# No direct personal insults or "flaming" in great debates

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-direct-personal-insults-or-flaming-in-great-debates/210240>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [October 29, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-direct-personal-insults-or-flaming-in-great-debates/210240 "2003-10-29T15:21:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1

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**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-direct-personal-insults-or-flaming-in-great-debates/210240/1 "2003-10-29T15:21:16Z")

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**Moderator’s Note:**

Direct personal insults of other posters and “flaming” are not permitted in Great Debates (or, indeed, in any SDMB forum outside of The BBQ Pit). The general rule is to attack the other poster’s _arguments_, rather than the other poster him- or herself. If you feel you must “flame” someone, please open a thread in [The BBQ Pit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=5). (Although be advised that even the BBQ Pit does have [some](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=127729) [rules](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=168963).)

It is permissible to post a link here in Great Debates to the Pit thread you have started in order to let the other poster that he or she has been “Pitted”, although you should of course refrain from using over insults or flames in doing so; i.e., [So-and-so, I have opened a Pit thread on you](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=5) rather than [So-and-so, you moronic cretin, I have opened a thread in the Pit to express what contemptible scum you are](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=5).

If you have any questions about what does or does not constitute a personal insult or “flame”, contact a moderator or ask in the [About This Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=2) forum. If you disagree with a moderator’s decision as to what does or does not constitute a personal insult or “flame”, contact the moderator or open a thread in ATMB. Finally, if you think someone has violated the rules, the most productive thing to do is to report the post using the “Report this post to a moderator” link in the bottom right corner of the post.

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