# Jonathan Chance's note to CarnalK **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 11, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-chances-note-to-carnalk/759692 "2016-07-11T23:08:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-chances-note-to-carnalk/759692/1 "2016-07-11T23:08:30Z")
[Linky.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19468551&postcount=28) I think JC missed the tonal cues. Yes, on the face of it, the post could be read as “Somebody fucked your mother.” But it was absurdism, silliness, a quip of opportunity. Recently, in Cafe Society, I called somebody a “Knucklehead.” But it was in a Three Stooges context, and was a response to a truly magnificent bad pun. This is why board moderation cannot be left to machine intelligence: you gotta have the human touch. That said…the moderation here is the best I’ve ever seen. I’ve been on similar general-topic discussion boards with too little…and with too much…control over content. You guys are right in the heart of the Goldilocks Zone. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2016, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-chances-note-to-carnalk/759692/2 "2016-07-11T23:53:37Z")
Does that mean we get eaten at the end of the story in the original, non-Disneyfied version? Seriously, though, tone is enormously hard to convey. And both Great Debates and Elections are sensitive spots for a lot of posters so I err on the side of ‘keep it straightforward’ instead of saying stuff that could be misinterpreted. That’s why I kept it a note instead of a warning. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-chances-note-to-carnalk/759692/3 "2016-07-12T00:14:27Z")
When in doubt, CarnalK is being sarcastic 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-chances-note-to-carnalk/759692/4 "2016-07-12T06:44:57Z")
To be honest, it annoyed the fuck out of me. I was composing a post that would have drawn me a warning, but decided to report it instead. Insult me all you want, I’m an asshole. But don’t bring my mom into it. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-chances-note-to-carnalk/759692/5 "2016-07-12T16:05:46Z")
Okay, fail, I guess. I thought it was funny, and would have thought the same if it had been about my mom. It was a JOKE. Joke, right? Comprene? Given the degree of _serious_ crap and snark and bitter insults that this board sees daily, I’m amazed something this trivial broke your barriers. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-chances-note-to-carnalk/759692/6 "2016-07-12T17:17:41Z")
Besides the “surreal” aspect (which, frankly, I didn’t understand), there is a rule about making sexual comments aimed at posters on this MB. I think one can reasonably assume that should apply to comments about a poster’s mother as well. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-chances-note-to-carnalk/759692/7 "2016-07-12T18:22:46Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Okay, fail, I guess. I thought it was funny, and would have thought the same if it had been about my mom. It was a JOKE. Joke, right? Comprene? Not everyone finds “jokes” about their mothers as funny as you might; in fact, I would say that most people don’t. We can’t evaluate remarks purely on the basis of whether you are offended, but whether they might be taken that way. And we don’t necessarily mod posts on the basis of whether _we_ are offended, but whether a post might provoke retaliation. > [@](#): > > Given the degree of _serious_ crap and snark and bitter insults that this board sees daily, I’m amazed something this trivial broke your barriers. Excessive snark and bitter insults are generally moderated. As moderators, we prefer to “head fights off at the pass” by mod-noting questionable posts rather than allow things to be misinterpreted and blow up. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-chances-note-to-carnalk/759692/8 "2016-07-12T20:47:32Z")
Ah, well. I’m content, given that it was only a note and not a full warning. That, too, seems to have the virtue of Aristotelian moderation. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2016, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-chances-note-to-carnalk/759692/9 "2016-07-12T20:49:32Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Ah, well. I’m content, given that it was only a note and not a full warning. That, too, seems to have the virtue of Aristotelian moderation. “Moderation in all things, including moderation”? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-chances-note-to-carnalk/759692/10 "2016-07-14T00:48:10Z")
It was essentially a “yo mamma” joke.