This forum is getting more and more activity, and a lot more presence from both side of the aisle (as opposed to the olden days, which consisted largely of a single conservative vs the Liberal hordes), which is good; and as a result, is getting very, very heated (which is not so good), and sometime downright rude (very, very not good), so, being that I am a moderator and some people have asked me to look over this forum, it is time to lay down the Law.
This isn't meant to be condemnation for anybody's past posts (I'd have to start with my own misdeeds, which are sinister in quality and numerous in quantity, then I'd have to take care of most of the rest of Bulbagarden staff, from evkl on down), but rather as a call to action regarding future posts.
There aren't many rules here; we still want fairly open discussion; we'd just like it to be a little less hostile than it's been lately.
First, death threats or wishes (that is, "I wish X would die") toward your fellow posters are absolutely and expressly forbidden, and are ground for an instant ban. The duration of the ban is at the discretion of the staff. We reserve the right to be lenient in borderline case, but you should never expect us to be; and you should err on the side of caution. (Other forms of violence or suffering are not considered much of an improvement)
For legal reason, that rule also applies to death threats and wishes toward the President of the United States (regardless of political affiliation).
Second, insulting generalization are not welcome. Americans are not all uneducated, Muslims are not all fanatics, welfare users are not all bums, liberals are not all hippies or communists, conservatives are not all warmongers or fascists. Abusive use of that sort of generalizations will be treated as trolling.
By extension, we ask that you try not to use offensive names in reference to political organizations or groups you don't like when arguing with members of those groups. Again, we reserve the right to treat abuse of offensive nicknames (such as "Anti-Choice" or "Pro-Death") in lieu of the proper terms as trolling.
Third, and I stress that this will NOT be a cause for infractions or warnings, I ask people to please heed Godwin's law. Comparisons to Hitler, Nazism and Nazi Germany (including the SS, Gestapo, cries of "Heil (Name)", death camps, the Munich agreement, and use of the term "Furher") are not a valid debating tactic. They make you look dumb.
In direct relations to that, no, comparing or linking people to the Soviet Union, its leaders and its ideology is not a better debating tactics. It also makes you look dumb. In fact, let's just assume that comparisons to Evil Empires, Evil Ideologies and Evil People, historical or fictional, usually don't reflect too well on you.
This, of course, does not apply when you're talking about actual communists or nazis (that's "people who actually identify as such"). Or the actual galactic empire from Star Wars if for whatever (very obscure) reason we should wind up having a debate about them. Note also that "socialist" and "fascist" are fairly legitimate words to use.
Fourth, we'd like to ask people to think twice before attacking another poster, rather than his ideas. Sometime, you may feel that it's vitally important to tell someone they don't know what they are talking about or that they are just plain dishonest; that's tolerated (within reason; if you start chucking out personnal attacks every other post we may resort to warnings and, failing that, infractions), but we'd prefer people to adress each other's idea, where possible.
Fifth, as a general tip to make your posts more interesting, you may want to take a look at these:
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/mathew/logic.html
No, we won't infract you for not following these guidelines. It's a free tip, not a rule.
Sixth, use basic posting courtesy; particularly with regard to all-caps post. This should be basic courtesy, so I will issue warnings and infractions right off the bat on that one.
Seventh, while we intend to keep our interventions to a minimum, we will not tolerate posts or threads that drag the forum in what we consider meaningless discussion (and will keep an especially close eyes on conspiracy theory threads in that regard), and reserve the right to take any measure we consider necessary to avoid this.
Eight, the mods decide what goes in the Hall of Shame or get closed. You don't. If you want a thread closed or moved there, report it (using the usual report function). Posts of the "In b4 Hall of Shame" variety will be treated as ridiculous spam.
Finally, nothing in these rules is set in stone. We're open to suggestions and comments, and will probably make change; these rules are a mean to an end, not an end in and of themselves.
This isn't meant to be condemnation for anybody's past posts (I'd have to start with my own misdeeds, which are sinister in quality and numerous in quantity, then I'd have to take care of most of the rest of Bulbagarden staff, from evkl on down), but rather as a call to action regarding future posts.
There aren't many rules here; we still want fairly open discussion; we'd just like it to be a little less hostile than it's been lately.
First, death threats or wishes (that is, "I wish X would die") toward your fellow posters are absolutely and expressly forbidden, and are ground for an instant ban. The duration of the ban is at the discretion of the staff. We reserve the right to be lenient in borderline case, but you should never expect us to be; and you should err on the side of caution. (Other forms of violence or suffering are not considered much of an improvement)
For legal reason, that rule also applies to death threats and wishes toward the President of the United States (regardless of political affiliation).
Second, insulting generalization are not welcome. Americans are not all uneducated, Muslims are not all fanatics, welfare users are not all bums, liberals are not all hippies or communists, conservatives are not all warmongers or fascists. Abusive use of that sort of generalizations will be treated as trolling.
By extension, we ask that you try not to use offensive names in reference to political organizations or groups you don't like when arguing with members of those groups. Again, we reserve the right to treat abuse of offensive nicknames (such as "Anti-Choice" or "Pro-Death") in lieu of the proper terms as trolling.
Third, and I stress that this will NOT be a cause for infractions or warnings, I ask people to please heed Godwin's law. Comparisons to Hitler, Nazism and Nazi Germany (including the SS, Gestapo, cries of "Heil (Name)", death camps, the Munich agreement, and use of the term "Furher") are not a valid debating tactic. They make you look dumb.
In direct relations to that, no, comparing or linking people to the Soviet Union, its leaders and its ideology is not a better debating tactics. It also makes you look dumb. In fact, let's just assume that comparisons to Evil Empires, Evil Ideologies and Evil People, historical or fictional, usually don't reflect too well on you.
This, of course, does not apply when you're talking about actual communists or nazis (that's "people who actually identify as such"). Or the actual galactic empire from Star Wars if for whatever (very obscure) reason we should wind up having a debate about them. Note also that "socialist" and "fascist" are fairly legitimate words to use.
Fourth, we'd like to ask people to think twice before attacking another poster, rather than his ideas. Sometime, you may feel that it's vitally important to tell someone they don't know what they are talking about or that they are just plain dishonest; that's tolerated (within reason; if you start chucking out personnal attacks every other post we may resort to warnings and, failing that, infractions), but we'd prefer people to adress each other's idea, where possible.
Fifth, as a general tip to make your posts more interesting, you may want to take a look at these:
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/mathew/logic.html
No, we won't infract you for not following these guidelines. It's a free tip, not a rule.
Sixth, use basic posting courtesy; particularly with regard to all-caps post. This should be basic courtesy, so I will issue warnings and infractions right off the bat on that one.
Seventh, while we intend to keep our interventions to a minimum, we will not tolerate posts or threads that drag the forum in what we consider meaningless discussion (and will keep an especially close eyes on conspiracy theory threads in that regard), and reserve the right to take any measure we consider necessary to avoid this.
Eight, the mods decide what goes in the Hall of Shame or get closed. You don't. If you want a thread closed or moved there, report it (using the usual report function). Posts of the "In b4 Hall of Shame" variety will be treated as ridiculous spam.
Finally, nothing in these rules is set in stone. We're open to suggestions and comments, and will probably make change; these rules are a mean to an end, not an end in and of themselves.
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