# Warning for "Dial down the crazy." **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 1, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553 "2011-07-01T20:55:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [July 2, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/21 "2011-07-02T05:04:24Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > … I would’ve never thought my OP comment was insulting. At all. With all due respect, you seem to have a problem with evaluating how your remarks may be perceived by others. I would strongly recommend not attempting to make any such jokes in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/22 "2011-07-02T05:05:52Z")
So is it official that insulting someone’s reading skills is not insulting? Just want to make sure. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/23 "2011-07-02T05:10:45Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > That is stretching it, **Marley**. \*Dial down the crazy \*is not calling a person crazy […] > > _Dial down the crazy_ is another way of saying calm down or let’s stop the madness. That may have been your intent, but it’s not evident in what you wrote. The full line was: > [@God: Just kidding, killing is AOK with me. And here's a list of people to whack!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-just-kidding-killing-is-aok-with-me-and-heres-a-list-of-people-to-whack/587324/111): > > HaShem had no son. Dial down the crazy, would ya? If your intent was to say you should both stop the madness, then the personal address “would ya?” was a bad choice. If you were trying to say “calm down,” then saying that he was saying something crazy was not likely to accomplish your goal. And your other comments about **Diogenes the Cynic** elsewhere in the thread, like > [@God: Just kidding, killing is AOK with me. And here's a list of people to whack!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-just-kidding-killing-is-aok-with-me-and-heres-a-list-of-people-to-whack/587324/104): > > Well Dio is the expert Armchair Googlist, so let’s give him credit where credit is due. :rolleyes: Certainly made it look like “dial down the crazy, would ya?” was also intended as a personal comment. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/24 "2011-07-02T05:15:16Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > Well, I didn’t know that _Dial down the crazy_ would be against any rules as I’ve been trying to stay on good behavior, and I honestly would not have thought, given the context, it would ever be reported! > > _I_ am an atheist and **Dio** knows it. You know I’m an atheist and you called me a Catholic. > [@](#): > > And if **Dio** is an atheist who thinks that God is both made-up and evil (a bit impossible to be both imo) Dracula is both made up and evil. > [@](#): > > than surely a God who has a [man-child for sacrifice](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13972739&postcount=66) is a shade out of normal. It is possible to comment on the “moral” characteristics of fictional characters. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/25 "2011-07-02T05:18:40Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > It isn’t hurting it. I was _addressing_ Dio…but Dio probably reports half the things I say as he angrily types about my barbaric and illiterate ways. I’ve only ever reported you once - and it wasn’t in that thread. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/26 "2011-07-02T05:23:47Z")
For the record, I got carried away in that religious discrimination thread and forgot what forum I was in. CP pushes my buttons, particularly with her maddening habit of misrepresenting what I’ve said. I don’t Pit posters very often, but I’ve come close with her. The only thing that stops me is that I’m too lazy to go and find a bunch of examples of her altering or outright fabricating things I’ve said. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2011, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/27 "2011-07-02T05:29:47Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > So is it official that insulting someone’s reading skills is not insulting? Just want to make sure. It’s somewhat insulting, but not to the extent that it would _generally_ merit a warning in and of itself. I could see it being stated in such a way that it could merit a warning (“Your reading comprehension is worse than a moron’s”); and it might merit a warning after instructions to dial it back in a heated thread. I’m not sure what your point is. I checked your warnings, and you have never received an official warning for criticizing someone’s reading skills. They have been for much more blatant insults or for ignoring moderator instructions. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/28 "2011-07-02T05:37:53Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > It’s somewhat insulting, but not to the extent that it would _generally_ merit a warning in and of itself. I could see it being stated in such a way that it could merit a warning (“Your reading comprehension is worse than a moron’s”); and it might merit a warning after instructions to dial it back in a heated thread. > > I’m not sure what your point is. I checked your warnings, and you have never received an official warning for criticizing someone’s reading skills. They have been for much more blatant insults or for ignoring moderator instructions. It was an unofficial warning, which I quickly heeded and never did it again. I _do_ try to listen. Really. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/29 "2011-07-02T05:51:00Z")
I assume you’re talking about [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=604116), where after you said > [@Presidents and religion - smart enough to lie, or dumb enough to believe?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-and-religion-smart-enough-to-lie-or-dumb-enough-to-believe/577872/50): > > Okay, well,you go brush up on your reading skills and get back to me. > [@Presidents and religion - smart enough to lie, or dumb enough to believe?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-and-religion-smart-enough-to-lie-or-dumb-enough-to-believe/577872/53): > > I question your reading comprehension skills. […] > Again, your poor reading comprehension shines. I told you the following: > [@Presidents and religion - smart enough to lie, or dumb enough to believe?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-and-religion-smart-enough-to-lie-or-dumb-enough-to-believe/577872/61): > > Enough. Your posts on this topic are getting insulting and out of line for this forum. Stick to the argument without commenting on the intelligence and reading ability of other posters. I did tell you to stop making comments about someone else’s reading comprehension. I was also telling you you were being insulting in general. You seem to have missed the fact that I also warned **Diogenes the Cynic**. I didn’t single out the reading thing because it was, at most, borderline. The “liar” comment was unambiguously against the rules. Both of you were out of line for the last page or so before the warnings. I tried to make that clear in my actual warning: “If you can’t converse in a reasonable way, then ignore each other or just post in the Pit. Nobody wants their threads hijacked by read page after page of this nonsense.” ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/30 "2011-07-02T05:58:41Z")
I called him the Armchair Googlist as he gave several cites where people were _commanded_ to rape when they were not. Especially that Zechariah reference. Stuff like that is usually on anti-Bible cites that have no context. He kept telling me he was the expert and had gone to college for this (when I wasn’t aware he had studied the Torah - and studying the Christian OT is not the same, but still, Dio’s thing is a matter of language, not Jewish history). Not sure how out of line that was, really, but hey. :shrug: ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/31 "2011-07-02T06:00:26Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > I called him the Armchair Googlist as he gave several cites where people were _commanded_ to rape when they were not. Especially that Zechariah reference. Stuff like that is usually on anti-Bible cites that have no context. For the last time, I don’t care why you insulted someone. You’re not allowed to do it, the end. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/32 "2011-07-02T06:09:47Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > I called him the Armchair Googlist as he gave several cites where people were _commanded_ to rape when they were not. Especially that Zechariah reference. Stuff like that is usually on anti-Bible cites that have no context. > > He kept telling me he was the expert and had gone to college for this (when I wasn’t aware he had studied the Torah - and studying the Christian OT is not the same, but still, Dio’s thing is a matter of language, not Jewish history). This is the stuff that drives me nuts, First, my cites were correct and showed exactly what I said they showed. Secondly, I studied the entire Tanakh, and took classes specifically on Judaism and Jewish history. My “thing” is Biblical Criticism. Languages was an adjunct to that. Thirdly, I don’t do “anti-Bible sites.” I have no need to, and I’m not “anti-Bible.” I find the Bible very interesting and have spent a good deal of my adult life trying to learn about it. And there is no difference between the Jewish and Christian Pentateuchs. They are one and the same. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/33 "2011-07-02T06:17:46Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > For the last time, I don’t care why you insulted someone. You’re not allowed to do it, the end. Right, and when you want to find insult where there was none, you do so. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2011, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/34 "2011-07-02T06:35:50Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > Right, and when you want to find insult where there was none, you do so. “Jerk,” “a-hole,” and “liar” are some of the insults you have been warned for; they seem pretty clear to me. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/35 "2011-07-02T11:06:51Z")
Just let it go **CitizenPained** , you aint **Dio** , and you wont be getting the special treatment he does. Best accept that and move on. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/36 "2011-07-02T13:51:57Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > Right, and when you want to find insult where there was none, you do so. When I warned the two of you, I probably should have placed more emphasis on the fact that your conduct over the previous page or so was unacceptable. If I’d done that we wouldn’t be arguing if “Dial down the crazy, would ya?” is a remark about the poster or the post. I thought I did make that point but maybe I should have stressed it a bit more. Regardless, the best you can say about “Dial down the crazy, would ya?” is that it’s _possible_ to read it as a comment on the post (the actual text doesn’t give a hint one way or the other) and that the “expert armchair Googlist” comment wasn’t that bad. Both of you made the argument too personal in that thread. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/37 "2011-07-02T14:06:04Z")
I believe Citizen Pained got a bum deal first off. Her continuing in this thread isn’t helping though. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/38 "2011-07-02T15:22:07Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > That is stretching it, **Marley**. \*Dial down the crazy \*is not calling a person crazy, though apparently you/mods are fine with people saying I [can’t](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13973499&postcount=88) read as those always go unchecked. It is [Dio’s favorite insult](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=614208&page=2) and one that occurs in every exchange. > [@CitizenPained](#): > > I think I figured it was polite to tell someone not to bother) but didn’t warn **Dio** for his assertion that yet again, [I can’t read](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13978762&postcount=57). None of those links are what you suggest they are. Stick with your original argument, not the “poor persecuted me” routine you’re spiraling into. The first has merit, the latter just makes you look desperate. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553/39 "2011-07-02T18:14:07Z")
Since the OP has now been suspended for a month, I am closing this thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-for-dial-down-the-crazy/587553.md?page=1)