…if they were never a board member? (ie. a celebrity or political figure)
…if they were a member, but are now banned?
For the above, it would be in boards outside The Pit
No.
In some cases we’ll ask people to let go of the subject because attacking people who can’t respond is a little unseemly and we don’t want to give any ammo to socks, but it’s not strictly against the rules and I don’t think we’ve ever warned anybody for it.
For reference, what about mocking someone who IS a board member (but not active), but is also a public figure? Like if I had a big problem with one of The Bad Astronomer’s articles. He’s member here, but just hasn’t been active for years.
Hmm. I am a bit concerned here. Could mocking/insulting someone who is a celebrity (or reasonable facsimile thereof) lead to slander/defamation lawsuits against this board? Not trying to stir anything up, getting clarification due to relatively recent events. Er, relatively recently re-started events seven years after the initial fact.
Or is it something like “If they (said celebrity) call the board on it, the thread will be closed down?”
Time to shut down the internet then.
Of course it could. People can and do sue for any reason and for no reason at all. There is virtually zero chance of such a suit being successful. TPTB here have to negotiate between those two realities. I’m can’t imagine a sensible blanket policy on this issue. Here’s hoping that they limit rulings to a case-by-case basis.
What about dissing someone who, while not currently a member, either was or possibly alluded to considering becoming a member? Huh? What then?
nm
Erm, what?
He’s referring to this thread.
What if I had a dream about mocking/insulting someone who doesn’t actually exist in real life but was a member on the boards in my dream? What would the dream moderators do?
Fascinating.
But also very sad that TPTB would shut down a thread on such bogus BS. Not the old SDMB I remember. The Master is dead.
Ah. I did see that thread. Carry on.
Almost any thread involving a potential legal action (or a legal action in process) will be closed. This is SOP for not only websites, but TV and other news media as well. Once a suit is started (or there is a strong possibility of it being started), it is bad policy for the persons involved to make public comments. Legal advice (and I ain’t no lawyer) is almost always against such public comments.
In terms of personal insults, we’ve always said that they are NOT permitted against other posters, but they are permitted against non-posters (celebrities or not, it’s OK to Pit your landlord, say.) There’s a fine line when such a person is a poster. We’ve only had a few such situations, and we decide them on a case-by-case basis. I suspect that if your landlord were a poster, the no-insult rule would prevail.
Remember, too, that it is possible to be critical of someone without insulting them. There’s a fine line between, “Your performance on that TV show didn’t seem realistic,” and “You’re an asshole.” The goal here is to maintain something like polite conversations amongst posters, even those with severe differences of opinion.
The dream would be recorded on your iPhone (you didn’t know they do that?) and our dream-extensions (“the dream moderators”) would take actions to erase the dream.
…
They live inside of my head…they come to me in my bed.
The SDMB itself would most likely be protected from defamation lawsuits by 47 U.S.C. § 230.
It’s never actually come up. The Bad Astronomer has gone on to great success but hasn’t posted here in 10 years. But I think we’ve always said that the person’s public works would be fair game for criticism, but insulting them as a poster is still not allowed. If it ever happens it’ll require some finessing, I’m sure.
Whew–that’s a relief! I was afraid we’d pissed off Marina Sirtis.
Well, as a matter of fact, I’m feeling despondency and sorrow from Ms Sirtis.