In this post in the Pit I am admonished by Gfactor for “taking a joke too far”, the joke being that I wrote “regards Shodan” in two of my posts in the same thread.
We know we can not make fun of Liberal by using any other name but his chosen name. I have no idea how this exception came about. Maybe he is in some endangered species list which merits special protection.
Now it seems we cannot make fun of Shodan by using his chosen name. Even in the pit. Even in a thread about idiotic signatures.
I find this to be really stupid. Two posts in the same thread is “carrying a joke too far”? Is one post OK? Or is even one post “carrying a joke too far”? How far is “too far”?
It seems to me this is most mild compared to other threads poking fun at people. Why does Shodan have special status? Or is this universal and now in the pit we cannot even obliquely poke fun at any other poster?
Doubly untrue. First, referring to him as Lib is copacetic. Second, I’ve seen other folks get admonished for referring to folks by a nickname that is chosen to irritate its subject. So you can refer to him by another name; and it’s not only him that has the protection against intentionally irritating names.
I can see the purpose behind this rule: it’s similar to the purpose behind editing material inside quote tags, even when the edits are an obvious parody. There’s a small chance that an uncareful reader will incorrectly attribute poster B’s words to the quoted (or sig-appropriated) poster A. And SDMB has decided not to take that chance.
I was merely enforcing the rule as written. It says you may *sign *posts with *your *name. You agreed your name is not Shodan. There is not currently an exception to that rule for the Pit. If you would like to discuss creating one, I’m willing to discuss it. In fact, I favor it, but see point 3 below.
I never said you can’t use Shodan’s name. Perhaps I was unclear in my note, but I only intend to enforce the rule as written. It does not apply to areas of the post other than the final sign-off. As long as you do not violate other rules (stalking, harassment, etc.) I don’t care what you do with the rest of your post.
One of the problems with permitting posters to sign their posts with others’ names is that it tends to confuse other posters. I’ve had your posts reported by people asking if you are Shodan’s sock, or generally asking why you are signing another poster’s name to your posts. That shouldn’t necessarily determine what the rule is, but it is something to consider.
You didn’t just do it twice. Those are examples. You’d done it in several recent threads. No matter, though. As I said, I’m willing to consider an exception to the rule in the Pit.
Regarding Fenris’s post. I don’t think I’ve said anything inconsistent with Giraffe’s quoted ruling and I don’t really have a problem with that being the rule in the Pit.
Yeah, but that rule strikes me as an over-reaction. It came about when Scylla changed (in bold/red type) the text in some jerk’s anti-Republican screed to black or Jew or something. The guy thought he was being “slandered” and threatened to sue everyone.
You shouldn’t take shots at anyone in ATMB, no matter who it is. Seven’s post was just the latest outpouring from his fascination with Liberal and didn’t belong anywhere other than the Pit. It’s really silly to break the rules (spirit and letter) and then complain about us “protecting” whomever you’re (generic “you”) targeting. The purpose of moving board complaints to ATMB was to keep the conversations civil and avoid derailment due to personal attacks; so, of course we’re going to say something when someone intentionally violates the rules of the forum.
So I interpret there is no problem at all with my using “regards Shodan” anywhere except at the end of the post.
But even at the end of the post, in a thread poking fun at idiotic signatures, it is not “my signature” but an integral part of my post with obvious meaning. I hope that will be clear to you and you will rescind your post to me in that thread.
Frankly, anyone who thinks my posts criticizing Shodan’s use of signatures might have been made by Shodan is a retard with no reading comprehension and needs to go back to school and learn to read for comprehension. I hope the board is not going to be run on the basis that the meaning of posts has to be clear to seven year olds.
But, if this is the case, I suppose it would be solved by adding some small print saying something like
Regards
Shodan
"With the above two words I am merely expressing my regards for Shodan and in no way imply that this post is in any way connected to or has been approved by Shodan. "
That link doesn’t work. It says that I don’t have the permissions to view it. I think it must have been hidden from view unless one has Moderator status.
This is actually a good point. I rescind my instruction in that post. Moreover, I’m going to work on rescinding limitations on non-profile signatures in general in the Pit.
On Lib, the rule (and IMO a good one) is against mocking him (and presumably anyone else) by using a previous board name in an insulting way. Some months ago, I had occasion to reference a very old discussion in which Lib and I had participated, and, as an aside, said something like “Liberal (at that time using the name Libertarian…” to introduce something related to his position on an issue. There was no intent to mock – I consider him a very dear friend – and the moderators didn’t see any issue with it. There have been other people who have requested a name change for one reason or another, often because their chosen name has become one of mockery. (While I have serious issues with the woman, inactive member Lynn73 had this problem with her former name His4Ever and requested the change, something I completely understood).
I would presume the mocking of Shodan’s signature outside the Pit – and, given the new Pit standards, probably sometime even in the Pit – would be subject to the same rules. And while I differ with Shodan on many issues, I can see the sense of it there. (I get personally offended by an intentional “Polycrap” for reasons I think obvious; the Golden Rule seems applicable here too.)
Nah, it’s not an archived thread; it was moved out of sight way back in 2002 due to what appears to be the threat of a lawsuit by one of the participants. Without going back to research exactly what happened, I think Scylla’s post as linked by Fenris gives a good summary.
Well the mystery guy (mods: it’s driving me nuts…can you say what the guy’s screen name was?) threatened to sue Scylla, the SDMB and God Himself for besmirching his oh-so delicate rep so very, very terribly. It may have been hidden because of the threat.
Keep in mind, Scylla wrote something like
So there was no possible way it could have been misconstrued. (I’m remembering this from however many years ago too though. )
:: shakes fist at Skip :: Curse your fast-typing ways!
I didn’t notice this the first time because, apparently, I glossed over it, but this is a pretty blatant violation of the rules here in ATMB. Your complaint was fine up until you decided to mangle another user’s name and insult them in the process. Please do not do this again.
I have been pretty careful to play by the rules and I do not remember ever receiving a warning and you are going to give me a warning over what you interpret as an insult to another user?
That is bullshit and anyone with an ounce of common sense knows it.
Ah, yes, I see now that when you substitute “shit” for part of another poster’s name, you’re being complimentary and mean no insult at all. Gotcha.
Please. That’s just stupid and your warning stands.
In regards to your “stuff it” comment: thanks, I’ll keep that in mind; however, if you remain insistent that you’ll continue breaking the rules, you may soon find yourself without posting privileges at all.
We can call each other’s actions stupid. What we don’t want is posters calling each other stupid; otherwise, feel free to label my decisions as “stupid” or “bone-headed” or whatever floats your boat. The same rules concerning personal insults apply here as they do any forum other than the Pit.
And, since you continue to advise I “stuff” your warning and stated consequence for further breaking of the rules, your posting privileges will be under discussion.