Cloudy wrote:
Am I safe in assuming that we can still disagree with each other as long as we do it in a polite and respectful way...? I would hope that good natured joshing will be acceptable. We get a lot of good natured, silly joshing on "The Baseball Thread", "Ban the Person Above You" thread, and the "Post Baseless Lies About the Person Above You" thread. (There may be a few more threads, where you will see good natured joshing, that don't come to mind right now.)
Anyway, I think that everyone has got the message, and I don't think SCAR or DANTE really have to worry about what the rest of us are going to post to the "ScaRatings" from now on.
p.s. If by some unlikely chance somebody should feel offended by something that somebody else has posted, allow me to suggest that they send a polite private message to that person, explaining why they felt offended, instead of complaining to SCAR or DANTE. If I know the people, who post here, I believe that they will respond politely, apologize for offending you, and endeavor not to do it again.
As some of you who have messaged me about other things in the past know, I am not very sympathetic to people who get offended because the sun came out in the morning, so, no, silly natured joshing is not against the rules. Nor is disagreement. Personal attacks -- or even things approaching them -- will be dealt with harshly. Personal attacks does not mean you disagree with someone, or with their ideas. It does mean you aren't capable of expressing yourself in a sensible manner.
And I agree, I certainly prefer people attempt to work out their disagreements privately first. I know that some people are highly non-confrontational on a 1 on 1 basis, but I don't particularly want to have to mediate between people who feel they have been slighted in some way. The proper thing to do in those cases is to talk it over privately, and, otherwise, click the report button on the post. The improper thing to do is to send me a private message because you're upset with someone else, and haven't even mentioned it first to them, or done anything to report it outside of PMing me.
There will no longer be any process by which people are warned repeatedly, and wherein I have to go into in depth private messages with them, usually about conversations I have 0 knowledge about. I will immediately ban the person(s) involved, if it crosses the line. I am relatively good at keeping people off forums, so it won't just be a "Buzztime" ban either.
I know that all sounds relatively stern, but I will let you guys know that's one of the ground rules from here on out. For those of you who don't like it, or who have expressed in private message to me that you think I'm incredibly unfair to you, am Stalin, am Hitler, am a variety of other political figures, etc., I can only say: go ahead and leave and post somewhere else.
We've treated everyone the same, despite some peoples' opinions, and I've approved people to be here that I expressly didn't want on the board to begin with. That's because we decided to make it open. The original rules work pretty well, and the line you have to cross to get banned is common sense. People get heated, and I understand that. It isn't a "Haha, you got a little mad, you're banned!" but more a, "If you think you may have to come back and edit your posts tomorrow morning and the content of your post is directed at a person, and not the person's ideas or actions, it would be better not to post it."
Again, use common sense, and you'll be just fine.
Thanks!