Unwritten rules of the SDMB

[Colibri]

@Priceguy

Yes. You do realize that the Usenet isn’t a part of the Internet, right?

Sure it is.

[twickster]

@What Exit?

Another Unwritten Dope rule, **Excalibre ** can find a way to post a testy post in almost any thread and enjoys doing it.

Jim

God, I’m so tempted to just respond with a hearty “LOL” here…

[Spoke]

I wish there were a rule against post-parsing, because it can really ruin a discussion. You’re reading an interesting thread in Great Debates, and then two posters get into a pissing match and start picking each other’s posts apart line by line.

When I come aross a thread that has fallen into this pattern, I tend to tune out. (Well, unless I’m the one doing the post-parsing. And yeah, I’m sure I’m guilty of it.)

[Spoke]

Oh, and I don’t mind so much the LOLs or the coke-spewing remarks. Nothing wrong with showing appreciation for a joke.

[Sarahfeena]

@What Exit?

Another Unwritten Dope rule, **Excalibre ** can find a way to post a testy post in almost any thread and enjoys doing it.

Jim

LOL! You SO owe me a new keyboard! LOL! (Just kidding, Exy!)

[GIGObuster]

These are the words which are not to be used again in this board:

Jap
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=373460&highlight=japanese+insult

Hottentot
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7460684&postcount=40

wigger
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=373701&highlight=wigga

Chinaman
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7437113&postcount=48

Semprini

Alberto Semprini

You tube video:

- YouTube

[Least_Original_User_Name_Ever]

@Sattua

Something that certain new posters do which annoys me incredibly, though I don’t know how the rest of the forum feels about it, is answer every single question at a low level. Yeah, okay, you answered a question and what you said was technically correct. It wasn’t, however, a thoughtful, educated gem.

I occasionally throw out a low-level answer if it is categorically different from the previous answers, or if an OP has been sitting there for a while and nobody has jumped in–I figure I may as well start the party. But almost always, I figure that while I could post an answer to the question, someone else capable of writing a much longer, more detailed, more informative answer will be along any minute. So I just keep my trap shut.

It also bugs the hell out of me when people post three, four, five, six times in a row, usually replying to three, four, five, six earlier posts. Consolidate, for pete’s sake.

Part one is my dad. He’s a very eloquent person and…stuff…but he’s very concise, almost to a fault. You think following him is bad here? You should try instant messenger. I’ve had to call him up to ask what in the fuck he’s talking about on the instant messenger.

Part two is SO me. I don’t know how to consolidate into one long post. I wish I knew, and it’s got a lot to do with those “quote” tags, but I’m not a hundred percent sure on how to use them.

[Dunderman]

@Colibri

Sure it is.

In all fairness, most Usenet connections use the Internet these days. But it was created and conceived as an entirely separate network, has its own culture and history, and more or less accidentally was absorbed, on a purely technical level, into the Internet. But do you really think the latter was what John DiFool was thinking?

[Jodi]

@Excalibre

Usually users respond with some irritating reference to spitting liquids on their keyboards. That line was funny once. For twenty minutes. In 1960. After that it became incredibly lame.

Ooh! That reminds me! Incredibly unfunny “jokes” will be repeated an infinite number of times; this can include virtually any funny moment ever on this board, stupid jokes that passed around the internet years ago like the pie thing, and lines from Monty Python. This is because there are an incredible number of unfunny people around here who apparently think they can fake it. They can’t.

OTOH, the Board also seems to have a pretty high tolerance for people who elect themselves arbiters of what’s funny and when.

I think the chief unwritten rule around here is that people are expected to post using proper grammar and spelling and if you don’t, other people will call you on it.

[Colibri]

@Sattua

It also bugs the hell out of me when people post three, four, five, six times in a row, usually replying to three, four, five, six earlier posts. Consolidate, for pete’s sake.

Why does that bother you? I’ll admit to doing three in a row occasionally, sometimes more, just because it’s so much easier to quote each post individually and respond to it, rather than having to go back up the thread and select, copy, and paste. This is especially true when there is a long thread involved. If I have time, and can be bothered, I’ll consolidate my responses, but I don’t feel obligated to. After all, my main objective is usually to exchange information, not to make my posts look pretty.

I also have little compunction against posting repeatedly if I happen to remember some significant point I left out of a previous post. If we had an edit function, I’d be happy to use that, but we don’t.

[John_DiFool]

My Usenet days were c. 1995-2001, FWIW, all semantic debates aside.

[Colibri]

@Priceguy

In all fairness, most Usenet connections use the Internet these days. But it was created and conceived as an entirely separate network, has its own culture and history, and more or less accidentally was absorbed, on a purely technical level, into the Internet. But do you really think the latter was what John DiFool was thinking?

I have no idea what John was thinking. But that’s really irrelevant to your statement that “the Usenet isn’t part of the Internet,” which was wrong.

[Ephemera]

@What Exit?

Another Unwritten Dope rule, **Excalibre ** can find a way to post a testy post in almost any thread and enjoys doing it.

Jim

He often has a point, though, and this one is dead-on.

[Crafter_Man]

Unwritten SDMB rule #129: You are not allowed to criticize or make fun of Guinastasia. She is a member of the SDMB’s Protected Class™. Any criticism of Guin, whether warranted or not, will be met with immediate scorn and hatred toward the offending party.

[Dunderman]

@Colibri

I have no idea what John was thinking. But that’s really irrelevant to your statement that “the Usenet isn’t part of the Internet,” which was wrong.

My point was that a lot of people believe that Usenet was always just another part of the Internet, while it was built as a completely separate network. Furthermore, as not all Usenet connections go over the Internet, a web server is distinct from a Usenet server and so forth, it can still be argued that the Usenet is not a part of the Internet, but merely overlapping with it.

[twickster]

Staying On Topic, though officially encouraged, is rarely the actual point of the thread by the time we get to the second page.

[Dunderman]

@twickster

Staying On Topic, though officially encouraged, is rarely the actual point of the thread by the time we get to the second page.

Subtle point, but taken nonetheless.

[Jodi]

@Crafter_Man

Unwritten SDMB rule #129: You are not allowed to criticize or make fun of Guinastasia. She is a member of the SDMB’s Protected Class™. Any criticism of Guin, whether warranted or not, will be met with immediate scorn and hatred toward the offending party.

I propose an unwritten rule that it be acknowledged to be extremely poor form to sandbag people in random threads that have nothing to do with them.

[Colibri]

@Jodi

I propose an unwritten rule that it be acknowledged to be extremely poor form to sandbag people in random threads that have nothing to do with them.

It’s already an unwritten rule.

[What_Exit]

@Aesiron

He often has a point, though, and this one is dead-on.

Actually several of his points were very good, which one did you mean was dead-on? He made a half dozen, I think, without going back to check. I also actually meant that he does often make testy posts in almost any thread. Would you like me to cite any of the ones I saw in the last few days that were not dead-on?

Here is one from a few hours ago in the Long hair thread.
Or at the very end of the Loach pitting.

But, I don’t think examples are really needed and I doubt **Excalibre ** would strongly disagree with my post. I also doubt he has need of a defender, he is more than capable of going toe-to-toe with any poster on the board in an argument.

Jim