Airman Doors said:
A direct insult is not acceptable in GD. That is why you got a warning. His remark, however, was not considered to violate that rule. As has been noted by other people here, it was akin to saying that all lawyers are ambulance chasers or all pro-choicers are baby killers or all Republicans are brainless Bush followers.
Was it an inflammatory remark? Hell yes. Sometimes people do that in GD. Your response should have been to point out that it was an inflammatory remark and further to call him on it, thus showing yourself to be a better debater and a bigger man. Instead, you flamed him and broke the rules. Thus, you got warned and he got what he wanted.
If you wanted to ask about the situation, you should have e-mailed me. I have stated many times in many threads that I don’t follow the Pit. The only reason I even knew about this thread was because somebody else told me about it. Indeed, anybody here could have e-mailed me to ask about the reason, but instead you all decided to speculate uselessly. I especially am amused by those (you know who you are, Libertarian who conjecture that I acted because of some bias that they can’t figure out. That is, frankly, idiotic, as somebody who has been here any length of time should know. The GD moderators will warn anybody who violates the rules, no matter what their opinions are.
So, in closing, the statement in question was not considered to be a violation of GD rules. That said, I do not recommend that people decide to try to use this as a loophole to find ways to insult people (for example, saying, “Anybody named David B is an idiot”), as we do not take kindly to such things.
Now, since Airman Doors indicated that all that was required here was a ruling, I am closing this thread, as it has shifted from its original question to a completely different argument anyway. If you want to debate the overall issue, there is a GD thread for it. If you still don’t understand this ruling, feel free to e-mail me. I’m not going to waste my time in the Pit now that I’ve explained the rules, though.
– David B, SDMB Great Debates Moderator