Bump.
Are you guys still discussing this? Is it that complicated?
The original thread, and offending post, are stale by now. You’re dealing with it by sticking your heads in the sand until it just fades away. Is this what’s left of civil discourse on the late lamented Straight Dope Message Board?
ETA:
ALL the questions from the OP still remain.
Yes, it was still being discussed.
Not all mods always agree on every issue, as is the point with this case.
Previously the “Do not accuse people of being liars” applied mostly for the sake of Great Debates. Outside of that, the clarification was less defined as it had never really come up before.
But it’s been decided that, yes, “Liar” constitutes an insult and is not allowed in any forum but the Pit.
The previous report about it was missed by the IMHO mods, although it came in several days after the post was made anyway.
However even though it’s weeks old, it is not permissible and–from here on–names of “liar” will be modded.
Please note that the usual “Attack the post and not the poster” suggestion applies here. If you feel someone is being misleading or fabricating things, feel free point out that the post/info is wrong rather than use the word “liar”.
Well, accusing someone of lying or calling them a liar is against the rules in Great Debates, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t be in IMHO.
Well, yes, and furthermore: There’s that generic FAQ that lists the general board-wide rules (with specific exceptions as noted), and it says there also that direct insults are forbidden except in the Pit. I think it mentions specifically not to call someone a liar (I think).
To all the Mods:
So there was debate among you as to whether that was jerkish, insulting, and/or threadshitting? :rolleyes:
Note, though, that my original OP in this thread mentioned a more general problem: There was a whole lot of serious jerkism going on there, and a whole lot of nasty shouting-down of the original attempted discussion. (Setting aside any merits or lack thereof, of the original topic.) Did you guys review the last few pages? There was stuff like this (underlining added by me):
and like this:
Is that jerkish? Is that insulting? In the context of the thread, is that threadshitting?
In that entire misogyny shit-storm, you guys did nothing to suggest that you would prevent this kind of stuff, nor resolve how you would intend to handle it in the future. I hope you mean to say now that you will find the right way to deal with this stuff now.
Okay, I see you gave (Name redacted) a mod note. In a more perfect world, it should have been a warning, and maybe that’s how you will deal with it from now on. But I understand that the rule had somehow been ambiguous all along, and I hope you are clarifying it now. So a mod note. I guess. Gee, all that squabbling all week over Rule #1 didn’t obviously apply here?
Okay, here’s the generic board-wide rule on insults that I was thinking of:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7697044&postcount=10
Dude, no mentions of your pants being aflame were made. You can still have a full and happy life. 
You are really prickled by this aren’t you, Senegoid. You really think the parts you highlighted in the posts above rise to the level of needing to be moderated? You refer vaguely to “this kind of stuff” without specifying what it actually is. Snark? Sarcasm? You’re concerned with overzealous moderation of misogyny but suddenly this is the level of moderator involvement you would prefer to see? I’m somewhat skeptical as to your sincerity here.
Will you please quit (Name redacting)? It’s a pain in the ass to look up, and it’s not hiding anything–it’s right there in the thread, I just have to search for it which is irritating. It’s not like you’re dealing with an off-board or private issue.
I’m mostly on your side on this issue, but damn, the (name redacted) thing is annoying.
I, (name redacted) thank you. 
Why don’t you two shake hands, then politely ignore each other down the road?
That’s (Name redacted) in bold face if you please.
It’s ONE mouse click (maybe two depending on your browser setup).
I’ve been doing it in this thread to protect the guilty, kind of in a similar sense to the “two-click rule”: I’m bitching about specific things that specific people are doing, but I’m trying to do those people at least the courtesy of not putting their user names right out there in everybody’s face in the same post. So I’m forcing anyone who wants to know their names, to have to do an overt extra click or two to find out. Note that you haven’t seen me doing this as a general habit when I quote.
The people in question know who they are, as the post just before yours demonstrates.
tl;dr: (Name redacted), go back to GiraffeBoards.
Are you talking about me and Fenris or me and ladyfoxfyre?
If the former, note that we addressed each other with liberal sprinklings of (ETA: as did you also, I see). This prevents us from chewing each other’s faces off.
So we all cool then?
Lemme try to address this calmly. Yes, I’m prickled. They were trying to discuss men’s issues, admittedly at controversial flash-point topic in these climes. And I understand that there were some disputes about what certain linked articles actually were saying. I made clear that I’m not addressing the merits of that here. The people I complained about above, and some others, I felt were threadshitting that discussion. (I know I’m not supposed to say that here, but you asked.) The parts I quoted (as examples), and especially the parts I underlined, I thought smelt of flame wars.
My complaint about misogyny vs. misandry moderation were only tangentially touched upon in the whole misogyny wars this week, and not addressed further as they need to be. The complaint lies in the hypocrisy of heavily moderating any perceived misogyny, even to the silly extents that (e.g.) Happy Lendervedder’s and April R mild sex snark/sarcasm were modded in the Sorority Drama Queen thread, and in one of the ATMB threads we learned that we can’t use the word “hysterical” any more. That’s petty and silly. Boob pix requests? Fair enough to complain about that, especially in the medical info thread. (Did that finally get modded? I wasn’t following that thread.)
While, on the other hand, CCitizen, Ibanez, blindboyard and others were trying to discuss their men’s issues and were getting flamed out for it, to the extent of calling MRM a “hate movement built on distortions and falsehoods”, and bb was implied to be spending his time on “a gentleman’s website hosting the SCUM manifesto.” The whole MRM topic may be controversial, but I didn’t think any of them used any kind of inflammatory language that warranted responses like that.
So my complaint is, first, that these kinds of flames were being posted (and I think there was similar inflammatory language sprinkled throughout the whole misogyny flame wars this week); and second, that the moderators weren’t doing anything about it (but I’m okay with some of that in ATMB because it dealt with ATMB issues and couldn’t go in the Pit where it otherwise belonged, and the mods were allowing a lot of pressure venting there).
And yes, I’m prickled, even though I only participated slightly and somewhat tangentially in all those threads. Why? Because everything I’ve said here all leads me to understand that I mustn’t dare discuss my own men’s issues here on SDMB (I’ve only hinted sporadically about them over the last year or so), lest I get flamed too, as I’ve seen happen to others with mathematical regularity here. You see misogyny everywhere you look, but a lot of men see male-hostile and misandry too, in real life, and on SDMB too.
ETA: And I’m prickled too (I think a better word could be found than prickled here), that every mens’ issue gets flamed with “Oh, another guy not getting his daily dose of pussy.” That’s (usually) an insult and (usually) a threadshit. Here’s one from the thread in question:
What lieu said. (Post #14 above.)
Thank you very much. The abuse was really uncalled for.
As long as there is Freedom of Speech and Social Networks such as forums, these issues will be discussed – even if mere mention of them offends many. I understand that a forum is private property and has a right to ban any opinion (Freedom of Assembly).
I feel that the perceptions in this comment are miscalibrated. Calling a claim false is one thing: calling a person a liar is a statement about the person, not the claim. It therefore constitutes a hijack and an insult.
ETA: Heh. Just read the thread title of the linked threads. IHMO mockery is more effective than antagonism and has the side effect of keeping one within the bounds of the rules. YMMV, IMHO, etc. etc.
nm
So, just out of curiosity, as you were reviewing that thread for infractions did you happen to stumble upon the following section as far as “being a jerk” or threadshitting, or just the comments from the women who were participating?
Snarky? Threadshitting?
Senegoid, you’re out of line here. If you don’t think the staff can moderate posts and discuss the rules in good faith, don’t bother asking us about them. The post was already “stale” when you opened this thread. I don’t know when you sent your thread report, but it was five days old when you started this discussion and it’s now more than a week old. Idle Thoughts posted a mod note in the thread in response to this discussion, but we practically never mod posts that are that old- there’s not much point because the conversation has typically moved on by then.
No. There was a debate about whether accusations of lying are against the rules in all forums. In the interest of full disclosure I initially said no, and that that was only against the rules in Great Debates. After a couple of emails I agreed that’s it’s not allowed because it’s an attack on the poster rather than the post. I did add that the post struck me as a personal attack even if the accusation of lying hadn’t been in there.
No, because that’s not what you asked us about.
I have to disagree there (not that I see the connection between that discussion and this one).
I think we’re all on the same page now, yes.
Again, different issue. The devil’s always in the details. Anyway I hope you found the discussion and explanation satisfactory and that next time maybe you’ll take our word when we say we’re discussing an issue.
There was a debate as to whether or not “you’re a goddamned liar” or “I need a shower after talking to you” was an insult or not?
Seriously?
Regards,
Shodan