I joined this board and gladly paid the Charter Member fee precisely because it’s far stricter and more intolerant of BS than all those other websites. This is a good thing. It has led to far more intelligent perspectives and discussions than I’ve seen anywhere else. I am also proud of the fact that “having no sense of humor” or “not getting it” does not automatically invalidate a point of view. Of course, a lot of people are going to have a hard time living up to these standards, but that’s just how it is. This board is for those who do not stand for flaming, trolling, offensive language, spamming, acting like a total jerk, or other unacceptable behavior.
I completely fail to understand how blatantly lying about a link as part of some incredibly childish prank is in any way acceptable. I mean, one of the purposes of this very website is stamping out ignorance; how does this “made you look” garbage contribute to that? And if this is a borderline case, well, you could argue that TLDR (formerly VC03) was borderline as well. The thing is, these cases never, ever remain borderline. That’s why they have to go.
This is a good website. I want it to stay that way. I’m sure you all do as well. No, Rick Rolling isn’t an epidemic here yet, and I haven’t reached the point where I have to approach each and every link with utter paranoia. I’d prefer these remain that way as well.
Please tell me what you’re going to do. Please tell me what I can do. Please don’t make me leave another formerly-great message board in utter disgust.
:dubious: You’d actually consider up and leaving the board whose praises you sung for three paragraphs over the occasional childish prank?
How does MPSIMS or The Game Room contribute to “stamping out ignorance”?
I won’t disagree that Rickrolling is not productive. But, really, it’s so uncommon on this board that I don’t think a policy is necessary. A lot of people think it can be funny; if you don’t, then you’ve lost 5 seconds of time and can continue on with the discussion (ignoring the “childish” poster if you’d like).
I don’t know about you, but I come here because of the wide range of folks you’ll find here. Some funny, some not funny. Some legal experts, some cooking experts. I enjoy the “anything goes” atmosphere, and I agree with there being just one rule – don’t be a jerk. IMO, posting a rickroll should be no more verboten than posting any joke. In both cases, someone will find it funny, and someone won’t.
If you want to extend the “don’t be a jerk” rule to encompass someone who has a habit or schtick of rickrolling, then I’m with you. But an outright ban? Can’t get on board with that.
Whew, for a moment, judging by the title, I thought Rick was rolling links. Glad to see his integrety intact.
I have to agree with the OP. One of the reasons I can access this board from work is the strict regulation regarding NSFW materials (marked as such, no direct link, etc.). If a rolling link directs me to a place where the bells and whistles go off in our SYSOP’s office, then I could lose access. As such this type of habit could be seen as a direct violation of a clearly stated rule.
If you have a concern about a post, use the “Report Bad Post” icon in the upper right corner to alert moderators to its existence. Give a short explanation of your concern in the field that pops up.
If action isn’t taken, and you want to know why, or wish to share your opinion as to why action should be taken, or your unhappiness at lack of action, email one or more of the moderators for that forum. Be patient: sometimes it takes them a while to get around to answering mail.
There are almost NO black and white rules on this board, thankfully. All “rules” are extensions and applications of the generalized rule “Don’t be a jerk.” Sometimes, Jerkdom is in the eye of the beholder. Without seeing the context of the post, I can’t say for certain that the post is a violation of the rule. Again, if you have a concern about it, email a moderator and explain why.
[Full disclosure: I have been branded a jerk in the past.]
The thread’s theme was circled around how Hillary was lying about her experience in Bosnia, and how there was already no question that her tale was exaggerated. garygnu was joking. As bad of a joke it was, he didn’t mean harm. To see Rick Rolling in the SDMB seems to me almost a play on how much of a joke it is on the rest of the internet. Sort of like how “teh gay” is deliberately misspelled in order to joke about how homophobia is such an immature/uneducated school of belief.
If we have someone Rick Rolling people continuously, I vote for warning. An isolated case though? It’s a joke about a joke about a joke…
I learned what “rickrolling” is today. God bless Wiki.
Ignorance fought.
I had forgotten how well he sings. Nice blast from the past.
Anyway…rickrolling is obviously meant as a joke. A dumb joke, yeah, but still a joke. And anybody who indulges in it repeatedly on the SDMB will eventually have it catch up to him, most likely in the form of simple social ostracism and Pitting, the same as with any other one-trick-pony. And then that person can decide if he wants to turn over a new leaf and be taken seriously…or not.
I wouldn’t worry about rickrolling too much as a phenomenon that has the potential to rip the SDMB apart in a frenzied terrorstorm of denunciation and betrayal. If it bothers you when you run across it, Report the Post.
If ever there was a thread that was just crying out for a rickroll, this is it. But I don’t want to encourage anyone to make a habit of it, so I’m going to refrain.
Speaking as a POSTER, not a member of the staff, I dislike misdirecting links. I especially dislike links that have sound and don’t have a warning that they play sound. And I post from home about 99.95% of the time!
As a member of the staff, it strikes me as being vaguely jerkish. And something to discuss with the other staff. I’m not going to make a ruling here and now.
I gotta agree that it’s annoying. I don’t surf on work computers, so that’s not my issue, but I definitely understand that side of it. My issue: all my access is through my Blackberry. That means that I can’t open new windows/tabs, and it may take two minutes to load the link, then two more to go back to where I was. Sure, as atomicbadgerrace says, it takes only about five seconds of most people’s time. Unfortunately, I’m broke, y’all, so I gotta take what I can get.
Blackberry on ebay: $50.
Monthly service: $20.
Surfing the SDMB without being had by silly, misidentified links: priceless.
I’ve seen it three times in the last two days. Once in the linked thread, once in the Dancing Walrus thread, and I can’t remember the third, unfortunately. Yes, up until now it’s been uncommon, but it looks to be taking form of a (seriously behind the times) fad.
However, I think getting riled up about it and posting on it is just playing into the game. Reporting the post will both alert the mods and ignore the jerk.
Thanks for bringing it up with the staff, Lynn Bodini.
At first I thought that it was in a GD thread given the subject. If it were in GD or GQ, it would have been jerkish. Since it was in an MPSIMS thread, it was merely retarded.
I’m not the one who originally brought it up, but we are discussing it. And it’s BodOni. And yeah, reporting the post is probably a good way to voice your displeasure, and let us know just how widespread it is.
