Dude.
You did realise it was meant to be a poll about annoying things people do, not a platform to go ahead and do them?
“That’s not got MUCH spam in it!”
The rule isn’t “No insults, unless they’re not that big.” The rule is only the first two words of that.
And your defense of “BUT IT’S TEH TROOOOTH!!!” is one of the lamest and most tired overused defenses of people breaking messageboard rules in the history of people breaking messageboard rules. Give it a rest, wouldja?
Thank you for making me appreciate Der Trihs.
I’m seldom effusive in my praise, but he does have a firm command of the rules of capitalization.
One of the first things taught kindergarteners is not to call names.
Even if it’s true.
The modding of that thread is consistent with modding that’s gone on this board for years. Nothing was said that hasn’t been said in many other threads on many different topics. It is not a bad rule. This type of modding has helped keep this board an interesting place to talk about a variety of topics in different ways (full on debates, sharing of opinions, ranting in anger etc) without it resorting to flinging school-yard insults.
And yes, it is expected people remember the rules, and if they don’t, to graciously accept being reminded of them.
so in other words, its ok to be condescending:
“Why not post on one of the thousands of other online forums that agrees with your approach to human interactions? This one is obviously ill-suited to you.”
but if i call someone stupid, oh no!!!
you people have weird standards
“Stupid” is inflammatory, “misinformed” is not. “Liar” is inflammatory, “mistaken” is not. It’s how the the language works. I’m confident that you, as a native speaker, are fully aware of this distinction, which makes your protest here a fool’s errand.
I’m confident that you, as a native speaker, can understand that a veiled insult is even more insidious than a direct one. It’s how language works. Trying to claim otherwise, would be a fools errand.
No, it’s “state vs trait” comments. In general, it’s better to avoid “trait” comments in favor of “state” comments when in engaging in debate and discourse.
Being stupid is a character trait, immutable.
Being misinformed is a state of being, that can be changed.
You can say someone’s argument is stupid, without calling the person stupid.
It’s actually good advice. If the tenor of the board is so displeasing and you struggle with matching your style to the culture of the board, then you have four choices:
- Stay and try to fit in
- Stay and feel frustrated that everyone misunderstands you
- Stay and try to change everyone else
- Find somewhere else you’re happier with.
It’s the reason I don’t post at Reddit or 4chan. It doesn’t fit my style, where this place does. We don’t have weird standards- we have our standards.
Idle Thoughts, this is a good place to say thank you for your patience and moderation in moderation. I don’t think all participants (here or there) have an equal commitment to fighting ignorance, and I appreciate your keeping it on the rails.
This is not a forum for fighting.
If you have something to take up with another poster, the place to air that out is The BBQ Pit, not About This Message Board. So knock off the beating on one another here and take it to the Pit.
I suspect that for some weird reason you came back to the board to flame out so all of this will fall on deaf ears but what the hell. Typing doesn’t cost much.
The rules may be weird to you (despite a join date of 2005) but they are reasonably clear. And you don’t have to memorize them, they are right there at the top of this forum in a stickied thread. No one’s fault but yours if you decided not to read them.
For as long as I’ve been here and longer the rule has been attack the post not the poster. Calling someone stupid is attacking the poster.
IMHO is to state your opinions not to debate issues. There is some obvious leeway in which people can go back and forth a bit about what they post but it is not the place for a 3 page hijack by one poster.
If you feel the need to expound on your views on religion it costs nothing to open a thread in Great Debates. I’m sure you will add a lot to the discussion that has not been said before.
In the long ago murky past it was felt that certain interactions between posters could become too heated and a safety value was needed so certain people come vent or let off steam. So if you feel that need and think you have no way of expressing yourself without calling someone stupid or worse, The Pit is for you.
This board is hardly a hotbed of religiosity. If you are expounding your views and get no positive feedback you probably should look at yourself and not others. For instance, I am about the least religious person you’ll meet. You are doing it wrong.
That thread looked to be very well modded IMHO.
I agree about the modding. It was even-handed and patient. I think some of you know me as an outspoken atheist that feels quite at home on this board.
Right. Got it.
I won’t call people stupid.
I’ll just insinuate that they don’t have the manners of a kindergartner, or that they don’t comprehend “native english”, or tell them to go post somewhere else on the internet. But I won’t call them stupid, because, that, would be rude.
That is not the problem, The problem is the hypocrisy:
Racheellogram
Why not post on one of the thousands of other online forums that agrees with your approach to human interactions? This one is obviously ill-suited to you.
Lefthandofdarkness:
And your defense of “BUT IT’S TEH TROOOOTH!!!” is one of the lamest and most tired overused defenses of people breaking messageboard rules in the history of people breaking messageboard rules. Give it a rest, wouldja?
VinylTurnip:
I’m seldom effusive in my praise, but he does have a firm command of the rules of capitalization.
IvoryTowerDenizen:
One of the first things taught kindergarteners is not to call names.
ChefGuy:
“Stupid” is inflammatory, “misinformed” is not. “Liar” is inflammatory, “mistaken” is not. It’s how the the language works. I’m confident that you, as a native speaker, are fully aware of this distinction, which makes your protest here a fool’s errand.
Loach:The rules may be weird to you (despite a join date of 2005) but they are reasonably clear. And you don’t have to memorize them, they are right there at the top of this forum in a stickied thread. No one’s fault but yours if you decided not to read them.
Every single one of those “comments” to me is condescending. Those types of comments permeate SDMB. You allow it. It is quite quite common. So yes, I’m a little bothered when you allow that type of rudeness and yet tell me i cant call someone stupid. It is an odd combination of suppression and censorship that i find quite unsettling and very hypocritical.
OTOH I have no confidence that you understand anything of the sort.
There there - don’t you worry your pretty little head about that.
Regards,
Shodan
At the risk of Jr. Modding, just a head’s up Robert163, the mods have asked us to not fight in this forum.
You might not get many more responses here, so if you have grievances to air, you might want to take the advice to open a Pit thread.
Dorkness, if you please.
In some ways, I actually agree with you: the rules against direct namecalling, while allowing the sort of snarky contempt I show in the bit you quoted, are a bit odd. Probably the board would work better without that sort of snarky contempt, and probably I should have posted in a more civil fashion.
However:
- Claiming that it’s not an insult to call someone stupid if it’s true that they’re stupid is missing the point, and is arguing something wholly separate from a call for civility. Whether someone is dumb as a box of hammers is immaterial to whether calling them stupid is an insult, just as whether someone is smarter than a roomful of astrophysicists is immaterial to whether calling them a genius is a compliment.
- The rules is the rules, and your complaint about a lack of civility would be more convincing if it weren’t in response to getting smacked down for calling people stupid.
- If you’d like a general change in the tenor of the board–either allowing direct insults in IMHO, or forbidding contemptuous oblique snark outside of the Pit–you’ll be a lot more convincing if you make the call in civil language yourself.
i thank you for responding. but such hypocritical standards and lectures on morality from a group of people this condescending, is well, illuminating. take it to heart that i will put as much effort as possible into finding backhanded insults and thinly vield hostility. since that is, after all, what is both encouraged and quite common. the one thing i won;t do, of course, is call anyone stupid, or bigoted,or whatnot.
i really do appreciate you responding but that does not diminish the hypocritical nature of the double standards at play here.