# Why Is Liberal Allowed To Use GD As A Personal Blog??? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 22, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924 "2009-07-22T22:50:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/141 "2009-07-23T22:49:15Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I raised the topic first in general terms (post 47), and mentioned names only after **Fenris** asked me to. Well, that’s what it looked like to the unwashed and illiterate masses. As you’ve since clarified, you just picked three names out of a hat, and then went off on an unrelated tangent about bad blood. It just happened that the sentences were next to each other, but no thinking person would interpret that to mean they were connected in any way. Anyway, I’ll bow out now, given your mod note. Hell, I’ll even admit that I like having you around. I have a soft spot in my heart for weasely backpedalers who get themselves tied up in knots and then try to bluff their way out of it–it’s like watching a kitten play with a ball of string. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/142 "2009-07-23T22:55:44Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > > [@Seven](#): > > > > Don’t play dumb. > > See? He isn’t playing. > [@Tenebras](#): > > Anyway, I’ll bow out now, given your mod note. Hell, I’ll even admit that I like having you around. I have a soft spot in my heart for weasely backpedalers who get themselves tied up in knots and then try to bluff their way out of it–it’s like watching a kitten play with a ball of string. Personal insults are not allowed in ATMB. Feel free to take issue with what’s posted, but do not insult the other posters. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/143 "2009-07-23T23:08:41Z")
True Tenbras, for shame. You _should_ have said: “Seriously, do you see yourself, \< Random Mod’s Name Here \> as a straight-talking guy who directly answers questions without weaseling? I’m not interested in stepping into the middle of people’s idiotic grudges, some of which predate my time on this board. But let’s not bullshit here: there are people on this board who are weaselly backpedallers and who twist words, ignore common meanings and claim that just because sentences are adjacent to and dependent on each other, that there’s no correlation, thus no insult. Not that I mean you \< Random Mod’s Name Here \> Those sentences were just placed together for…um…warmth. It’s chilly here and they were huddled together to stay warm. No other meaning implied. Right?” See? It seems to me that this might have avoided you the warning. I’m just guessing though since I’m not a mod. Still waiting for a ruling on Post 140. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/144 "2009-07-23T23:36:30Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I hope this doesn’t come across as offensive, **Lib** , because it certainly isn’t intended that way, but what you have been doing differently seems to be helping. People can’t get you to react, and it’s driving them nuts. > > Regards, > Shodan Thanks. It’s the Tranxene. (And on rare occasions, the Clonazepam.) ---
**Author:** ![Xploder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a183cd/32.png) [@Xploder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xploder)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/145 "2009-07-23T23:40:39Z")
YEEHAH!!! Now then…back to my OP. Here is exactly what I’m talking about: [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11369678&postcount=220). Corrct me if I’m wrong but, isn’t saying that if I **don’t** conform to the rules that he has dictated for his multiple thread pointlessness, then he is going to, oh so ever politely, completely ignore me? This is how you debate? Bullshit. No matter how you look at it, it’s a blog post and nothing else BUT a blog post. My Thread, My Rules. Don’t like it? then don’t participate. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/146 "2009-07-24T00:13:11Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > So…to be clear, if instead of saying (paraphrased) “I wish I could call you a liar, but I can’t here”, I had said “Jews are not polytheists\*; it’s the denial of their faith. Pretending otherwise is a lie; an attempt to pretend that their beliefs are something they’re not.” I’d have been fine??? In no way. Accusations of lying are prohibited. There are two reasons for this: The first, as hammered out in lengthy discussions among the SDMB members, is that accusations of lying are simply a form of name-calling, (already prohibited). They are nothing more than a way to disparage another poster while inciting that poster to engage in similar name-calling, reducing any debate to a Pit thread. The second is that in the vast majority of cases, one does not really have enough information to correctly deduce that the poster actually is lying. It is simply a rhetorical device based on a desire to shut down any discussion while angering one’s opponent. Given how far **Lib** is from most mainstream Christian traditions, it would seem to me to be far more likely that **Lib** is simply not attuned to actual Jewish theology than that he is deliberately inventing things. This is true in the vast majority of similar cases, as well. The following would have been an allowable restatement of your passage, above: “_Jews are not polytheists; it’s directly counter to their faith. Any assertion that Jews could embrace any aspect of polytheism reflects a complete lack of understanding regarding the core of Jewish belief._” > [@Fenris](#): > > You can’t possibly be telling me that it’s ok to follow the “Der Trihs” model and go to you and say: “You’re Catholic? All Catholic people are deluded liars.” but it’s not ok to say “I wish I could call you a liar, but I can’t.” Do you have an example of **Der Trihs** actually posting something parallel to this? **Der Trihs** is quite careful to avoid posting that first sentence/question. On a couple of occasions, he has forgotten himself and linked his silly rants directly to posters and I have admonished him on every one of those occasions that I have seen. He does post that all Christians are mean spirited and deluded and that all Republicans are greedy–just as we have other posters who make similarly stupid statements that all Bush or Obama supporters or atheists or believers in any religion are stupid or hateful. As long as they refrain from tying that nonsense directly to another poster, it is allowed to pass. So far, no one has actually raised an objection to that usage. [Here is the post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7697044#post7697044) on the rules thread. That date is 2006, but 2006 was when Dex consolidates a series of separate threads and posts into three coherent threads; the rule has been around a lot longer. (It would make my life easier to simply ban everyone who enjoys that constructon, but the Teeming Millions appear to consider such expressions par for the course–until someone directs them at their own cherished group, at which point I hear a lot of wailing about their gored oxen, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/147 "2009-07-24T00:52:46Z")
How is “_I do believe that intentional and belligerent distractions from the ongoing dicussions constitutes thread shitting_” not calling anyone who debates the issues **Lib** doesn’t want debated (in future posts), a thread-shitter? And why is this not jr modding. Who gets to determine what are “intentional distractions” in a debate forum? And finally, how (if allowed by mods) is that NOT blogging? Non Lib-hater here. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/148 "2009-07-24T01:57:25Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > I rarely, if ever, report threads in GD. Tom has, at least once, indicated that he doesn’t believe those thread reports are confidential and has brought up a [[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10135336&postcount=152poster’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10135336&postcount=152poster's) reports to try to win an argument/shut up a poster. > > \< we now pause for Tom to say “But Shodan mentioned reported threads in an earlier post in that thread” and “But I wasn’t in my forum, I wasn’t acting as a mod when I was using mod-only info to attack him” as though those points were relevant. \> > > Therefore, while I try to help mods in other forums, including reporting a likely returned multi-troll to Tuba/Lynn/Gfactor, I’m not comfortable doing so in GD. I am disappointed at this bullshit. I have never mentioned any reported post or who posted it at any time. In the Pit, Shodan claimed that another thread in another forum was not moderated to his satisfaction. I asked whether he had reported the post. He made the claim that he had reported things in my forum and not received satisfaction. I noted that he reported lots of stuff in my forum. At no point have I ever indicated any reported post by any poster. At no point have I ever breached anything resembling the confidentiality of a reported post. You can use whatever excuse you wish for failing to report a post or a thread, but a claim that you fear a breach of confidentiality is without merit or substance. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/149 "2009-07-24T02:08:17Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I am disappointed at this bullshit. > … In a thread with a mod warning to two users for mild insults, maybe you should watch the insults. Try acting the way you wish others to act. ---
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/150 "2009-07-24T02:27:45Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > In the Pit, Shodan claimed that another thread in another forum was not moderated to his satisfaction. > I asked whether he had reported the post. > He made the claim that he had reported things in my forum and not received satisfaction. > I noted that he reported lots of stuff in my forum. Give me a break. You openly mocked him for reporting posts. To suggest you merely “noted that he reported lots of stuff” is nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/151 "2009-07-24T02:45:15Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > The following would have been an allowable restatement of your passage, above: “_Jews are not polytheists; it’s directly counter to their faith. Any assertion that Jews could embrace any aspect of polytheism reflects a complete lack of understanding regarding the core of Jewish belief._” That was pretty much what \*\*DSeid \*\*said to me, and was the reason I began to listen to him, and eventually learned that my understanding of Judaism had not been correct. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/152 "2009-07-24T02:50:07Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > In a thread with a mod warning to two users for mild insults, maybe you should watch the insults. Try acting the way you wish others to act. I have insulted no one. I attacked the post, not the poster, just as though I was following the rules of **GD**. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/153 "2009-07-24T03:02:11Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Do you have an example of **Der Trihs** actually posting something parallel to this? **Der Trihs** is quite careful to avoid posting that first sentence/question. On a couple of occasions, he has forgotten himself and linked his silly rants directly to posters and I have admonished him on every one of those occasions that I have seen. Wow, an actual admonishment? Might you even remonstrate? When dealing with a repeated offender acting with deliberate malice, what is so hard with giving an actual official warning (and if he doesn’t stop it, banning)? Y’know, actions someone might actually give a damn about? > [@](#): > > [URL=“[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7697044#post7697044](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7697044#post7697044)”](It would make my life easier to simply ban everyone who enjoys that constructon, but the Teeming Millions appear to consider such expressions par for the course–until someone directs them at their own cherished group, at which point I hear a lot of wailing about their gored oxen, of course.) I actually doubt that. I think a lot of people would have no problem with forbidding “X are all assholes,” especially in cases where we all know perfectly well what’s intended. The pantywaist “well, he didn’t say the exact magic naughty words, so we can’t do anything” approach is intellectually dishonest, and Mods who hide behind it are all cowards. Does that sentance seem like the kind of discourse we want? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/154 "2009-07-24T03:08:50Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I have insulted no one. I attacked the post, not the poster, just as though I was following the rules of **GD**. A weak excuse there. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/155 "2009-07-24T03:37:54Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > A weak excuse there. It was not an excuse. I corrected your error. = = = Furt, I am absolutely certain that you are wrong. There are a handful of very civil posters who would prefer that gross generalizations not be hurled around like rice after a wedding, but judging from the Reported posts I get, most of the posters who are deeply offended when their ox is gored are quite happy to turn around and make blanket statements about those they scorn. You want the rules tightened up? Do what the TM did regarding the calling of “liars” and “lie” in Great Debates and open a thread to discuss it. No one is protected by avoiding some “magic naughty word,” (I’m not even quite sure what you mean by that). We don’t hand out Warnings for insults directed at third parties outside the SDMB. Not Jesus or Moses, not Stalin or Hitler, not Jews or Jews for Jesus. If you want a new rule, then propose it and see how it goes with the TM. In the discussions I’ve seen, the majority of posters who bother to take an opinion and share it always come down on the side of “no censorship.” “We’re all grownups, here, let us post what we want.” So the current rule is that you can make whatever idiotic statement you wish as long as you do not direct it against another poster. If that bothers you, raise up enough posters to champion a different rule and then formulate it into a way that can actually be enforced. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/156 "2009-07-24T03:58:40Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > A weak excuse there. A wide opening of the door more like. Myself, I bookmarked it. These things are handy to have in your vest pocket like so many nickles… ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/157 "2009-07-24T08:18:43Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > No one is protected by avoiding some “magic naughty word,” (I’m not even quite sure what you mean by that). “All of group X are evil bastards,” when I know full well you are a member of group X, is no different from “you are an evil bastard.” To pretend otherwise is playing magic words. I wasn’t discussing insults to abstract off-board “third parties” but the way **Der Trihs** (and a few others from time to time) repeatedly address other posters on this board in GD. It’s ridiculous to pretend that hurling blanket invective against all theists _while in the course of conversation with one_, is not meant as a personal insult. It’s common sense, but instead you let him slide on what amounts to a lawyerly technicality. It’s akin to saying that “people whose usernames rhyme with **Fiberal** are dishonest and evil” would not be an insult. > [@](#): > > In the discussions I’ve seen, the majority of posters who bother to take an opinion and share it always come down on the side of “no censorship.” “We’re all grownups, here, let us post what we want.” So the current rule is that you can make whatever idiotic statement you wish as long as you do not direct it against another poster. Have you ever considered that the “open a thread about rules and see which drama queens and messageboard lawyers decide to scream the loudest in the inevitable 40-page trainwreck” approach might have limitations as far as hearing what the civil-debate people think? If you’re convinced that “no censorship” is what everyone wants, and the goal is to accede to popular sentiment … why not have no censorship? If on the other hand, the goal is to preserve a civil, intelligent debate forum, you’re going to have to impose rules and actually _enforce_ them in a meaningful way, even when – indeed especially when – most us are inclined to give into our baser natures and want the freedom to vent our spleen. We have a forum for personal insults. I wish we could keep them there. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/158 "2009-07-24T10:28:58Z")
> [@furt](#): > > . . .the way **Der Trihs** (and a few others from time to time) repeatedly address other posters on this board in GD. Gored oxen. Over half the consistent posters in GD use the same tactics regarding one group or another. Some posters are trickier about how they phrase it so that they can play the game of plausible deniability: “_Show me where I said **that**._” after they have clearly conveyed their contempt for their fellow posters, (talk about your magic words defense), but it has been a standard practice on the board since its inception. There is no indication that Der Trihs is aiming his nonsense at the posters with whom he is engaging. His comments are consistent regardless whether or not there are any members of the groups he condemns posting in any given thread. (The same is generally true of the rest of the crowd, as well.) When I begin to see the posters complaining about **Der Trihs** reporting or challenging the posters who are on their own side of an argument who are engaged in the same behavior, I will review the situation to see whether it has moved beyond complaints of ox goring. ---
**Author:** ![Xploder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a183cd/32.png) [@Xploder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xploder)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/159 "2009-07-24T12:15:31Z")
So… **Why is liberal allowed to use Great Debates as a personal blog???** ---
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924/160 "2009-07-24T12:17:12Z")
**tomndebb** , you take this whole Internet tough guy cop thing waaaaaaay too seriously. It’s just a message board. Get over it. Go out and spend some time with your family. There MUST be better things to do in your life then spending all your time policing this silly little message board, no? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-liberal-allowed-to-use-gd-as-a-personal-blog/503924.md?page=9)