Took me a second to realize you weren’t talking to me.
DanieltheManiel
I don’t know who he’s talking to, actually. It could be ShoDan, whose post appears just previously.
(It could be me, but since I’ve already said what I’d do about eleventy kabillion times, I guess not.)
Go fuck yourself Elvis.
Praise the LORD! C K Dexter Haven is a LIAR and a CAD. Probably spending today yachting while hopped up on Bloody Mary’s. 
Don’t EVER let them badger you into doing this!
Your welcome.
I hang out here partially because this place ain’t racist at all. I noted that you deliberately didn’t end your reply with a regards, which is the first time I’ve ever seen that. Rightly so, I might add.
Jeezum crow, what the hell is the big friggin’ deal here? The OP, I understand. RT had an issue with Manny (seems like a lot people do, even though I’m not one of them), asked for it to be cleared up, and it was. What I don’t get is where this whole “rules debate” came from. Reading through this thread, I’m basically watching the mods and admins get blasted six ways from Sunday for their inability to specifically quantify, in 100 words or less, “Don’t be an asshole” (not that this is the first or only thread where this is so, but it’s in the pit, so it’s where I’m saying my piece). Most of the reason I joined this message board was because it seemed like a place where adults could discuss adult topics while maitaining a certain level of maturity, without the need for Mommy and Daddy to tell them to play nice. Not that I don’t still think that’s true, but come on, people, what are we debating here? I realize most of you don’t know me very well; it’s only recently I’ve begun posting, and I haven’t made a name for myself yet [cue ominous music]. But I’ve been reading these boards for quite some time, and I’ve developed a good amount of respect for certain people, and it pains me to watch the same folks who argue so forcefully and eloquently in GD sit around and nitpick the difference between, say, “that’s a lie” and “you’re a liar”…and then, to top it all off, start screaming at the mods for failing to point out every possible facet of jackass-ness.
And don’t think I’m just sucking up to the mods here. They share some of the blame for this for catering to people who request these lengthy clarifications of stuff like which kind of a fucker it’s okay to call somebody in the Pit (for the record, you can call them a motherfucker, as long as you don’t specify which poster’s mother they fucked, correct?). If you’re going to establish a precedent of making certain direct-object-based variations of phrases legal and others not, you’d better be willing to continue expanding the rulebooks as nitpicky questions continue to arise. Furthermore, if you genuinely do expect every SDMB poster to know every one of these rules, you really should have a single, up-to-date Rules list somewhere. I realize, as Dex pointed out in a finely crafted sarcastic remark, that putting Rules stickies all over the place would A) clog up board space and B) look utterly ridiculous to boot, and I know that updating the Rules page every ten seconds would be time-consuming and impractical. All I’m saying is that if you don’t do something, don’t be surprised if someone doesn’t know about a certain rule.
This post isn’t trying to insult anybody, and it’s certainly not designed to be inflammatory – I’m trying to call for a truce. The terms of the treaty: we’ll stop bugging the mods to create specific rules for every situation when the general dictum of “don’t be a jerk” applies perfectly well, and the mods will stop entertaining requests of that nature. I’d actually also move to retroactively lose those rules of this nature that we already have, as they’re obviously not making things any clearer, but if you want to keep the current set, I can understand. Now, can we please just stop arguing about this?
– Ian
No one is screaming at the mods for failing to point out “every possible facet of jackass-ness.”
No one is nitpicking the difference between “that’s a lie” and “you’re a liar.” The latter would probably be considered a personal attack, which is verboten everywhere except the Pit. The former is a little harsh, perhaps, but I bet it’d be allowed if the accuser then backed up his/her statements by refuting those of the accusee.
To previous posts in this thread I’ll add that the issue of disagreement falls on the inability of some to point out to as many posters as possible a difference between a post being a troll and a poster being a troll. It may seem like an ultrafine distinction, but when the latter will get you banned and the former will not, it’s a distinction that everyone should know about. Wouldn’t you agree?
This is not, as some have tried to assert, about adding new rules or even one sticky that explains an existing rule. It is about how some powers that be feel that when they make some kind of ruling or official decision, it’s okay if they post it in one thread and let it go. I posit that this is fundamentally flawed, because not every member here visits every thread and therefore cannot be held responsible for official stances a moderator may take in a thread that the member does not visit.
Right. This is what I’ve been saying.
I personally don’t want them to create a zillion rules to fit every occasion. All I want is for the rules that are in effect - those to which we are held accountable - should be accessible by every single person who signs up here. I think that assuming people will wander from thread to thread and perhaps happen on a new (to them) rule is ludicrous and a sign of poor management skills.
dantheman:
I agree with every single thing you just said. I didn’t accuse you, or anyone else, of screaming at the mods in this particular thread, I only mentioned that I’d seen it happen before. I do, however, think you (and others) are getting a little too worked up about an issue that doesn’t really amount to much.
As far as I can tell (note: what I’m about to say may well be wrong, and if it is, feel free to cite an example; I just haven’t been able to find one), people don’t get banned around here without first getting called on whatever it was they did, either privately or publicly, and given a chance to explain, repent, and/or reform. If they did, then I would certainly agree that it was urgent for all members to have easy access to the rules. As it is, however, I think that the current system of [questionable statement made -> somebody questions it -> dispute ensues -> moderator moderates -> decision is settled upon] works pretty well.
I do apologize if it seemed like I was targeting you with the first portion of that post; I wasn’t. As I said, I agree with you in principle. I just feel that if we’re ever going to get anywhere on the whole “rules” issue, we need to settle on one method of doing things, and a compromise will be necessary. That’s all’s I’m sayin’. 
Oh no, no problem here. (You should have seen the first draft of that post!)
The thing is, this isn’t a new discussion, in truth. It’s been ongoing for years.
So we can finally let it go, right? Right?
Well, at least this stupid, almost infinitely lame thread has a silver lining. I actually got to read someone coherently use limn in a sentence.
Now, if the mono-maniacal ditzes would keep their dribblings off the Boards, the world would be a shiny, happy place.
See, I think that’s illustrative of what your problem is here. As you could see, were you to look, the time stamps on my post and Shodan’s are identical which means I wouldn’t have had time to read, absorb, and interpret his post much less wait several minutes to get up a response page. And even if I somehow had managed to enter my own seperate time-wormhole, my remark had nothing to do with what he said, but everything to do with what you said.
In short, your problem is that you don’t pay attention. If you did pay attention, you’d know that Gaudere had already explained why she does what she does about eleventy kabillion times. Now that, in and of itself, is quite remarkable. As a longtime board member, you know very well what the rules are and where they are stated. But that aside, you dismissed her by declaring that, with all her posts in here, she has said nothing at all. “You haven’t said anything,” was your response to her.
Therefore, I challenged you to state what you would do and how you would do it. I did that because no matter what you said you would do and how you would do it, I intended to bitch about it to illustrate to you a fact that is rather obvious to almost everyone else — (Hang on, Desmo, I’m almost done) — namely that no matter what she does or how she does it there is going to be at least one person who isn’t satisfied by it. And that person in all likelihood would be you. But if it weren’t you, it would be someone else.
So, suppose by some miracle she actually arranged things such that your indignation were assuaged. I’m going to inform you of something that you might find quite shocking — you are no more significant than anyone else. When MemberSmith bitches and moans, the mere fact that you are satisfied does not make things overall any better. I’m reminded of scenes from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest when McMurphy was trying to explain to Martini during the poker game as he demanded his card that there are other people out there. And now we’re all sitting around trying to listen to Nurse Ratched while you and Cheswick are demanding your cigarettes. And as you’ve now admitted, you’ve been demanding your cigarettes for years.
Just shut up, okay?
I understand you have trouble recognizing a facetious statement. Your post wasn’t worthy of a full-blown response, since it illustrated a complete lack of comprehension of many other posts in this thread. Par for the course for you.
And she hadn’t. But the question wasn’t - still isn’t - what Gaudere does. If you weren’t so busy in your Mods Are Great phase (which I’m sure will run its course in due time so you can get to your Mods Suck phase), you would have noticed that the issue isn’t simply “what the rules are and where they are stated.”
The fact that not all of the rules to which we are held accountable are displayed in a place where most people would be likely to see them is the issue. This has been an issue for years. Some people like to make up rules on the fly - which makes every bit of sense, because different situations call for new guidelines - but then they expect everyone to know precisely what those new guidelines are (or, in our specific instance here, to know that the moderators have drawn a very important distinction) without making those new guidelines known to everyone. It’s as if a police officer issued me a citation for parking illegally, even though there were no signs or marked curbs that would indicate I was doing so.
As I said, your remark didn’t deserve a full-blown response. Even a dolt like me can smell a trap like that one coming, and since I’d already mentioned what would be the best plan from my perspective, it seemed rather pointless and indulgent to do so again for your benefit. Surely you see the irony in wishing I would shut up while still wanting me to post so you can jump on my case.
No, I won’t. Do you feel you are being forced to read this? Exercise your own free will. (More to the point, if you truly are tired of me talking about this, don’t submit a long post debating it with me. Surely you see the folly there.)
You’re operating under the assumption that I am the only person who thinks it might be a neato idea to have rules (the violation of which would be grounds for dismissal) where I can somewhat easily find them. Do you honestly believe people would rather hunt for them, or even remain ignorant of their existence, only to find that they’ve violated them? Surprise has been expressed in this thread that this minor distinction between poster-as-troll (grounds for banning) and post-as-troll (not grounds for banning) is not recognized by some people. Shouldn’t this be evidence that perhaps these distinctions and other guidelines be noted somewhere other than an obscure thread?
If you don’t know what the rules are, why are you posting?
Are you seriously saying that if one does not know every single rule, one shouldn’t even bother to post?
Are you also saying that not posting at all makes more sense than asking what the rules are?
Are you seriously saying that you haven’t even read the registration agreement? “By subscribing to the Straight Dope Message Board you agree to abide by the rules above and to submit to their interpretation and enforcement by our moderators and editors.”
What the fuck kind of bullshit is this?
You’re “rethinking why I hang out here”, you think Shodan “shows exceptional patience, hanging out on a board that, while not quite Political Animal, ain’t exactly NR material either”
Let me get this straight.
In your own imagination, the SDMB isn’t racist. I call Shodan a racist asshole. You then rethink your membership, not because Shodan actually is or isn’t a racist asshole, but because someone accused Shodan of being a racist asshole. And that somehow we should should be grateful that Shodan hangs out at the SDMB rather than at some other place that you think might be populated with racist assholes.
And you think your point is made even more poignant by the fact that Shodan didn’t say “regards” at the end of his post.
Now allow me to rebut.
Message boards are populated by all kinds of people. Some boards attract certain kinds of people. Perhaps this particular message board attracts intelligent, caring, non-racist people.
I strongly suspect that this board also allows people to post who are racist, stupid and uncaring. Deal with it.
You’re having a lot of trouble with this concept, aren’t you?
Of course I’ve read the registration agreement. Of course many things are left open to interpretation. My qualm - please try to follow me here - lies in the fact that intrepretations are made that aren’t actually expressed to anyone outside of those who were directly involved. IOW, I don’t care what they decide, but fercryingoutloud, they need to inform us of said decision.
I’ve said in here a few times that it would be very silly and wasteful to enumerate all possible and actual rules. The sticky alone would take hours to read, not to mention a law degree. Again, this is not my bone of contention.
My contention is that when such an interpretation is made, usually as the result of a situation in one particular thread, it is often restricted to that thread. If you’ll look at that registration agreement, for example, there is no prohibition on calling someone a troll, but it’s not permitted. If I used that document as my ONLY rules reference, I’d be kicked out of here in no time.
Again, I am saying that if something is important enough for a moderator to have to make an interpretation of some sort that could affect memberships, it should be expressed where the rest of us could see it. That registration agreement doesn’t even mention that trolling itself isn’t allowed, although socking is certainly mentioned.
I appreciate the aplogies, Manny, RT.
Sometimes what is obvious to the person posting is not so clear to the people reading, but they weren’t being deliberately obscure and will clarify when asked. For example, we’ve sometimes had OPs where some posters couldn’t figure out what the person was debating right away, so I ask what the OP was debating and then they clarify. I do allow a little leeway to let a poster clarify their statements upom request (see http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=243405, http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=4558379) They did want people to know what they were talking about, they just didn’t express themselves as clearly as they thought they did. When you asked “what lie?” manny told you; if his goal was simply to call you a liar by not telling you what lie he was referring to he wouldn’t have said. Sometimes people make mistakes.
Now, if anyone just went around posting in threads “liar” “liar” and that is all, I can see warning but that would be mostly because the person would be doing an annoying stalker thing.
I knew someone would do this. :-p you can promise via email, of couse.
This. is. the. SILLIEST. thing to get upset about I have EVER seen.
I’m not upset about it, Gaudere. Do I really seem upset? Nitpicky, sure. A pain in the ass, you bet. Upset? Not from this end.