was banned, but in the part below, which was the part I had written while he was an active poster, there are very few personal insults. Mostly, as I explained, I was critiquing his post, line by line, in a derisive but not insulting way, addressing pretty consistently his post, and only rarely getting into what I thought of him. But I’m relieved you’re no longer reading my posts, because that means that you’re no longer misreading my posts. If you slip and read one by mistake, I can send you instructions for how to put me on ‘ignore’ which I will take as a personal favor if you do. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-allowed-to-insult-a-banned-poster/641001/23 "2012-11-16T01:42:50Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > There’s an easy solution. Why don’t you try posting these comments in another thread outside the Pit about a current poster? Sure. Post his comments under your own name, and I’ll respond to them. Good idea. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-allowed-to-insult-a-banned-poster/641001/24 "2012-11-16T13:48:50Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Actually, almost nothing that I wrote in that post was a personal insult. … I’m not going to get into this debate, but I cite the first line of that post: > [@pseudotriton ruber ruber](#): > > OK, I’m not actually complaining about Modding’s marley, for once, I don’t care and he was probably 100% correct to ban this idiot, … In my book, calling someone an “idiot” is pretty much an insult. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-allowed-to-insult-a-banned-poster/641001/25 "2012-11-16T13:56:25Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > I’m not going to get into this debate, but I cite the first line of that post: In my book, calling someone an “idiot” is pretty much an insult. And by the time I called him that, he had already been banned. As I keep explaining, I was fully aware that my post would need to be moved somewhere from ATMB, but it began with a semi-serious complaint about \*\*Marley’s \*\*modding, so I put it in ATMB with a request that the mods move it wherever they deem appropriate. There seems to have been no such place, so he closed the thread. Whatever. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-allowed-to-insult-a-banned-poster/641001/26 "2012-11-16T14:06:55Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > We need a clarification on what constitutes an insult, IMO. Stating that a salamander is slimy or that shit stinks is insult to neither the salamander nor the shit. The problem is that, even if we wrote a four-volume treatise on what constitutes a personal insult, we’d still have grey area. The bottom line is: we knows it when we sees it. After all, I could call a salamander (or a pile of shit) any number of rude names, and the salamander ()or p. of s.) wouldn’t be offended. Whereas the people who post here are human beings, with sensitivities beyond those of a salamander. We _do_ get insulted, and when we’re insulted, we often (1) go away or (2) respond in kind. Neither of those fosters the kind of Message Boards we’d like these to be. We do not (and never have) accepted “it’s the truth” as a justification for personal insult. That would lead to endless circlular arguments. We might as well not have any rules against personal insults. I call Poster X an imbecile, and I claim it’s true because only an imbecile would blah-blah opinion. She responds that I’m a moron for thinking so. No, we don’t want to be there. The Truth is a hazy and fuzzy reflection of reality, and not a good basis on which to allow insults. One poster’s truth is another poster’s rhubarb pie. One can say that a person’s opinion is mistaken without insulting the person. Note that we _do_ allow people to say that an OPINION is idiotic, but we do not allow people to say that a POSTER is an idiot. That fine line, splitting a diff between what a person says and who a person is, allows plenty of freedom of expression, plenty of ways to be creative and humorous in knocking down an opinion, but still maintains a thin veneer of politeness to opponents and common courtesy. We use that fine line to pretend that this is a place where we can have open, free, interesting discussions that don’t devolve into name-calling. (And **What the … !!!** : I see no substantial diff between “personal insult” and “name-calling.” But that’s me, YMMV.) And, please, can we limit discussion here to the broader question of whether a banned poster should be protected from insults, when they can’t respond? The specifics that launched this thread are not as relevant as the broader question, methinks, which the mods are discussing (it will take some time.) ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-allowed-to-insult-a-banned-poster/641001/27 "2012-11-16T14:10:42Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > And by the time I called him that, he had already been banned. Yes, hence the question raised by **Exapno** in this thread: is it OK to insult a banned poster? Hence the closing of the thread that did insult a banned poster. And hence the mods discussion. That’s why this thread exists, n’est-ce pas? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-allowed-to-insult-a-banned-poster/641001/28 "2012-11-16T14:15:14Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Even the comments addressing the unfortunate timing of **Marley** ’s modding? I think I would have gotten a warning for posting comments about that OUTSIDE of ATMB. I would think an explanatory comment in your OP would be okay, if not written as a complaint. > [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > I’m not going to get into this debate, but I cite the first line of that post: Well, he did say “almost”. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-allowed-to-insult-a-banned-poster/641001/29 "2012-11-16T14:17:56Z")
Right. I’m just pointing that I assumed that calling a banned poster an idiot was ok in ATMB, and that ATMB was the only place I felt I could put my issue with **Marley** ’s quick trigger-finger. Obviously, by banning him without a whole lot of discussion, **Marley** was implying that the banned poster had done some pretty bad things, including possibly idiotic behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-allowed-to-insult-a-banned-poster/641001/30 "2012-11-16T15:14:48Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Right. I’m just pointing that I assumed that calling a banned poster an idiot was ok in ATMB, and that ATMB was the only place I felt I could put my issue with **Marley** ’s quick trigger-finger. Obviously, by banning him without a whole lot of discussion, **Marley** was implying that the banned poster had done some pretty bad things, including possibly idiotic behavior. But that makes just as much sense as saying that it’s o.k. to call a banned poster a child-molesting bank robber because _that_ may have been the reason for the ban. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-allowed-to-insult-a-banned-poster/641001/31 "2012-11-16T16:16:18Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > But that makes just as much sense as saying that it’s o.k. to call a banned poster a child-molesting bank robber because _that_ may have been the reason for the ban. Leave Dio out of this. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-allowed-to-insult-a-banned-poster/641001/32 "2012-11-16T17:04:12Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > We _do_ get insulted, and when we’re insulted, we often (1) go away or (2) respond in kind. Neither of those fosters the kind of Message Boards we’d like these to be. How is this reconciled with the penchant of some of the moderators to include a “zinger” in their moderator notes and reprimands? See the recent “Best Mod Lines” thread, if you need examples. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-allowed-to-insult-a-banned-poster/641001.md?page=1)