# Colibri, there's no rule against what you "didn't warn" me never to do again, so wtf? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 23, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132 "2010-10-23T21:58:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/1 "2010-10-23T21:58:14Z")
So, now mods will put the smack down by making up rules as they go? [cite](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13058742&postcount=25) I see no rule or FAQ explanation in GQ that says that jokingly derogatory comments (especially those directed at nebulous, unknown groups of people) are not allowed. WTF? If there’s no rule against it, how did **Colibri** see fit to “not warn” me never to do it again? Did I miss the notice that mods will now rule by individual whim? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/2 "2010-10-23T22:10:06Z")
GQ Rules and FAQs, last sentences of Rule #2: “We don’t tolerate political, religious, professional or personal jabs or insults. In case it’s somehow not clear: Trolling isn’t permitted at all.” I’m not accusing you of trolling, just quoting the relevant sentences verbatim. And why I’m doing it is that you were looking for what justification **Colibri** had for his Mod Note, if any. The rules don’t give me the authority to call your behavior that – but they do give it to him. AFAICT, those were his grounds, not ‘making up rules.’ ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/3 "2010-10-23T22:23:10Z")
**Polycarp** , **Snowboarder Bo** was quoting the movie “Idiocracy”. So if **Colibri** took it as a slur, it’s really not. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/4 "2010-10-23T22:26:25Z")
There’s a blurry line between a joke and a jab. Apparently \*\*Colibri \*\*thought you were on the wrong side of that line. I tend to agree with him, especially since you had to throw “fag” in there. ETA: I don’t think we can expect the Mods to be cogniscent of every line from every movie out there. Put it in quotes and note the source, and maybe there won’t be a problem. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/5 "2010-10-23T22:38:35Z")
No it was not. It was a quote from Idiocracy. Fag is in the movie line. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/6 "2010-10-23T22:51:07Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > GQ Rules and FAQs, last sentences of Rule #2: “We don’t tolerate political, religious, professional or personal jabs or insults. In case it’s somehow not clear: Trolling isn’t permitted at all.” > > I’m not accusing you of trolling, just quoting the relevant sentences verbatim. And why I’m doing it is that you were looking for what justification **Colibri** had for his Mod Note, if any. The rules don’t give me the authority to call your behavior that – but they do give it to him. AFAICT, those were his grounds, not ‘making up rules.’ Okay, I admit I missed that when I perused the GQ rules before starting this thread. I’m still unclear on how what I wrote fits any of those definitions. And yeah, it’s a quote from _Idiocracy_, a movie. A movie that’s very popular on the Dope, and a quote that’s been used here many times before my post. Also, since it’s obviously a joke (which **Colibri** acknowledged), how can it also be an insult? I mean, if it’s clear to someone who hasn’t even seen the movie that it’s a joke, it should also be perfectly clear that it is not an insult. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/7 "2010-10-23T23:01:32Z")
Well, it’s not “perfectly” clear or even partially clear that it’s a joke. I haven’t seen the movie. And it uses the word “fag” as a joke, which is well at least tasteless and if one does not know it’s a joke makes you sound bigoted. When I was in High School, SNL had a popular line of “Jane, you ignorant slut.” I used that line with a classmate that I thought was hawt. She obviously wasn’t big on SNL, didn’t get my joke, and thought I actually called her a slut. I’ve been a little more careful since then… And on a message board, we all know it’s a lot harder to tell sarcasm or jokes, especially if you don’t put a smiley or something there to make it even more obvious. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/8 "2010-10-23T23:35:14Z")
I have to agree with **China Guy** and **John Mace**. I’ve seen _Idiocracy_, twice, and I didn’t place the line. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/9 "2010-10-23T23:47:18Z")
And keep in mind that it’s not just the Mods. How could you possibly expect that everyone reading that thread is going to know it was a line from a movie.? My guess is that most people wouldn’t. I had never even heard of that movie, much less that specific line, until now. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/10 "2010-10-24T00:03:35Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > And yeah, it’s a quote from _Idiocracy_, a movie. A movie that’s very popular on the Dope, and a quote that’s been used here many times before my post. That particular quote also caused an uproar on this board not too long ago because someone didn’t get the reference. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/11 "2010-10-24T00:04:37Z")
It’s very over-the-top, for one, compared to the other items I listed. I mean, even **Colibri** could tell it was a joke, as has been pointed out. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/12 "2010-10-24T00:07:57Z")
The style of humor for that joke was to be derogatory (as opposed to vulgar, slapstick, ethnic etc). GQ tends to be one of the more conservative (in posting style) forums. I imagine that the modding was to discourage jokes that could be perceived as offensive to another poster, it wasn’t just because you offended the particular mods sensibilities. You weren’t even warned, so I don’t think it was that big of a deal. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/13 "2010-10-24T01:27:55Z")
To be fair, the OP probaby should have linked to the wiki and/or imdb entry for the movie, or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/14 "2010-10-24T01:40:37Z")
Funny thing is, I’ve seen this type of humor many other places. Just with a different group. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/15 "2010-10-24T02:32:27Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > It’s very over-the-top, for one, compared to the other items I listed. I mean, even **Colibri** could tell it was a joke, as has been pointed out. Apologies. I have never seen the movie, didn’t recognize it as a joke, and did see what seemed to answer your question. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/16 "2010-10-24T04:47:24Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > It’s very over-the-top, for one, compared to the other items I listed. I mean, even **Colibri** could tell it was a joke, as has been pointed out. Just because something is a joke doesn’t mean it automatically gets a pass. The whole point of jokes like that is that they’re offensive. Telling offensive jokes is fine when you know your audience (or in the case of comedians, the audience knows you), but it’s not possible to know your audience on a public message board so offensive jokes naturally carry more risk of actually offending someone. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/17 "2010-10-24T05:21:26Z")
From the [Registration agreement:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=423183) > [@](#): > > You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use the SDMB to post any material that you know or should know is false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, **abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene,** profane, threatening, invasive of a person’s privacy, or in violation of U.S. law. > [@](#): > > You are free to express your views in a forceful manner provided you remain civil. \*\*Hate speech, insults, and purposely inflammatory remarks \*\*(i.e., trolling) will not be tolerated. Bolding mine. From Merriam-Webster: [faggot:](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faggot) > [@](#): > > **usually disparaging :** a male homosexual Bolding mine. There is no question that “fag/faggot” is a disparaging term, and that the use of the term in the thread was intended in disparaging manner. The fact that it might be a quote from a movie is entirely irrelevant. It’s disparaging, and really has no place in GQ. Please have some respect for your fellow posters. I recognized that it was intended as a joke, and hence made it a mod note rather than a warning. But I am not going to permit disparaging terms referring to homosexuals to be bandied about in GQ, even if meant as a joke. The OP has been around for a while, and should be more aware of GQ standards. Mod notes are intended as a reminder of the board rules; they are not official warnings. A note in this case was clearly warranted; the OP was in clear violation of board rules. I gave you a break here; it could have been a warning. Ps. I’ve edited the spelling of my name in the title. I’m a hummingbird, not a font. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/18 "2010-10-24T05:33:42Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > **Polycarp** , **Snowboarder Bo** was quoting the movie “Idiocracy”. So if **Colibri** took it as a slur, it’s really not. Are you kidding? I completely fail to see the reasoning on this. Just because a slur is a quote from a movie doesn’t make it any less of a slur. If we allowed insults on the basis that they were quotes from movies there would never be an end to it. Quoting from _Pulp Fiction_ alone would permit almost any kind of insult. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/19 "2010-10-24T05:44:38Z")
Ok, since the nested quotes thing is gone, I’m gonna just reply as best I can without a quote: That rule is bullshit. We all (well, many of us) post disparaging and vulgar comments all the time on these boards. We call people and organizations and loose groupings of people assholes, morons, idiots, scum and a whole host of other disparaging terms. Heck, **Absolute** did it in the same thread: > [@Absolute](#): > > If Dell and HP don’t compete with the iMac simply because they don’t give a shit, they’re run by idiots. Would you like me to find all the times someone called **Der Trihs** a nasty name? Or **Starving Artist**? Or **Diogenes**? There is no question but that you’re now making an argument that can’t be supported by the facts: the entire sentence is a quote of a line from a comedy movie. It’s not disparaging: it’s humor. Do I now have to submit comments to the Straight Dope Humor Police before I can post anything, on the chance that someone somewhere might not find it funny because they don’t understand it? That’s ridiculous, just like the citation of a rule that I’ve never seen enforced before, at least not for an obvious, over-the-top joke. Even you knew it was a joke, because you said: > [@Colibri](#): > > you’re evidently joking There was no disparagment at all. You just don’t like seeing the word “fag”. Would I have been out of line if I’d written: Plus, the people who work at the non-Apple companies talk like homosexuals, and their shit is all retarded. ? The rule is stupid, as written, and I can cite past practice all damn day and night that it isn’t enforced. For example, I didn’t receive a note, let alone a warning for calling another poster on the Dope an “ignorant degenerate moronic criminal fuckwad” in a recent post. That’s certainly derogatory; in fact, it was posted specifically _to be_ derogatory. Hell, look at all the names Morella gets called, or the post where SCOTUS Justice Thomas is described as being on the court so Scalia doesn’t have to carry his own golf clubs, or any thread about Sarah Palin: defamatory, nasty, derogatory, profane shit gets said all the time on these boards, AND THERE’S EVEN A FORUM SPECIFICALLY DEDICATED TO THAT KIND OF POSTING: The BBQ Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132/20 "2010-10-24T05:46:46Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Are you kidding? I completely fail to see the reasoning on this. Just because a slur is a quote from a movie doesn’t make it any less of a slur. If we allowed insults on the basis that they were quotes from movies there would never be an end to it. Quoting from _Pulp Fiction_ alone would permit almost any kind of insult. The Straight Dope allows insults all the time, as I’ve just shown in the post above. And what I wrote wasn’t an insult, it was humor. As several people have tried to tell you. Just because you don’t get the joke doesn’t mean it is’t a joke. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colibri-theres-no-rule-against-what-you-didnt-warn-me-never-to-do-again-so-wtf/558132.md?page=2)