# How is it moderators are entitled to insult posters? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 19, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605 "2008-08-19T22:22:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/1 "2008-08-19T22:22:39Z")
> [@moderator](#): > > And by the way, complaints and questions about moderator actions go in the Pit or About This Message Board. How is it moderators are entitled to insult posters? Does this have anything to do with dogma and trolls? I confess I am dense. I confess I have been called worse. Yet still I find I simply cannot understand why some repeatedly brag of their ignorance; brag they are unwilling or incapable of even considering other; enforce their ignorance and dogma on all others. I confess I am dense. I still am amazed by hostility released as dogma is even gently pricked. Please forgive. rwj ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/2 "2008-08-19T22:29:47Z")
[QUOTE=rwjefferson] > [@moderator](#): > > And by the way, complaints and questions about moderator actions go in the Pit or About This Message Board. [/QUOTE] source of quote: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10063611&postcount=26](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10063611&postcount=26) I’m not clear what part of the quoted matter you found insulting. Can you help me out? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/3 "2008-08-19T22:47:31Z")
Aw man, and I thought **I** was confused about insults this morning! 😃 Seriously - wait…what? Dude…what insult? ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/4 "2008-08-19T23:09:31Z")
GQ is for questions that have actual answers, or at least very close aproximations. It would have been an appropriate topic for Great Debates - as the question “What is gravity?” calls for a great deal of speculation and is factually largely unanswerable. One can hope to gain a consensus, but not a conclusion. Putting it in MPSIMS was probably a reaction to your way of writing, which seems needlessly obtuse - making your entire thread seem like a rhetorical question. Your replies were mostly divertive in effect, if not intent, largely leaving the questions asked of you unanswered. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/5 "2008-08-19T23:19:26Z")
You believe you’ve been insulted? I read the staff responses in the thread and I see no insult to you at all or anyone else for that matter. They were actually quite polite to you. If they had said, perhaps, “If ignorance was cornflakes, you’d be General Mills,” now THAT would be an insult. (Our boss talks like that. But we don’t. Mostly.) It’s not like they called you a douchebag or anything. We are sorry you feel offended. No offense intended or implied. Your fellow posters, on the other hand . . . ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/6 "2008-08-19T23:33:47Z")
[QUOTE=TubaDiva] Your fellow posters, on the other hand . . . [/QUOTE] Oh, please, get a grip already. Most of us were entirely civil as well, with only one or two, maybe three, exceptions. Honestly, you don’t do yourself any favors by casting such broad aspersions and even less so with the “us vs. you” mentality you’re so fond of displaying. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/7 "2008-08-19T23:40:11Z")
Dear Q.E.D.: It’s not like he was gathering compliments, now was he? And I didn’t say it was unjustified. I see no aspersions, broad or otherwise, except from you. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/8 "2008-08-19T23:49:36Z")
Yes, I’m sure you weren’t implying anything negative by leaving your thought hanging in the air, unfinished. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/9 "2008-08-20T01:12:23Z")
As the guilty party, I have to admit I don’t see much cause for complaint here. I suggested you might be being dense, **rwjefferson** , only after two pages of repetitiveness in which either you couldn’t make your question clear, or the other posters couldn’t make their answers clear, or else something completely confused was happening. It seemed to me you asked “What is gravity?” and were told “We don’t know.” You responded by asking the same question over and over and calling everybody dogmatic and so on, and ultimately took it over the line by calling everybody “trolls.” So if my post was a tiny bit indecorous, I think it was called for at that point. > [@rwjefferson](#): > > Yet still I find I simply cannot understand why some repeatedly brag of their ignorance; > brag they are unwilling or incapable of even considering other; > enforce their ignorance and dogma on all others. > > I confess I am dense. > I still am amazed by hostility released as dogma is even gently pricked. We are NOT going to reargue your topic here. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/10 "2008-08-20T01:22:57Z")
I can vaguely see how he interpreted the lock post as an insult, Marley was a little bit harsh (“I don’t know if you’re being dense on purpose” “whatever the hell you’re posting” etc), but by that point in the thread it actually struck me as a legitimate question. No offense rw, but you were writing very cryptically, not to mention with strange grammar (which was probably the major factor in the feeling of it being cryptic). I don’t know if English is your second or third language or what, but even though it’s fine you weren’t accepting the answer, you’re entitled to your beliefs as well as entitled to argue them, your strangely worded responses were only frustrating us trying to figure out what exactly you were trying to get at and I think it led to bad feelings and/or anger on both sides. And I think he was just quoting the rule saying “I’m here complaining about this moderator because that’s what the rules say.” Not sure why he felt he needed to justify it, but whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/11 "2008-08-20T02:31:26Z")
An ACME 16,000 lb anvil drops on your head. That is gravity. Mods stand and point, laughing at your misfortune. That is insulting. Neither has happened here. Take a seat and wait to be called on. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/12 "2008-08-20T03:58:40Z")
[QUOTE=Mr Bus Guy] An ACME 16,000 lb anvil drops on your head. That is gravity. Mods stand and point, laughing at your misfortune. That is insulting. Neither has happened here. Take a seat and wait to be called on. [/QUOTE] Now wait. Did he look upward, his body surrounded by an ever growing anvil-shadow, accompanied by whistling sound of descending large object, before pulling out a pocket sign reading: This is gonna leave a mark! Did he? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/13 "2008-08-20T06:04:58Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] Now wait. Did he look upward, his body surrounded by an ever growing anvil-shadow, accompanied by whistling sound of descending large object, before pulling out a pocket sign reading: This is gonna leave a mark! Did he? [/QUOTE] No, he didn’t. The sign read “YIPES!” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/14 "2008-08-20T15:43:30Z")
The OP’s communication skills aside, he does have a point. There are certain mods who frequently are obnoxious, and they get away with stuff that would get an ordinary member a warning at the very least. If an ordinary member were to say to another member _“I don’t know if you’re being dense on purpose”_ then the mods would at minimum be telling him to knock it off, maybe even issuing an official warning. I’ve seen a lot worse than that from mods too. A few months ago I had occasion to report a certain mod to the administration for breaking a fundamental rule of these boards. The admins had words with the mod in question, and then PM’d me to say that the matter was resolved and would not happen again. Now moderator warnings to ordinary members are public matters for all to see. When the admins have words with a mod, that should be public too, but it isn’t. I just think that mods should be subject to the same rules as the rest of us, but sometimes they seem to be above the law. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/15 "2008-08-20T16:03:33Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] If an ordinary member were to say to another member _“I don’t know if you’re being dense on purpose”_ then the mods would at minimum be telling him to knock it off, maybe even issuing an official warning. I’ve seen a lot worse than that from mods too. [/quote] There is a long-standing tradition here of mods occasionally using similar comments to make a point, and I think you could make a fair case that what I said was actually less harsh than what several other posters said or implied in the same thread. If there weren’t a rule against similar statements, somebody else would have said it long before I did. As it was, other posters were implying **rwjefferson** was on drugs or off his medication and so on. What I said was, “I don’t know if you’re being dense on purpose or if you’re really struggling with the very simple answer to your question, which has been posted many times already.” Which it inarguably had. By the time he repeated his question yet again and called the other posters “trolls” to boot, I decided I didn’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/16 "2008-08-20T17:52:09Z")
That may well be the general case, **Peter Morris** , but I don’t read that as the case here. **Marley23** appeared politely in the thread, as did **Gfactor** , and the OP would only chant his mantra of “dogma” and “truth” and ignore the moderators. No insult from the moderators, however mild, came flying out of the clear blue sky against a blameless innocent. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/17 "2008-08-20T18:08:23Z")
Can we put **rwjefferson** and **lekatt** in a room together and see what happens? ---
**Author:** ![Borborygmi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/borborygmi/32/217_2.png) [@Borborygmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borborygmi)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/18 "2008-08-20T19:01:21Z")
What are insults, really? Insults are not the fight against ignorance. Really. sdmb=14.95/yr Insults are a straightdope tradition. t=365973 Really. Any questions? Peace borb Unca Marley: You list’nin? ---
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/19 "2008-08-20T19:32:46Z")
The only Google ad at the bottom of this thread as I was reading it is for World of Warcraft. Google DOES know all 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605/20 "2008-08-20T20:19:30Z")
I don’t want to make this hostile, **rwjefferson** , but I think you are off-base in criticizing the tone of my post when your previous post (the last in the thread before I closed it) insulted several posters in less ambiguous terms. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-moderators-are-entitled-to-insult-posters/460605.md?page=2)