So, you don’t take zombies seriously, eh? That’s fine - we’ll see how long you last in the zombie apocalypse.
I personally am very impressed with how this event was handled. I would like it better if the mod whose action is being questioned would be the first to respond, but, then again, I too found it difficult not to say anything before the person involved did. Heck, I even got the joke completely wrong.
I think there are some fairly argumentative types who make it a bit more … sensitive (?) … to ask questions about mod actions. It’s possible, obviously, but I must admit to a bit of relief that it was a conversation and not a duke-em-out debate over whether this or that was fairly/unfairly applied.
I appreciate the maintenance of a civil tone in GD irrespective of whether or not the offendee complains. Once a tone is set objecting would likely decrease (as the norm shifts) and we’d lose some of the elevated character that differentiates GD from GD-like Pit threads.
I also appreciate that there doesn’t seem to be a burgeoning practice/expectation of smiley usage at the cost of subtlety. The wit of the board is a major factor in its appeal – the difference between the I see what you did theres in other places is astronomical. It would be a shame to lose a significant element of the sublime.
Thanks for the feedback.
(By the way, anyone notice the missed opportunity to title the thread Tomndebb’s WarmNPrickly warning? Damn.)
I can’t speak for Great Debates, but in Cafe Society, we generally don’t allow even joke insults. The “I was just joking” excuse covers a huge range of behaviors that we don’t have the time, resources, or ability to dig into. We base our rulings on behaviors, not on supposed intentions. An insult is an insult, however couched in joking terms.
And a problem with allowing “joke” insults is that, in the next thread, when X calls Y an imbecile and gets warned, he’ll say “But WarmPrickly got way with it in this thread.”
I agree that, ‘It’s a joke, where’s your sense of humour’, is a lame way to try to cover a personal insult. If allowed, it would be wildly abused, like people do in real life, as a way to cover up being overtly snide or snarky.
This was clearly an insult and I don’t see how it matters that both these people were on the same side of the argument.
All that said, in cases such as this, where no one actually complained or took offense might I humbly suggest a PM from mod to offender, instead of a public warning.
Should anyone later get there panties in a twist over the thing, simply reveal that it was a marginal case and the poster was chastised privately. Done. Everybody’s happy!
I mentioned it not for its bearing on the rules per se but as contextual evidence of why I perceived it to be a joke – that they were on the same side all but precludes it from being an actual insult. I don’t think I have thick skin, but I daresay there is something of an intent component to an insult that transcends the actual words (else how would the passive aggressives make it through the day?).
I also really like the way the Pit is enforcing some of the new rules – mod statements but no warning or something to that effect. A bit more cut-and-dry in that case though, so possibly not applicable.
Whiners aside, though, I trust the mods to recognize a pattern of “but I was only kidding!” behavior from the relatively easily demonstrated joke. It’s not like this particular issue comes up with any regularity, despite the “fool of a Tooks” and other assorted tongue-in-cheek admonishments that get used from time to time.
We’re not on line 24/7. Personally, I tend to wait until the moderator whose actions are being questioned responds. However, in this case the action was clearly within our usual standards so I went ahead and answered. I didn’t know when tomndebb would be able to respond, and people also complain if we don’t respond promptly.
It’s not really practical. In any case, public warnings are not just directed at the offender, but also a reminder to other posters of forum standards. If we don’t flag the post, people will get the idea that insults are allowed. If it’s not public, people will say “why was I warned when you didn’t warn so-and-so in this other thread?”
I doubt that. We get enough accusations of favoritism and lack of transparency as it is.
That’s not my experience in GQ.
“A case such as this” would not be included among situations “where no one actually complained.” The post was Reported for insults–not by the target, but Reported, still.
And, again, one reason to intervene before the target responds is to remove the temptation of the target to respond in kind–not everyone Reports insults rather than responding to them.
You should really spend a bit more time watching GD. Far more posts to “dial it back” or “ratchet it down” or “take it to the Pit” are issued by Mods than are Warnings. (In fact, in two recent Mod bashings (for different fora), we were told by one faction that we should do nothing but issue Warnings rather than interfere with a thread, so there does not appear to be unanimity among the TM on that point.)
In the one I remember, you made the argument that the reason you closed a thread was because you didn’t want to hand out warnings to everyone involved. The counterargument was that, if they had really done something that merited a warning, you should have given them, then seen if that fixed the problem, rather than close the thread.
Dex: I’m not going to go back and quote you on this old computer. Hiwever, I think there have been instances where joke insults were seen but not punished. The problem here seems to be that it was not obviosly a joke to everyone, as indicated by the fact that it was reported.
In other words, you take a risk when you attempt a joke that can be read as a personal attack. That risk is that it will be misperceived and warrant punishment. That’s why you should avoid them, or if you must, make them obvious (tom’s suggestion of using a quote is good, as is Collibri’s implication that smiley would have helped.)
My personal suspicion was that the post was not reported by somebody that actually interpreted it as an insult, but by somebody with other motives. It is very difficult to see how somebody could see a post about zombies and think that it was anything genuine.
Leaving my warning in place gives less room to those that would attempt to couch genuine insults with similar language.
How about if the insult part is more directly a joke? Instead of “imbecile” one could say “silly rabbit” or “bear of very little brain” to use some CS-style examples.
So if I say drop dead you loser cunt, you fucking idiot, if you really think this board is relevant to todays meems then you’re sadly mistaken.
I could get banned?
Because that’s what I mean. Scarily enough, so do one hell of a lot of other people.
I see four choices here:
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You’re dicking around, trying to see how far you can push the limits.
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You’ve been drinking all day, and aren’t totally responsible for your behaviour.
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You’re looking to commit suicide by Mod.
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?? You fill in the blank.
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No, I am NOT dicking around.
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I haven’t had a drink in days as I’ve been ill with the flu.
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If I wanted to commit suicide by mod I would.
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Profit!
Regarding my post, I could care less if I were banned here or not. I’ve been around, on and off, for ten years with no problems. What I DO care about it the obviously transparent views of the admins that if you leave here to post on a splinter board, ther you’re a worthless traitor. Hence, I’ll just sit here and say things lie cunt and whatnot until you all get a grip.
I don’t really think any of you WILL get a grip but, hey, whatever, let’s just drive more and more people away. That seems to be the new meem here.
cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt
Must be the fever talking.
I sincerely appreciate the fact that you replied.
Suspended for 30 days.
samclem Moderator.
That’s a bit gloating, don’t you think, samclem?
xploder’s posts don’t usually contain such frequent typos and they normally are much more coherent. While your ‘drinking all day’ suggestion may have been in jest, something may really be wrong here.
Nope. I certainly wasn’t gloating. He’s been around here a long time. I was just laying down the facts. He’s not banned, just suspended. For 30 days.
You truly have no sense of humor and need to pull what I’m sure is a tiny head out of considerably sized buttocks.
Personal insults are not allowed outside the Pit, Zhen’ka. Please do not do this again.