# Mod Clarification Please Jonathan Chance
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [September 17, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055 "2013-09-17T15:19:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055/1 "2013-09-17T15:19:47Z")
[Link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16673440&postcount=102)
If you follow it back to the [post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16669985&postcount=12)I made, “When come back, bring reading comprehension” wasn’t an [ad hominem](https://www.google.com/search?q=define+ad+hominem&rlz=1C1EODB_enUS529US530&oq=define+ad+hominem&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l3.2386j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) attack of **MrDibble**. It also wasn’t a personal attack.
I explained that the words \*\*MrDibble \*\*were quoting “did not mean what he thought they meant”. Now, I can see how maybe he got his feelings hurt because it was [snarky](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snarky). But really? I must be new enough to GD to not know this is patently unacceptable. Seems more like the type of scathe-in-jest conversation two people would have who both understand the other person has intelligence, and isn’t afraid of having that questioned. Nothing devolved into any kind of insult volley, nor did I want it to.
If the phrase “When come back, XXXX” is now being defined as an ad hominem personal attack, that’s news to me.
Is it? I’m not whining at your unofficial warning, because there’s nothing to whine about. I just want to better understand the “etiquette” of GD.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055/2 "2013-09-17T15:41:39Z")
Yeah, I read the linked posts and am not exactly seeing what you did wrong. Maybe I just don’t get it either. Usually I can see offense when it happens (even if I’m not personally offended), and I’m missing something here.
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055/3 "2013-09-17T15:52:56Z")
My guess is that this line had a lot to do with the mod instruction:
> [@What falsifiable claims do the holy books make?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-falsifiable-claims-do-the-holy-books-make/668952/96):
>
> Hey now, until a mod says otherwise, I’ll be snarking. If it hurt your feelings, maybe the internet is too rough of a place for you. 😛
That’s attacking the poster rather than the post. A semi-official “knock it off” seems warranted in my view.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055/4 "2013-09-17T15:55:15Z")
> [@Oakminster](#):
>
> My guess is that this line had a lot to do with the mod instruction:
>
> _Hey now, until a mod says otherwise, I’ll be snarking. If it hurt your feelings, maybe the internet is too rough of a place for you._
>
> That’s attacking the poster rather than the post. A semi-official “knock it off” seems warranted in my view.
Maybe that’s the confusion. By quoting the whole post I was looking for ad hominem attacks and personal insults in that text. Perhaps the instructions were only in reply to that part.
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### Author:  [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055/5 "2013-09-17T15:55:31Z")
If it makes you feel any better, 1990’s Cecil wouldn’t last ten minutes at the present day SDMB without racking up at least three warnings and possibly a suspension. 😛
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### Author:  [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055/6 "2013-09-17T16:02:52Z")
I guess I can see that.
Should the forum be renamed “Carefully Worded Debates”?
😛
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055/7 "2013-09-17T17:21:28Z")
“When come back, bring …” doesn’t seem to be the issue to me. But when you end the phrase with “reading comprehension”, that starts to make it about the other poster. That’s less a statement that the person did not understand you and more an accusation that they are unable to understand at all.
Follow that with your “If it hurt your feelings, maybe the internet is too rough of a place for you”, and it starts to be too slanted towards a personal attack. Thus the moderator’s admonition to keep the debate on the topic and not on the debaters.
That’s how I read it, anyway.
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### Author:  [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055/8 "2013-09-17T17:29:21Z")
Nah, I get it. Without the benefit of non-verbal cues, it’s damn nigh impossible to tell when someone’s engaging you in a bit of vitriolic humor, as opposed to attempting to demean your character.
It is what it is. I’ll search for some carefully placed quote marks and smileys in the future, to better convey my meaning.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055/9 "2013-09-17T17:37:22Z")
Eh, I did the mod note on my phone and some time pressure. I haven’t figured out the ins and outs of cut and paste on it. C’est la vie.
The simple fact is that, Uber, your one statement:
“Hey now, until a mod says otherwise, I’ll be snarking. If it hurt your feelings, maybe the internet is too rough of a place for you.”
Was out of line for great debates. At no time is an attack, even one presented in jest, appropriate for GD. There’s simply no means by which participants and readers can tell if you’re seriously attacking the debater or ‘just kidding’. GD is there for the straightforward discussion and debate on issues of the day. There are other fora for more casual discussion.
Frankly, Uber, you’ve been around long enough to understand that. Even so, I went with redirection rather than a mod warning because I thought that best. You should NOT make me channel my beloved former moderator manhattan.
No one wants that.
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### Author:  [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055/10 "2013-09-17T23:40:15Z")
Well, he _was_ the hall monitor.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055/11 "2013-09-18T01:24:26Z")
Exactly the moderation I was thinking of.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2013, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055/12 "2013-09-18T04:39:06Z")
Since the moderation didn’t involve a warning, this one doesn’t count in the standings.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2013, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055/13 "2013-09-18T11:17:18Z")
> [@Irishman](#):
>
> “When come back, bring …” doesn’t seem to be the issue to me. But when you end the phrase with “reading comprehension”, that starts to make it about the other poster. That’s less a statement that the person did not understand you and more an accusation that they are unable to understand at all.
That’s certainly how I read it.
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### Author:  [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2013, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055/14 "2013-09-18T11:27:36Z")
> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> That’s certainly how I read it.
Listen, listen. You can’t just look at the words I said, you have to read my mind and assume only the best of intentions.
Duh. 😃
When come back, bring telepathic ability. 😉
_ducks_
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055/15 "2013-09-18T14:02:21Z")
Hey!
_narrows eyes_
I saw that, you know.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mod-clarification-please-jonathan-chance/669055/16 "2013-09-18T16:23:33Z")
> [@samclem](#):
>
> Since the moderation didn’t involve a warning, this one doesn’t count in the standings.
Somebody is in first place?