I’m hoping that Ed’s answers are better than yours.
You couldn’t even answer the one inconsistency that was brought to you. You deferred to Ed. What would be the point of showing you more? Ed is already aware of the evidence. He participated in it.
Your point of view has been articulated here. It was from a thread that later led to some of the confusion we see here, and gives further confirmation to my suspicion that you haven’t been reading the Pit when these events occurred.
While the board may look the same from the moon in 2004 and 2009, it may be different for individual posters. It is those posters who are voicing their concern.
I hadn’t seen that thread before. Thanks H & R. Now I am seriously pissed off. 99% of this thread wouldn’t be here if Ed and his administrators would answer some of the posts. Instead they are ignoring some valid concerns from paying customers. But Lynn Fucking Bodoni chimes up in that one on post #8. The fucking arrogance is unbelievable. Strike that. I believe it.
Ed does not answer questions in a way that communicates much information. That is happening on so many levels that I am convinced that Ed has no firm idea of what the rules are. He has decided that insults are okay, but abuse is not. That sounds good and he says that it’s clear. But you can’t just make up a law about how language is perceived and enforce it with everyone else. That’s not how communication works.
There are such things as “abusive insults,” for example. If you Google it, you will find over half a million references including State Supreme Court cases. I didn’t look any farther when I saw those. HoboStew may be able to read Ed’s mind, but I doubt it. Certainly it is unfair of Ed to expect us to intuit what the rules are.
But again, even if we could read Ed’s mind, I don’t think he really knows what’s going to be allowed and what won’t be – or why.
I understand wanting a more peaceful world, but you don’t do it by taking away the chance to vent fully. That’s what causes anger to build up.
No argument here. I coudln’t see any other significant difference between the two statements, though. I also agree that it that is the case, it does further confuse the issue. Like we need more of that.
I’m very - very late to this party. Just read these new rules this a.m. The Pit has always been the forum I frequent least often. But I can still remember that when I first came around here it was a bit of a thrill to have the Pit as this seething, ugly thing - where you pretty much ventured at your own risk.
Thought that was very mature. If anyone was troubled by the tone or content, then they could certainly stay away.
Watering down the Pit (and make NO mistake - these changes DO water it down) is a significant decrease in the overall quality of these boards. And it confuses and frustrates me to see TPTB lessen the product, when I don’t see the clear benefit they derive from doing so.
But in that very same post, Ed said that “Go to hell, Giraffe” was not a problem, whereas all the “Go to hell, Giraffe [+ insult]”'s were. Telling Giraffe to go to hell, is apparently not the dealbreaker there.
Unless it is, and Ed’s just pulling shit out of his ass again because even he doesn’t understand what this rule actually means.
If anything, the Giraffe hypothetical and the koufax and Lizard actualities prove that this rule is impossible to interpret and is completely untenable.
I know the word is affect, it was late and I was tired, chalk it up to a typo. But I think the point still remains, if you are a jerk you will get warned, and eventually banned. If you are not a jerk I don’t think the new rule is going to make a whole lot of difference. I agree we need some clarification. I think there is a fine line between an insult and abuse, and things would be much better for all, if perhaps they could spell exactly what they want. I get the feeling they just want to censor certain words. I wish they would just say so. Then everyone could bitch and moan about censorship instead of this big clusterfuck about rule #2.
Sure I did. Read the new rules in the Pit, then came here. And Dex’s post on the first page is what convinced me to post something.
I very strongly disagree with his position that there is a meaningful or desireable difference between calling someone stupid or a cunt. I’m sure there are some people who would be more insulted at being called the former than I would be if called the latter.
Smacks of meaningless PC pandering. Someone somewhere got there panties in a twist because someone else hurt their feelings. In such a case I feel the appropriate measure is to tell them that they were warned that the Pit can be and often is an ugly place, and that they might be best off staying out of it. Plenty of fun stuff for anyone to find to enjoy in the other forums.
Of course, I’m an atheist with a potty mouth, and my threshhold for insults, threats, vulgarities is pretty high. But I think my earlier years on THESE VERY BOARDS led me to my current realization that there is NO REASON for me to get overly worked up over ANYTHING someone posts anonymously on an on-line message board. Which I personally believe is a healthy and desireable attitude. And I was not permanently harmed by having gotten my feelings bruised a few times before I reached that conclusion.
Perhaps the bottom line is that IMO these are “just message boards.” The need for these new rules leads me to believe that someone - whether the offenderati or the admins - are taking them a little more seriously than they deserve.
I only have one question (and if it’s already been addressed and I’ve missed it, I apologize)… What do the folks in charge of making the decisions make of their former moderators coming down in opposition of this rule (specifically # 2) change?
Because it looks to me that although one might be able to dismiss the masses as a contentious / overreacting / rules lawyering lot, you’d think that those who’ve been in the trenches would be lent more weight for their opinions owing to having been there, done that and have now survived to tell the tale. They certainly ain’t coming from a place of trying to make things easier on themselves.
Anyway, I’m asking in all earnestness. Any answers regarding this would really be appreciated.