# Rico, was there a radical rewrite of board rules I missed? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 3, 2006, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139 "2006-04-03T20:30:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bashta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@Bashta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bashta)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/21 "2006-04-04T00:12:34Z")
Don’t ask, don’t tell? ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/22 "2006-04-04T00:14:36Z")
> [@Posting Guidelines](#): > > Illegal (in the USA) Drugs - You are allowed discussion of the effects of drugs, but do not discuss where to buy them. Limited discussion of past use of drugs is OK, discussion of current use is not. Please include a disclaimer that the drug is illegal in the US. We can discuss the effects, but not where to buy them? Fair enough. More than reasonable. Can the effects be from personal perspective? Or should we spread second-hand knowledge and opinion? Ah, wait. There it is. Limited discussion of past use. But nothing about current use. Here’s where I get confused. If I’m typing with one hand while dropping a square, that’s currently using. If I took a hit of acid a month ago, I would consider that past use. Even if we’re going to get into a semantics argument, would a last use 14 years ago be considered past use? Can I post here the effects of that trip, but not tell people what it tasted like? Absurd. I know it seems lately I’ve been trying to war with Mods, but it’s little stuff like this that builds up that eventually overflows. No consistency, no rhyme or reason. Lock first, find a reason later. I can understand the thread being closed if it was getting close to the edge. There would always be that chance given the subject and the fact it’s a public message board. But it wasn’t IMO close to breaking any rules. But I’m not in charge, so I have little responsibility in what is posted here. This just seems like too fast too soo in ending the discussion. BTW. Like me, it has no taste. The sugar cubes were used to get people to ingest it in the cheapest, easiest manner. Making a pill form, I imagine, would have been a pain in the ass. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/23 "2006-04-04T00:21:57Z")
> [@Rico](#): > > I did not see it as a thread determining how law enforcement of other officials were able to detect illegal drugs by their taste (although that was brought up later in the thread). Even I didn’t see that as the question. The person asking was under the impression that cops “tasted” cocaine. Notice how they don’t do that with meth or pot? Another Doper (heh) came in to explaine the reason law enforcement touches some to their tongue. Cleared up the misconception of the first Doper. Sounded like fighting ignorance. Which is apparently a cause for locking a thread now. I’m getting tired of trying to understand the rules. I’m resigned to being passively beaten by them. The flow of blood from my open wounds keep me warm. For that I guess I should be grateful. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/24 "2006-04-04T00:34:36Z")
Well Rico why don’t you tell me exactly verbatim how I can ask my question without getting my thread locked. I’m not a mind reader either. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/25 "2006-04-04T00:45:10Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Well Rico why don’t you tell me exactly verbatim how I can ask my question without getting my thread locked. I’m not a mind reader either. Single syllables, big handwritten letters in brightly colored crayon…c’mon, **pool** , **Rico** ’s mind is an open book. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/26 "2006-04-04T00:55:04Z")
> [@Rico](#): > > …Tasting illegal drugs (law enforcement personell excepted) is a violation of U.S. law. … _Really_? What about smelling them? Seeing them? Knowing how heavy a bushel of coca leaves are? Are the things you hear and see under the influence of hallucinogenics illegal and forbidden from discussion? **Rico** , your caution is admirable (if only for its monumental size), but you don’t seem to be operating with any grasp of the facts, here. > [@Rico](#): > > … **Pool** , as I said above, it’s all in the way you present your OP. If you would have stated you were interested in the transport and storage capablities, I might have thought twice about it. … Tasting drugs=violation of U.S. law. Transport and storage of drugs=okay by **Rico**. Got it. Do you _read_ what you write, or just transcribe what comes to you in a dream? Reopen the thread. Believe it or not, it’s no more illegal to know what drugs taste like than to know what bullshit smells like. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/27 "2006-04-04T00:56:11Z")
> [@Rico](#): > > My rationale for closing was the last part. Where illegal drugs were mentioned. […] And I’ll agree on one point. Discussion of illegal drugs in not verboten here. Discussion of illegal drug use is. I’m still having trouble reconciling this call with the posting guidelines. It’s not like no-one has ever tasted any of these substances, and that people are liable to seek them out in order to satisfy the OP’s curiousity. I mean, we’re explicitly allowed to discuss the effects of drugs, and we’re explicitly allowed to discuss past use of them. We’re (sensibly) not allowed to ask “Where can I get some ecstasy in Orlando?” or start any “I told you I was hardcore” threads. Honestly, when you’re looking at what’s explicitly stated about what’s allowed and what’s not, how do you come to the conclusion that the _taste_ of an illegal substance is implicitly in the “forbidden” category? How can it possibly be against the rules to say “LSD has a faint taste that’s a little like tinfoil” when we’re explicitly allowed to describe its psychopharmacological effect? Are you high? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/28 "2006-04-04T00:58:23Z")
If discussion of current use of (currently) illegal drugs is not permitted, does this mean that we can have no discussion of medical marijuana? Would a posting about MM by a registered user in a state which has laws allowing it be locked, since the federal government still considers it illegal? Would a posting about MM by anyone be locked? Can I even ask a question about posting about MM, or have I now fallen into the Dark Side of the SDMB? I understand that the SDMB does now want (and cannot permit itself) to become a co-conspirator in the traffic of illegal goods, but TALKING about them is not illegal (yet). I think this line is too finely drawn, **Rico**. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/29 "2006-04-04T01:00:56Z")
[Direct link to the relevant part of the posting guidelines](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=2341019&postcount=10). ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/30 "2006-04-04T01:01:00Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That’s one amazingly stupid rationalization you’ve got going there, **Rico**. > > Incidentally, law enforcement officers don’t taste drugs to figure out if they are drugs. That’s why they have labratories. Exactly. On a board devoted to fighting ignorance I must take exception with one of the mods passing on a myth. Law Enforcement does not taste drugs. They use field kits and labs to determine the type of drug. What happens if that coke is laced with a dangerous chemical? You die, thats what. I remember the movie “Showtime” where Eddie Murphy plays an actor trying to play a cop. William Shatner plays the role of the coach and teaches him how to “taste” the coke. Robert Deniro comes in to dispel that idiotic notion. What happens next? Murphy and Shatner look at each other, shrug, and then Murphy says to Shatner, show me that again. I guess this form of ignorance still lives on. Sorry Rico, nothing personal. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/31 "2006-04-04T01:02:22Z")
> [@Rico](#): > > And I’ll agree on one point. Discussion of illegal drugs in not verboten here. Discussion of illegal drug use is. That’s not what the posting guidelines say: > [@](#): > > **Illegal (in the USA) Drugs - You are allowed discussion of the effects of drugs**, but do not discuss where to buy them. Limited discussion of past use of drugs is OK, discussion of current use is not. Please include a disclaimer that the drug is illegal in the US. Using your reasoning, discussion of the effects of illegal drugs would be forbidden, because it is illegal to take them. I would suggest a re-writing of the posting guidelines, if what you say is actually the current understanding of the rules by the moderators. > [@](#): > > I don’t think I jumped the gun at all. Most of you know I’m willing to take a lump and re-open a thread if a misunderstanding has been cleared up. This, IMNSHO, is not one of those times. Sorry. With all do respect, there seems to me to be a clear conflict between what the posting guidelines say, and what you did. Whatever the course taken, that conflict should be resolved. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/32 "2006-04-04T01:36:43Z")
Is it okay if I say **Rico** ’s on crack? Does anyone have an irrational, ass-covering ‘explanation’ of why that’s against the rules? Extra credit if you quote posting guidelines that explicitly and plainly contradict the point you are attempting to make. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/33 "2006-04-04T01:40:10Z")
> [@Snowboarder Bo](#): > > If discussion of current use of (currently) illegal drugs is not permitted, does this mean that we can have no discussion of medical marijuana? Would a posting about MM by a registered user in a state which has laws allowing it be locked, since the federal government still considers it illegal? Would a posting about MM by anyone be locked? Technically, I think it would be. As I understand it, marijuana is still illegal according to federal law, so by default it’s illegal in the US. If this is wrong, please correct me. Then help us get the GOP back to strong national defense and a respect to state’s rights. Sorry, had to meld a couple points there. Everyone that thinks I suck off Rumsfeld everynight, you have some learnin’ to do. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/34 "2006-04-04T01:45:17Z")
Well. Since discussing the effects of illegal drugs are, in fact, allowed on this board, it’s a simple matter to re-post your OPs in a manner that will keep **Rico’s** stupid fingers off the mod button. **Shalmanese** , your post would be as follows: > [@](#): > > What effect do illegal drugs produce on the taste buds? Bitter, sweet, sour? Are there any illegal drugs that taste particularly good or bad? Likewise, **pool** , your post could be re-done as [quote] How would a eight-ball of cocaine affect me if it’s been sitting in a coat pocket for the five years I haven’t worn it? Does it have an expiration date, or does it age well, as with good wine? [quote] Those were stupid fucking rulings, **Rico** , both of them. Read the fucking posting guidelines. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/35 "2006-04-04T01:47:59Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Everyone that thinks I suck off Rumsfeld everynight, you have some learnin’ to do. 😛 Don’t bogart his joint, my friend. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/36 "2006-04-04T01:49:04Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Using your reasoning, discussion of the effects of illegal drugs would be forbidden, because it is illegal to take them. I have one other question concerning drugs in the US. And this isn’t meant to be associated with **Colibri**. Just reminded me of it. What about RU-482? Long before it was approved by the FDA (while it was illegal) there were discussions of it here. Granted, not what it tasted like, but heated debates, nonetheless. I’m mentioning that drug for any political reasons, but because it was allowed a forum for discussion while it was illegal. I don’t remember any of those threads closed. Unless it was allowed for legal use before it was legally allowed for use. Maybe it was because nobody mentioned what it tasted like that made it OK. I don’t know. The rules change before they’re made it sometimes seems. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/37 "2006-04-04T02:01:38Z")
I don’t think “not approved by the FDA” and “illegal” are synonymous when we’re talking about illegal drugs. RU-486 was never scheduled under the Controlled Substances Act. There was nothing stopping anyone from cooking it at home and using it themselves before it was approved – except, well, practicality. Illegal drugs in the context we’re talking about are illegal to manufacture and possess (or only legal under certain conditions, depending on the scheduling.) This is not the case with drugs that are merely unapproved by the FDA. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/38 "2006-04-04T02:46:50Z")
You’re right. The RU-486 not being approved by the FDA was off-base. The same could have been said about any of the diet drugs on TV with the FDA disclaimer. I was mixing up illegal and not recognized as legal. Whatever the hell I mean by that. :o ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/39 "2006-04-04T06:35:09Z")
I don’t really have a dog in this hunt. I just want to remind everyone that the name of this board is The Straight[Dope](http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/fyi/interactive/news/brain/brain.on.drugs.html) message board. TPTB are afraid that the term Straight dope might get confused with the term “Dope” For this reason the mods and admins are very, very careful about any thread dealing with drugs. If it fair? Maybe not. But thats the way it is. Deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139/40 "2006-04-04T12:23:02Z")
Hi. I am the OP of that thread. The original idea came from an IM conversation I was having: S: i want to be rich S: like… i can taste it S: it tastes like cocaine and hookers Shalmanese: what does cocaine taste like? S: hookers Shalmanese: should I ask that on the dope? S: yes Shalmanese: ok I just thught it interesting that while lots had been written about the process of taking drugs and the effects it has on you, there seems to be a surprising dearth of info on what they actually taste like so I thought it would be an interesting topic for discussion. I dunno, to me that seems to legitimately fall under “effects of drugs” and would, therefore, be kosher. Law enforcement never even entered my head. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rico-was-there-a-radical-rewrite-of-board-rules-i-missed/351139.md?page=3)