# Tomndebb--rules question **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 17, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455 "2010-10-17T17:12:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/1 "2010-10-17T17:12:01Z")
From the latest [cop bashing thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=582142), currently in the Pit: > [@Why Cops Hate You (If You Have To Ask, Get Out Of The Way)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cops-hate-you-if-you-have-to-ask-get-out-of-the-way/557433/11): > > > [@Why Cops Hate You (If You Have To Ask, Get Out Of The Way)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cops-hate-you-if-you-have-to-ask-get-out-of-the-way/557433/2): > > > > This “officer” sounds like a cunt. > > You will refrain from describing anyone as a “cunt” on this board. > > [/Modding] Has there been another rules change? My understanding has been that cunt may not be directed at SDMB posters, but may be directed at off-board figures. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/2 "2010-10-17T17:23:37Z")
As soon as I saw **Tom** ’s post in the BBQ Pit, I came up here to ATMB because I thought and hoped there would be a thread asing when that rule had changed. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/3 "2010-10-17T17:28:47Z")
That’s what I thought, too. I can’t find it atm but I think I even asked for clarification if this was the case once and that was confirmed. I might be misremembering. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/4 "2010-10-17T17:32:53Z")
Well, crap, i started my own thread, but this one was already here, so i’ll repost my OP here and ask for my other thread to be closed. In the BBQ Pit [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=582142) about the police officer, we have the following exchange: > [@Why Cops Hate You (If You Have To Ask, Get Out Of The Way)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cops-hate-you-if-you-have-to-ask-get-out-of-the-way/557433/11): > > > [@Why Cops Hate You (If You Have To Ask, Get Out Of The Way)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cops-hate-you-if-you-have-to-ask-get-out-of-the-way/557433/2): > > > > This “officer” sounds like a cunt. > > You will refrain from describing anyone as a “cunt” on this board. > > [/Modding] You are completely and utterly wrong here. We’ve even gone over this exact issue before in ATMB. The [rule](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=508858) states, very specifically: > [@](#): > > The following expressions should not be directed \*\*at other posters. > \*\* > cunt and variants, e.g., cuntlapper > motherfucker > cocksucker > fuck you and variants, e.g., go fuck yourself, fuck off and die > suck/lick my dick/cock and variants Bolding mine. There is NO RULE against using that word to refer to someone who is not a member of the Boards. Not only that, but back in April **twickster** ordered someone not to use the word “cunt” against a non-Doper third party in a Cafe Society thread, and in the end it was agreed by members and mods alike that this had been a bad decision. You yourself [said](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12329540#post12329540), in the ATMB thread on the issue: > [@](#): > > The specific issue of Twickster’s first statement to devlisknew was discussed among the staff and the consensus was pretty clear that she had gone beyond what she needed to do. Why now do you insist on enforcing a non-rule that you knew very well was a non-rule? ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/5 "2010-10-17T18:15:05Z")
Shit. I come in here to see what all the fuss was about and found it’s over a post I’d made. I was under the impression (and still am) that the rule against bad language was only enforced against other posters. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/6 "2010-10-17T18:31:07Z")
Think there’s any chance we’ll get an, Ooops, sorry? [sup]Naaaaaaaaaaa[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/7 "2010-10-17T18:40:45Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Think there’s any chance we’ll get an, Ooops, sorry? Nope - we’ll get a week of silence, where a non-tomndebb mod comes in and says, “we’re discussing this”. A week after that tomndebb will feign offense and chastise us for beating a dead horse because he won’t understand why we’re still upset over something that happened two weeks ago. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/8 "2010-10-17T18:43:24Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Think there’s any chance we’ll get an, Ooops, sorry? > [sup]Naaaaaaaaaaa[/sup] My guess is yep. Mods make mistakes, this seems like a small one that gets handled quickly and easily. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/9 "2010-10-17T19:35:01Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Think there’s any chance we’ll get an, Ooops, sorry? > [sup]Naaaaaaaaaaa[/sup] Yup, looks like he made a mistake. But give him chance to correct it before jumping on his case. ---
**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:** [October 17, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/10 "2010-10-17T19:42:37Z")
I’m just posting to indicate that **tomndebb’s** post was made about 4 hours ago. He was last on the board about 2 1/2 hours ago, and about fifteen minutes before the OP was posted. He is presently offline. So please be patient. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/11 "2010-10-17T20:10:56Z")
I didn’t make that ruling, so I’ll let tom speak for himself. That said the thread started in GD and that’s where the post in question was made. The rule about directing certain expressions at other posters is a Pit rule. I don’t know how the GD mods handle the issue, so I’ll leave it to them to explain. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/12 "2010-10-17T20:24:34Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > I didn’t make that ruling, so I’ll let tom speak for himself. That said the thread started in GD and that’s where the post in question was made. The rule about directing certain expressions at other posters is a Pit rule. I don’t know how the GD mods handle the issue, so I’ll leave it to them to explain. It’s perfectly understandable that you leave it to the mod in question to explain his own ruling. As a general principle, though, in the absence of any specific rule, it seems to me rather problematic to simply make them up as you go along, or to make rulings based on some very personal notion of what is and is not acceptable. That’s pretty much what **twickster** did in [Cafe Society](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12282724&postcount=45) back in March, and it’s a ruling that was almost universally acknowledged, by both members and SDMB authorities, as being both technically incorrect and also a bad precedent in terms of subjective and capricious rulings. I’ll be interested to see if **tomndebb** has an explanation for why his ruling was appropriate for GD, given that he made a total of 13 posts to the ATMB thread about **twickster** ’s ruling, and personally acknowledged that her initial ruling against using The Forbidden Word in MPSIMS had been the wrong decision. That’s one reason his ruling surprised me so much; i knew he had been right in the thick of the earlier debate, so it’s not like he was unaware of what the rules actually say, or of the general agreement about how they should be interpreted. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/13 "2010-10-17T20:51:51Z")
He said “this board”, though. Seems to me he wasn’t talking about GD. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/14 "2010-10-17T21:41:52Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > He said “this board”, though. Seems to me he wasn’t talking about GD. We’ll have to wait to hear what he says. I can say for certain that the Pit rules have not changed, so I assume he was in a hurry and spoke a bit too broadly. But I’m only assuming, and we know what happens when we do that. . . 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/15 "2010-10-17T21:44:47Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > That’s pretty much what **twickster** did in [Cafe Society](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12282724&postcount=45) back in March, and it’s a ruling that was almost universally acknowledged, by both members and SDMB authorities, as being both technically incorrect and also a bad precedent in terms of subjective and capricious rulings. > > I’ll be interested to see if **tomndebb** has an explanation for why his ruling was appropriate for GD, given that he made a total of 13 posts to the ATMB thread about **twickster** ’s ruling, and personally acknowledged that her initial ruling against using The Forbidden Word in MPSIMS had been the wrong decision. That’s one reason his ruling surprised me so much; i knew he had been right in the thick of the earlier debate, so it’s not like he was unaware of what the rules actually say, or of the general agreement about how they should be interpreted. Right. I don’t dispute what you say here. We’ll have to wait to see what he says. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/16 "2010-10-17T21:57:08Z")
Can’t wait but will. **tom**? I have an issue or 2 meownself. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/17 "2010-10-17T22:45:45Z")
> [@adhay](#): > > Can’t wait but will. **tom**? I have an issue or 2 meownself. You started four threads in a week about the (supposedly) same thing. What’s one more going to hurt? ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/18 "2010-10-17T22:58:02Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > > [@adhay](#): > > > > Can’t wait but will. **tom**? I have an issue or 2 meownself. > > You started four threads in a week about the (supposedly) same thing. What’s one more going to hurt? And? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/19 "2010-10-17T23:01:03Z")
> [@adhay](#): > > And? Let me repeat - what’s one more going to hurt? Just start a thread about your question. You really don’t know how things work around here, do you? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455/20 "2010-10-17T23:34:33Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > > [@adhay](#): > > > > And? > > Let me repeat - what’s one more going to hurt? Just start a thread about your question. > > You really don’t know how things work around here, do you? I don’t think he knows much of anything. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-rules-question/557455.md?page=2)