Forum rules?

I think some simple rules would be good. Here are the rules on my message boards, 1 and 4 seem like good rules for most boards:

1- Don't insult people unless you are kidding. If you think someone said something stupid, instead of telling them they are stupid, just try to explain your opinion and why you disagree as best you can.

2- Don't overuse emoticons, try to express yourself with words.

3- Keep recipes vegan. (Obviously we don't need to keep recipes vegan here - but maybe we should.....)

4- If you aren't sure about something, do some fact checking on wikipedia.org or google, and cite your source; it makes political discussions a little smoother.

5- Racist, sexist, homophobic things will be immediately deleted. We encourage debate but that sort of thing just won't be tolerated. (I think here there is some debate as to what exactly is racist, sexist, homophobic so maybe that wouldn't apply either)

6- Above all, promise to be awesome at all times.

I think a reminder of what these boards are about (community building comes to mind) would be helpful. I also think that logging in won't deter most people with something to say, and perhaps a reminder that all IPs are logged might discourage some troll-like behavior (and you don't have to be a troll to engage in troll-like behavior).

dailyheights wrote: Who gets to decide what's racist, sexist and homophobic?

i think we can agree that theres a general culturally-held standard in our community as to whats acceptable and what isnt. it doesnt take much but a little common sense a dash of social tact, and a measure of holding your tongue

Well if dailyheights is open to it, why not vote on what's acceptable?

daveb wrote: Well if dailyheights is open to it, why not vote on what's acceptable?

Because this is a brutal autocracy, not a democracy. :idea: :idea: :idea:

There's also that golden rule that I've recently taken to heart...

Don't feed the trolls!

totally an aside here, but i can't believe someone gave virginia fields crap about use of the term "paddy wagon." i say this as a the daughter of a paddy po-po.

on topic now, i support rules 1 and 5, though its sometimes difficult to tell when people are kidding over the internerd. i occasionally moderate on another board which is very light on the moderation, but still doesn't tolerate certain abusive behaviors: ie. trolling, spamming, personal abuse, racist hate speech, vegan recipes . (just kidding about the vegan stuff...) when a post is reported for offensiveness, the mods online will usually do a quick discussion on the matter and mete out probations, banning or what have you. there was also the necessity to have a log after a while when some poeple complained about inconsistency. (but this board is huge, and has been around for well over five years)

so check it out: https://www.bowlie.com/index.php?
the rules can be found here: https://www.bowlie.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4806

it seems like a lot of rules, we usually only have to handout the beatdowns with regards to personal abuse, spamming, and trolling.

Subject: Awesome ...

I personally have a tiny problem with Rule #6. What is your definition of "awesome" ? And, if one fails to be awesome (or at least consistently awesome) is there a price to pay ? Banishment ? No desert ? Forced to eat beef (or pork) (or tofu chicken salad) ? It's a tough standard, in my humble opinion - a bit daunting as well ...

Anyway, as they say, "just asking .." :?



Oh no! I think I just broke one of the other rules. :oops: Uh oh, there I go again !!! Help !!!

Sorry to offend you ... and I'm not a dude.

It is so not awesome that on the Internet it is often difficult to tell when someone is joking...

This is why God invented the :idea: symbol.

Yeah, I catch a lot of flack for referring to my girlfriend as a "dude". I think it's officially moved to the same unisex usage as "guys". As in it can refer to both sexes when used informally.

I have a feeling that if I started calling my GF that, I'd wake up one morning in a state permanent falsetto.

rhodamine wrote:
nope, i hate dawg. alot. "dawg" implies a certain tacky je ne sais quoi that i eschew, as opposed to what "dude" implies... that you grew up in the 80s, have lived in california, or have watched "bill and ted's excellent adventure" too many times.

i call my wife dude sometimes. she never cares. unless i say it when were arguing, then she always says "im. not. yer. dude!"

"Dude" is pretty strongly ingrained into the Vermont vernacular as well.

Honestly, I wouldn't miss it if it suddenly disappeared from my daily speech but it's pretty deeply ingrained, along with "wicked"

"Dude, that was wicked"

*shudder*

I think you just summarized my adolescence.