# What happens if someone violates a rule in a thread that will be quickly deleted?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [March 1, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770 "2013-03-01T22:40:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/1 "2013-03-01T22:40:20Z")
Just curious, what happens in this scenario?
[ul]
[li]Spammer posts a thread whoring some streaming video site.[/li][li]Doper A reports thread, posts “Reported” [/li][li]Doper B calls doper A a naughty word[/li][li]Doper C insults the spammer in a way that clearly breaks board rules[/li][li]Doper D posts a direct link to an offensive image[/li][li]Mod arrives, deletes (or disappears) thread.[/li][/ul]
Do any of dopers B, C and D still get a warning, even though the thread has gone?
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/2 "2013-03-01T22:59:33Z")
The traditional practice is that Doper C does not get warned. I don’t remember seeing Doper B or Doper D scenarios happening in spam threads.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2013, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/3 "2013-03-01T23:09:23Z")
I’ve never warned any doper in an obviously spam thread. I doubt that my colleagues have either.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2013, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/4 "2013-03-01T23:14:33Z")
Thanks.
I feel the need to add: I’m not looking for license or opportunity to break the rules, BTW - just idly curious.
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### Author:  [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2013, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/5 "2013-03-01T23:16:14Z")
> [@samclem](#):
>
> I’ve never warned any doper in an obviously spam thread. I doubt that my colleagues have either.
Does that mean that anything goes in a obviously soon-to-be-deleted spam thread? What fun! Let the expletives fly! Release the hounds!!
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/6 "2013-03-01T23:40:32Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#):
>
> Does that mean that anything goes in a obviously soon-to-be-deleted spam thread? What fun! Let the expletives fly! Release the hounds!!
You don’t waste a decent slab of spam on hounds!
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/7 "2013-03-02T01:41:26Z")
> [@samclem](#):
>
> I’ve never warned any doper in an obviously spam thread. I doubt that my colleagues have either.
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#):
>
> Does that mean that anything goes in a obviously soon-to-be-deleted spam thread? What fun! Let the expletives fly! Release the hounds!!
Sure. Knock yourself out.
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/8 "2013-03-02T02:18:35Z")
> [@samclem](#):
>
> Sure. Knock yourself out.
That’s what he wants you to do. The catch is “Soon to be deleted spam thread”
When you let fly how do you know it will be deleted? samclem is sitting in his secrecy lair with his jackboots on just waiting. Waiting for you to let fly in a thread you believe will be deleted. Then he has your ass. \*
- Just kidding Sam I think you and the other mods rock.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/9 "2013-03-02T02:33:19Z")
> [@Rick](#):
>
> - Just kidding Sam I think you and the other mods rock.
Suckup noted. 😃
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/10 "2013-03-02T03:20:41Z")
While I agree with Sam that I have never issued Warnings to subsequent posters in a thread that was clearly a spam thread, I would note that if the thread had been open long enough that Doper B’s name calling had gotten the attention of Doper A and a fight had broken out, I would reconsider that decision.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/11 "2013-03-02T03:50:27Z")
I don’t issue warnings for insults against spammers if I’m deleting the thread. I generally give a pass against obvious trolls too. But you shouldn’t take anything for granted.
Like **tom** , I _could_ consider issuing a warning if a poster insulted another regular poster in a spam thread, but don’t recall any such case.
If someone _deliberately_ tried to take advantage of the situation to take a poke at another poster as **prr** suggests, I would probably issue a warning.
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2013, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/12 "2013-03-02T05:37:06Z")
What Colibri said. The fact that the thread is going to the cornfield doesn’t excuse obvious violations of the rules.
Ain’t no free pass, ladies and gentlemen.
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2013, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/13 "2013-03-02T13:49:39Z")
An additional rationale: If new posters see a thread (even an obvious spam thread) in which one poster insults another, they’ll think that insults are OK. All it takes is that they see the thread in the time between the Report and the actual disappearance of the thread.
So, while I probably wouldn’t warn a poster for insulting a spammer, I would not want to enshire that behavior as an acceptable exception to the rules. Most of us don’t want more rules. Seems to me that making a specific exception to the rules, well, that’s still expanding the rules, isn’t it? – that is, it expands the amount of reading that one must do to learn the rules.
And, IMHO, insulting another poster (not the spammer) is still NOT OK, even if the thread is going to disappear. It can be many hours before a spam thread is caught – and sometimes, there’s ambiguity about whether an OP is really a spammer or just a naive newcomer.
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### Author:  [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/14 "2013-03-02T13:55:34Z")
So we’ve gone full circle here, in less than a day, from **Samclem** ’s invitation to “Knock yourself out” dishing out expletives and insults in spam threads to the usual crowd of Mods issuing notice that such behavior is prohibited by law and shall result in the severest of possible sanctions.
Good job!
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2013, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/15 "2013-03-02T14:06:41Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#):
>
> So we’ve gone full circle here, in less than a day, from **Samclem** ’s invitation to “Knock yourself out” dishing out expletives and insults in spam threads to the usual crowd of Mods issuing notice that such behavior is prohibited by law and shall result in the severest of possible sanctions.
>
> Good job!
I did NOT say “severest of possible sanctions.” I said it was still a rules violation, but there is some room for leniency (Mod Report? Friendly Admonishment? Official Warning? Banning?) in how to deal with it. Since the mods do seem to have different attitudes, we probably need to discuss behind the scenes. There’s no surprise that different mods have different approaches to a hypothetical that hasn’t happened, so we’ve never discussed it before.
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### Author:  [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/16 "2013-03-02T14:23:43Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#):
>
> I did NOT say “severest of possible sanctions.”
I was enjoying the use of hyperbole, of course–I don’t imagine you would EVER employ the severest possible sanctions, which would be what? Hunting down posters IRL and murdering them in cold blood, plus their families and loved ones?
But it’s good to know that no one will ever be banned for interjecting into a spam thread all sorts of insults and expletives, and that you’re vowing always to employ some lenient form of action for violations in spam threads. Thanks for the clarification!
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/17 "2013-03-02T15:18:40Z")
If we honestly think a thread is going to be deleted but turn out to be mistaken, can we still go hog wild?
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/18 "2013-03-02T15:21:26Z")
Why do you have to violate the rules in the first place?
Whether the thread stays public or not is not the issue. It doesn’t say in the registration agreement that stuff only counts if a certain number of people see it.
Spam threads are not free passes to be a jerk.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/19 "2013-03-02T15:27:41Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#):
>
> So we’ve gone full circle here, in less than a day, from **Samclem** ’s invitation to “Knock yourself out” dishing out expletives and insults in spam threads to the usual crowd of Mods issuing notice that such behavior is prohibited by law and shall result in the severest of possible sanctions.
>
> Good job!
It looks to me like they’re formulating their ideas on the fly in front of us instead of using email. This is something kind of obscure that they hadn’t considered before. Seems reasonable to me as does the solution. They’ll bend the rules a bit in a spammer thread so long as one doesn’t take advantage and act like a complete ass. Yes, they did a very good job.
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### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-someone-violates-a-rule-in-a-thread-that-will-be-quickly-deleted/651770/20 "2013-03-02T17:47:58Z")
Just for the record I do remember a very obscene spammer that I let it have it, no strong swearing words, but it was a riff on what Kryten from Red Dwarf said as I knew that thread was going to disappear:
[http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0017430/quotes](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0017430/quotes)
> [@](#):
>
> [the gang have just destroyed a White Hole, thus canceling out the events of the episode - their reality is disappearing around them]
> Kryten: We’ll cease to be here, because none of this is ever to have happened. But we will exist back on Red Dwarf with no memory of these events, which of course never happened. And as these events never happened, we’ll have no memory of them.
> [turns to Rimmer]
> Kryten: In which case, Mr Rimmer, sir, I should like to take this opportunity to say that you are [SIZE=“2”]_the_ most obnoxious, trumped-up, _farty_ little smeghead that has ever been my misfortune to encounter! … [Image fades][/SIZE]
I replaced the lines to reflect that it was a thread in a message board and replaced Rimmer with “dirty spammer” and instead of “image fades” it was “thread fades” IIRC, so yeah, I did not get a warning after the thread was taken to oblivion.
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