# To the Mods: No Rules in Stone **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 1, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-mods-no-rules-in-stone/146042 "2003-01-01T15:08:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-mods-no-rules-in-stone/146042/21 "2003-01-01T20:21:39Z")
Yes, I can see that difference. Upon re-reading the post, I do see the advocation of violence. I think that your call might have been clearer, at least to me, had you cited the call to violence rather than the apparent racism. Incidentally, that was not what I refered to as a condescension, and I think that you know that. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-mods-no-rules-in-stone/146042/22 "2003-01-01T20:22:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > I had no problem with it either. That’s why I said that it was “fair enough”, and then reprinted my defense of Gaudere. Did you see it? Yep. But since you opened the topic of how such people are/should be handled, I threw my two cents in too. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-mods-no-rules-in-stone/146042/23 "2003-01-01T20:29:29Z")
I did? 😕 Funny, I thought I opened the topic of asking the moderators to formulate a guideline. ---
**Author:** ![jacksen9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jacksen9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacksen9)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-mods-no-rules-in-stone/146042/24 "2003-01-01T23:22:51Z")
> [@](#): > > _Libertarian_ > I would sooner throw myself upon a sword as to mock anyone’s faith, whether that faith is in the God I recognize or in some other. Well call me a heathen but I confess that if I had to choose between a forced mockery or a sword I would choose mockery. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. ---
**Author:** ![owlofcreamcheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@owlofcreamcheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlofcreamcheese)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-mods-no-rules-in-stone/146042/25 "2003-01-02T06:01:36Z")
this is the pit right? okay then… I can say it… man I wouldn’t mind lib throwing himself on a sword, he is one of the most annoying posters that there is to me, any arguement against him is totally and conveniently missunderstood, he opens threads then opens them in a diffrent place when they don’t go his way, he constantly trys to tell moderators what to do or trys to be his own moderator and say who can and can’t post in his threads. that is all ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-mods-no-rules-in-stone/146042/26 "2003-01-02T08:52:10Z")
—It seems like the separation lies between things that are the result of choice, and things that are not the result of choice. Does that make sense to anyone, or am I way off-base here?— I think you’re way off-base here, because I can’t even honestly answer the question of what it really means that something is “my choice” in a way that is ultimately distinct from more unarguably immutable characteristics like race. If I can’t even say this for myself, the mind I know best, then I very much doubt I can reliably make such a distinction about other people’s characteristics being chosen vs. given that’s useful in determining whether it’s “okay” to insult them. I can express a moral opinion about behavior, but it’s silly to think that I can know if someone’s beliefs are chosen, let alone mutable by anything I could do. People do make decisions and choose to change certain things about themselves in ways they can’t with race, but what ultimately motivates them to do so, or pick a particular change? As far as I know, it could be just as immutable: simply too complex and hidden for me to fathom. So no, I can’t think myself in the clear just because I’m complaining about a trait that a person could possibly change. No matter what, it’s still just me and my moral opinions, out on a limb, to stand or fall on their own merits. If I’m wrong, if I attack some aspect of a person without merit, I can’t pat myself on the back and say “oh, well at least I wasn’t attacking an **immutable trait**!” ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-mods-no-rules-in-stone/146042/27 "2003-01-02T23:26:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by \*\*owlofcreamcheese \*\*\* > this is the pit right? > okay then… I can say it… It’s the Pit, but you’ve definitely got the wrong thread. This thread is about respectful posters trying to achieve a fuller understanding of the rules around here. Speaking of ‘convenient misunderstandings,’ it’s telling how you characterized that pursuit as “try[ing] to tell moderators what to do.” And, though I know you didn’t mean it in the way you actually said it, but I think if more people around here tried “to be their own moderator,” we’d all be a _lot_ better off. Like yourself, for example. If you were interested enough in following the rules to moderate your own output, your attempted hijack of this thread would never have occurred. In short, go away. If you want to talk trash about someone, start a Pit thread about them. In this particular thread, the grownups are talking. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-mods-no-rules-in-stone/146042.md?page=1)