# Officially protesting the warning Colibri gave me. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 21, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390 "2011-10-21T20:14:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/121 "2011-10-26T02:55:17Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > By what objective scale are you measuring this? The general response and reaction I get to most of my posts in most of the threads I post in: entirely normal, unremarkable and comparable to the majority. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/122 "2011-10-26T03:15:17Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > The general response and reaction I get to most of my posts in most of the threads I post in: entirely normal, unremarkable and comparable to the majority. Which may be true in most cases, with the glaring exception of when there’s any insinuation that you are not correct in something that you have posted, in which case that could just be down to whether people feel that they have the time and energy to get into a pissing match with you. (In my humble.) ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/123 "2011-10-26T03:54:12Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Having just traveled that road with you, Dseid, with all due respect, I think you could be writing about yourself. In every particular. > > Pretty wacky, eh? > > Peace. Nah, not wacky at all. Actually a very expected response. But whether or not many feel that way about me … or think anything about me at all … is not the issue of this thread. If true (if many tell me so, I’d have to consider the possibility as likely, and would seriously look at my posting style), it informs naught on the accuracy or inaccuracy of the statement as is relevant to this thread. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/124 "2011-10-26T04:05:24Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Issue being taken- I’ve been pretty chilled about accepting the blanket characterizations of me as abrasive and disruptive, but let’s dial down to the truth: I don’t have a “_generally_ unlikable” posting style… i disagree. i actually don’t mind the mods handling warnings on a case by case scenario. i do tend to think this warning would not have been handed out if it had been anyone else, but i’m ok with that. like others have pointed out, the general rule of thumb is don’t be a jerk. when a poster does so, i don’t think it’s a bad thing for the mods to be a little harder on them. rather than writing a master’s thesis length post about why you’re right and everyone else is wrong (often people who have specific and pertinent knowledge about the topic at hand) perhaps you should take some of the warnings as a sign to reconsider some of your approaches to posting. like this protest, for example. you got a warning, deal. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/125 "2011-10-26T04:12:37Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > But whether or not many feel that way about me… And there’s almost certainly a key difference between us: I don’t assess the value of opinions based on the number of people who hold them, positive or negative, about me or about anything.History right up to the present is fairly bursting with instances in which huge numbers of people agreed on all kinds of things, and that didn’t make those things right, or good, or better, or even true, merely widely agreed upon. Instead, I assess the value of opinions based on _ **who** _ holds them. The opinion of one person I respect is worth a more than the opinions of a hundred people I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/126 "2011-10-26T04:16:24Z")
> [@expectopatronum](#): > > i disagree. And you’re certainly entitled, but my guess would be that you don’t actually visit the majority of the threads I post in, because it’s a fact. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/127 "2011-10-26T04:59:33Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > And you’re certainly entitled, but my guess would be that you don’t actually visit the majority of the threads I post in, because it’s a fact. i’ve read quite a few of your threads. it’s how i formed my opinion of you as a poster so, nice try with the brushoff. next! and…are you actually saying your assessment of yourself as not having “a generally unlikable posting style” is fact? i think you’ve outdone yourself with that one. it’s your opinion. many others have the opposite opinion, myself included. why is your opinion fact? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/128 "2011-10-26T05:02:12Z")
I think Liberal was our most “wacky” horror story of an auto-didactic, but it seems sometimes that you are a close second, Stoid. One of the perils of learning a complicated subject on your own is that there’s no one to say “Whoa, way off”, so you can get trapped going down a long rabbit hole of “truth”. I think that’s why some people think you have such an abrasive style at times - you go so far down the rabbit hole before you post here, when someone says “Whoa, way off” they must be a total screw up and/or jerk to disagree with you. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/129 "2011-10-26T05:05:57Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > And you’re certainly entitled, but my guess would be that you don’t actually visit the majority of the threads I post in, because it’s a fact. Seems to me it’s more a matter of opinion than it is a matter of fact. > [@](#): > > And there’s almost certainly a key difference between us: I don’t assess the value of opinions based on the number of people who hold them, positive or negative, about me or about anything.History right up to the present is fairly bursting with instances in which huge numbers of people agreed on all kinds of things, and that didn’t make those things right, or good, or better, or even true, merely widely agreed upon. > > Instead, I assess the value of opinions based on who holds them. The opinion of one person I respect is worth a more than the opinions of a hundred people I don’t. While I appreciate that you’re not inclined to take to heart that many people seem to find your posting style abrasive, I think that in a case like this all you CAN do in terms of assessing it is to take others’ opinions into consideration. A posting style is _only_ measurable in terms of how other people react to it. History is indeed filled with examples of people agreeing on things that were “wrong.” Either objectively wrong about some fact, such as believing the sun traveled around the earth, or morally wrong such as believing that it’s OK to commit genocide. But a personal opinion regarding whether or not a person is abrasive can’t be “wrong,” there is no objective measure or logic guiding it. Therefore, it makes no sense to base your own assessment of the value of the opinion on your respect for those who hold it…because since it’s a visceral thing, a person could be smart and upstanding in every way, they could agree 100% with whatever it is you’re saying, and yet they could still have a negative reaction to your style. And it has to follow that if many people independently come up with the same opinion, based on nothing more than their own visceral reaction, there’s probably a reason. ---
**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:** [October 26, 2011, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/130 "2011-10-26T05:27:09Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Abrasive and disruptive" are adjectives, while “a scold” is used as a noun. One is descriptive of behavior, the other is labeling the person. I think if I said “You are an idiotic poster” in GD I would get a warning. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/131 "2011-10-26T05:47:23Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I don’t assess the value of opinions based on the number of people who hold them, positive or negative, about me or about anything. You and I have had this conversation before, so I’ll just quote from your own cite in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=525656) again (starts at #251 for those who wish to skip right to it): [Argumentum ad populum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argumentum_ad_populum#Social_convention) > [@](#): > > Matters of social convention, such as etiquette or polite manners, depend upon the wide acceptance of the convention. As such, argumentum ad populum is not fallacious when referring to the popular belief about what is polite or proper: > > _“Most people in Russia think that it is polite for men to kiss each other in greeting. Therefore, it is polite for men to kiss each other in greeting in Russia.”_ The majority of people on this board think that you behavior here is rude and abrasive, therefore it is, by definition, rude and abrasive. You’ve said you don’t care what most people think, which is your privilege, but you don’t get to say “it’s a fact” that you don’t have a “generally unlikable” posting style when the majority\* says you do. \*To cut your pseudo-lawyering off at the pass: I’m aware that a literal majority of the members of this board have not all posted their opinions of your posting style, but the majority of those who have chosen to post to this thread agree that you tend to be rude and abrasive. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/132 "2011-10-26T05:55:57Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > The general response and reaction I get to most of my posts in most of the threads I post in: entirely normal, unremarkable and comparable to the majority. This analysis doesn’t include people who’ve completely stopped responding to the posts you author. Also, I didn’t say you create antagonism everywhere you go. I said IF that is what the mods think of you (which I think at least \*\*tomndebb \*\*does, based on the assessment of you as “a bit of an abrasive/borderline disruptive poster”), then they should make a rule against it if they want to action you for it. Abrasiveness, like dumbness, is not against any board rules I know of. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/133 "2011-10-26T09:34:57Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > This analysis doesn’t include people who’ve completely stopped responding to the posts you author. > > Also, I didn’t say you create antagonism everywhere you go. I said IF that is what the mods think of you (which I think at least \*\*tomndebb \*\*does, based on the assessment of you as “a bit of an abrasive/borderline disruptive poster”), then they should make a rule against it if they want to action you for it. Abrasiveness, like dumbness, is not against any board rules I know of. The rule is in place: don’t be a jerk. Abrasive/borderline disruptive behavior is jerkish, yes? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/134 "2011-10-26T10:50:09Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > And you’re certainly entitled, but my guess would be that you don’t actually visit the majority of the threads I post in, because it’s a fact. You, yourself, have said that vitriolic pit threads have been created about you. That seems to be data disputing this fact. In addition you have said that you choose to not read those pit threads. How can you be so confident in others’ opinion of you if you choose to ignore the threads that are, by design, an expression of the negative opinion? I think the data you are choosing to include in your self analysis are skewed. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/135 "2011-10-26T11:04:53Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > And there’s almost certainly a key difference between us: … The opinion of one person I respect is worth a more than the opinions of a hundred people I don’t. Actually I think it is true for most of us, that we don’t care much about the opinions of those who we disrespect, and care more about those whose opinions we do respect. Thing is that many of us have a default position to respect others’ opinions\*, even when we disagree; your default seems to be to active _disrespect_ … especially of, but not restricted to, those who do not bow to the certainty of your truths. That comes through loud and clear. Again, just my opinion, and as neither my opinion, or I gather, any one else’s here, are ones that you respect (other when those opinions are regarding your correctness), I recognize that such will have little impact. Hundreds of other posters (and mods) could tell you that your posting style is often irritating and abrasive and since those who tell you something other than agreement with those items you are certain of automatically are not among those who you respect, you don’t, and probably won’t ever, care. I get that. And 'nuff said. \*Mind you there are a handful of posters here who I actively disrespect, but they are a distinct minority. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/136 "2011-10-26T12:26:52Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > History right up to the present is fairly bursting with instances in which huge numbers of people agreed on all kinds of things, and that didn’t make those things right, or good, or better, or even true, merely widely agreed upon. This is a classic fallacy engaged in by supporters of health woo and half-baked theories in general. “Science wuz wrong before; therefore my beliefs carry weight”. We hear this in the climate change debate, from AIDS denialists, antifluoridation and antivaccine activists and many others. But one’s particular case is not helped by errors that anyone else may have committed in the past; it rises or falls on its own merits. If you’re going up against a strong consensus based on solid evidence, you need good evidence of your own, possibly even extraordinarily good evidence (to support extraordinary explanations). > [@Stoid](#): > > I assess the value of opinions based on who holds them. The opinion of one person I respect is worth a more than the opinions of a hundred people I don’t. Based on past encounters, I think you need to take a closer look at those whose opinions you respect. ---
**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:** [October 27, 2011, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/137 "2011-10-27T11:04:13Z")
I guess this seems pretty straightforward to me. If you call someone a name, however mild, with negative qualities, however mild, you’ve insulted them, however mild–and you’ve broken the rules, however mild. At that point, the mods have a variety of responses at their disposal. If you don’t want them to turn to their arsenal, don’t break a rule, however mildly. Also, I came across some words of wisdom yesterday: > [@](#): > > Tell all the Truth but tell it slant > > ``` > Emily Dickinson > > ``` > > Tell all the Truth but tell it slant— > Success in Circuit lies > Too bright for our infirm Delight > The Truth’s superb surprise > As Lightening to the Children eased > With explanation kind > The Truth must dazzle gradually > Or every man be blind— ---
**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:** [October 27, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/138 "2011-10-27T22:15:45Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I guess this seems pretty straightforward to me. If you call someone a name, however mild, with negative qualities, however mild, you’ve insulted them, however mild–and you’ve broken the rules, however mild. At that point, the mods have a variety of responses at their disposal. If you don’t want them to turn to their arsenal, don’t break a rule, however mildly. That was rather harsh-- could you put it a little more mildly? ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/139 "2011-10-27T22:41:29Z")
You can get a warning for insinuating some unnamed person is an idiot. No, I am not kidding. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390/140 "2011-10-28T00:18:20Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > You can get a warning for insinuating some unnamed person is an idiot. No, I am not kidding. You would be an expert on that, what with your mod-sanctioned Pit blog, and all… :rolleyes: Why, Mods, why??? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-protesting-the-warning-colibri-gave-me/600390.md?page=8)