I would like to point out to several posters in this thread, without naming any names for right now, that if your ONLY reason to post on the SDMB is to complain about how the message board is run and/or bitch about other posters, that violates the Jerk rule, and you are subject to banning without any warning.
This has been a gentle hint. Your next hint will be when you try to post and find that you are not allowed to.
Lynn
For the Straight Dope
No I think its easier if the signal to noise ratio is reduced. This allows those who want their ignorance reduced (often me) to get a solid range of information. This also allows those who wish to help someone out with their knowledge or opinions (sometimes me) not to have to fight their way through Jerks and Morons to do so.
I think the Mods and the Admins do a bang up job of running this place, but are they faultless- no. That is left to the Perfect Master and the Diety of your choice (assuming they are different). But in the time I have been here, I have not seen one Banning that wasn’t deserved. More often then not, the Banning was a bit overdue.
The Rules aren’t that hard to follow, and forgiveness is given if you say “I screwed up, and I won’t do that again”. Based on that, being Banned is often a choice. Follow the rules or don’t.
Just my opinion, of course.
Off to watch Survivor. Not that I like anyone left, but I have this misplaced sense of duty to make it through the rest of the show.
For those of you who liked my earlier list-- thanks!
Hey folks! Why don’t we all go take a field trip to Cafe Society for a day? We’ll get some fresh air, maybe find out about a new movie we might want to see (or avoid), heck, we could even stop in MPSIMS and tell or learn a joke or two!
Oh, and maybe we could also all remind ourselves that this is only a message board and lighten the fuck up while we’re at it?
Along with what Elf6c was saying. (is there an Elf6d? :D)
I’ve found the SDMB to be one the most forgiving communities around. I remember I was in fairly heated gun control debate/argument awhile back, and some good points of view were offered up and I had to eat some serious crow. I found it refreshing that even though some things were said during the heat of the moment, people were pretty quick to let it go.
I guess this place can bring out the best in people, and rarely but unfortunately, the worst.
[sub]Looks like Lynn set off the lovefest.[/sub] 
That’s an upgrade that you have to pay for. However, I believe you can download elf6c.02 freebies.
Tomorrow morning, TVAA will wake up, stretch, look at this computer… and shrug his shoulders and turn his back. He will go outside, see the sun shining, feeling the cool breeze on his face…
… And he will live again.
The rest of us, however, are still damned, trapped in this message board, forced to post all night long… for the Mods and Admins control us all, and bend us to their will. But not TVAA. Do not pity him… pity us, for he is free, and we are not.
Lament, lament!!
So you saying we’re a bunch of space monkeys?
Nothing against your vaunted opinion of Esprix, but how does deliberately disobeying a Mod not qualify as “behaving like a jerk?”
Uncomfortably, I refer you to elf6c Revision I, Section 5.
Well, no. This board is actually about fighting ignorance (as well as making the occasional wisecrack).
Ignorance is successfully engaged with structured argument, argument that contains sound reasoning and (often) empirical evidence.
“Opinion”, on the other hand, is of no intrinsic importance to anybody but your therapist.
The best posters on this board are capable of folding new information into their original argument, as opposed to playing a tedious game of “tit-for-tat”. This is one element which separates analysis from pure polemics.
Ignorance Begone!
elf6c , something tells me that you’re the first born child in your family.
Why?
Because you seem to have a strict adherance to the rules without question. You seem to despise anyone who questions the very rules that sustain your existance.
I could be wrong, but only in the case that you’re an only child or were raised as one.
not likely. but don’t worry, good things come to those who wait.
Successful leaders learn from their Aide’s errors. What can we learn here? Many things, but I will mention 2 less obvious (and probably non-bannable) considerations.
It is best to have a sense of proportion. For example, violent racist delinquent youths may have certain things in common with, oh, Mother Thersa’s Convent. Some of these elements may even be negative. Confirming these common elements doesn’t make the 2 groups morally equivalent.
More generally, try to inform your armchair theorizing with some empirical measurement; Google is a useful tool. This is actually a college-level concept that many have not fully grasped: certain questions, at bottom, are really not a matter of ideology or even opinion; rather, they are empirical questions.
It is therefore appropriate to courageously do a quick check with Google, to verify the factual underpinnings of your SDMB argument, before simply stating your opinion. If the facts differ, adjust argument accordingly.
BTW: Welcome back Lib! That was a very zen return debut. 
Ohmigod, that’s hilarious.
Rooves, don’t you think it’s distantly possible that elf6c has examined the rules, given them some thought, and decided that while not perfect, they’re about the best they can be in terms of encouraging debate but maintaining some semblance of order?
Seriously. Have you considered what it must be like to try to keep this board running smoothly? To keep it at least tangentially related to fighting ignorance while 30,000 members squeal for attention? It’s not a job I envy.
I’m the fourth of six children, by the way. I’m also an adult, which means I look at both sides of issues. In this case, that means the posters’ side and the admin’s side. Oh yeah, and it means I don’t make wild assumptions about people based on a couple of posts.
Define ‘sound reasoning’.
It seems that some want to have their cake and eat it too. The meaning of “jerk” is very subjective. The MB rules fail to go into detail of what being jerk means…YET we are expected not to be a jerk eventhough we really don’t know what the admins and mods mean what being a jerk consists of.
:smack:
Why all this problem with the jerk rule?
step 1, behave in an assholish manner.
step 2, get warned publicly in a forum
step 3, (maybe) get warned in a private email
step 4, reform or attack the mods.
I’ve never seen someone banned without being warned for being a jerk at least once recently (ignoring of course the 1 time posters that are just trolling). And 90% of all bannings I’ve seen were flame outs.
It means ‘don’t be a jerk’. Do you really, honestly, and truly have no idea what being a jerk is?
This isn’t lawyerese, where “the term ‘jerk’ is defined as one who is blah and blah, without doing blah”. This is real, actual usage.
Sit down. Think of all the things other people might do that could piss you off. Make snide comments about your hair. Make a scene in a restaurant over a check that was 20 cents more expensive than was expected. Yell at the top of their lungs and go ‘LALALA I’M NOT LISTENING’ when you try to persuade them about something. And on and on and on.
Now think about how that sort of behavior might be applied to a message board. Voila, you’ve got jerkish behavior.
I suppose the most concise paraphrasing might be “don’t piss people off without a good reason”. But that doesn’t even cover all the bases itself. There is no clear and concise definition; just do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you can’t figure out where that line is yourself, ain’t nobody around here going to be able to help you out.
If you don’t know whether or not you’re a jerk, you probably are.
Haj
H’uh, Rooves, I’m the oldest, and I tend to question authority quite a bit.
However, the SDMB rules are pretty damn reasonable. More than fair, in fact.
And it was so fucking obvious to me that TVAA was on his his way to Bandom. It was only a matter of time.
Don’t be a jerk-hell, he was THE JERK.
That’s certainly a “fair” sentiment.