I re-read through the FAQ and rules, but if it’s in there I missed it.
Sometimes I have seen people comment “what a surprise, a join date of this month”… which is often an accurate comment, as brand new posters have often not acclimated to the board. Or are just drive-by posters.
Is commenting on that as a way of indicating “well, another not so bright poster” a violation of the “don’t be a jerk” rule? I have a feeling it would be but there have been a few times I’ve wanted to make the comment, and if its allowed I’m going to stop restricting myself.
I note that I haven’t been registered all that long, and irony of that is not lost on me.
Yeah, it’s an insult and counts as being a jerk if directed toward the poster. You’re attacking the poster, not commenting on the content of the post.
People sometimes get away with it when commenting on a drive-by poster who signed up, posted once and didn’t come back. After a certain amount of time, people start to assume the poster won’t ever be coming back, and the comment is now for the benefit of other posters rather than the short-timer. The mods probably don’t particularly like it, but I haven’t seen it abused (yet) so it often isn’t modded.
I understand that insults are subjective, and “directed at the poster rather than the post” is a nice objective line in the sand that comforts some of our more easily butthurt posters, but this is ridiculous.
It’s more that there is a tendency for freshly minted posters to take extreme positions on rancorous issues, just to see the fallout. Not necessarily trolling, but stirring up shit in their very first interaction. It makes one question if they are truly interested in an honest debate, or just enjoy making trouble.
The difference is if it’s intended by the poster as an offhand-dismissal of a new-to-the board poster’s argument (which is an ad-hominem attack and should be a violation of various rules here) or a comment to observers that the poster is new and doesn’t know the ettiquette and run rules 'round here.
And knowing the difference is where the mods make their money (figuratively speaking).
Insulting people by using facts is done all the time around here, as long as you don’t call someone a name. Being snarky with said facts is allowed. I cannot see how the position you guys are taking is consistent with the moderation of this board.
And the “insult the post not the poster” is a GD rule, not a board-wide rule. The board-wide rule is no personal attacks. If it were against the rules, half of the posters in an advice thread in IMHO would have Warnings. Those threads are all about attacking the poster for things they did that you think are stupid.
The few times I’ve made a comment along these lines, it has usually (no need to show me the inevitable counterexample) been in response to an OP that posts a long rant about an issue we’ve talked to death already, with a take-no-prisoners-I-am-right-and-laying-down-the-law attitude. Sometimes it turns out to be a cut and paste from their website, and they’re just cruising the webs to speak the truth unto the unconverted.
