Continuing from [post=7423714]here[/post].
It is sort of generalized already, though. The “don’t accuse another member of trolling” doesn’t appear to be its own rule right now, but rather buried under the “DNFTT” rule. (Unless I’m missing it?)
Yes, but what you wrote [post=7422402]here[/post] is pretty clear. Much more clear than the actual rules, in fact. With minor tinkering of the rules in the FAQ plus your linked explanation:
Do not use the mods, the rules or the board features as weapons against other posters.
This includes several behaviors common to the internet, all of which tend to create flame wars and foster grudges among the membership. Most of them revolve around members attempting to publicly enforce board rules on other members. (Known as “junior modding.”)
[ul][li] Junior Modding is generally discouraged: If you see something at the message board that you think breaks the rules, do not confront them publicly. Instead, report the post using the “report post to moderator” button. (The little exclamation point in the red triangle in the upper right corner of each post.) Since the message board is so active, and the moderators are unpaid volunteers, we appreciate any assistance that our members can give us. (To report your own post – say to request a coding error correction – report the post above or below your post, and be sure that your explanation to the Moderators is very clear.)[/li]
[li] Do not publicly accuse someone of trolling: What is a troll? A troll is somebody who is posting just to be confrontational or to raise hackles. Do not reply to the troll in any way in the thread, that will only encourage the troublemaker. Simply report the post and let the moderators handle it. Even implying that another poster is trolling through the use of clever wording is unacceptable; use the report post feature.[/li]
[li] Do not publicly accuse someone of being a sock: A “sock puppet” or “sock” is a person with multiple usernames, including “repeat guests.” If you suspect a sock account, report the post.[/li]
[li] Revealing the usernames of people on your ignore list is forbidden: The ignore list (and buddy list) are available to members, but we don’t want to see flame wars caused by PosterX telling PosterY “you can say whatever you want to me, I don’t care because you’re on my ignore list.” Hinting that any particular person or group of people is on your ignore list is very strictly frowned upon. The same applies to buddy lists. Try and be discreet about who’s on your buddy list, and don’t use it as a tool to irritate / hurt the feelings of other members.[/ul][/li]Just a suggestion. It seems to me that the whole point of “no troll accusations” is to avoid the exact type of rule lawyering going on for multiple pages in that pit thread. I’d hazard a guess that the reason is because the rule is too narrow. What, really, is the difference between “I think you’re trolling” and “I think you just called me a troll” when both have (apparently) the same effect?
I’m not demanding anything, or trying to take the mods to task or anything. My incentive is that I never really grasped the underlying, unified purpose behind these separate rules until it was clearly spelled out in that pit thread.
So this is just a friendly suggestion to take or discard at your leisure. Note that I don’t think this presentation or wording is perfect, but rather just an example to give you an idea of what I was thinking.