Please Skinner, I'm begging you

[clar]

Please bring back the five sentence rule. Please crack down on some of the more egregious flame baiting. I'm sickened by the relentless invective. It's not spirited debate to dart from thread to thread hurling half truths and loathsome names,

For those doing it: Try and be a little more conscious. OK, so a remark about your fave candidate gets your pulse racing. Before responding, take a few deep breaths. Is it really worth joining the fray? I've heard the arguments about how this is politics...rough and tumble, part of the process, blah, blah, blah. I don't buy it. When we do this stuff- hurling out words like, scum, facist, war criminal- we demean ourselves. This board now looks about as intelligent and thoughtful as freerepublic.

[sangh0]

1. I second the motion

.

[roughsatori]

2. This should be in the "Ask the Administrator" forum

but I too preferred the 5 sentence rule in General Discussion.

[ixion]

3. Actually, Skinner is very concerned with flame baiting, etc

but it's a very difficult job to balance this and to allow for maximum free speech bandwidth. I totally agree that there are petty flame wars going on, and that people should really try and be civil and debate in good faith. That, however, is up to the DU'ers in large part. Having served as a Mod, I've been involved with this first hand. Really, the admins and mods spend a great deal of time debating action to be taken on a substantial number of posts, but obviously, no one wants to restrict freedom of speech. That's what we're supposed to be against. ;-)

[HereSince1628]

4. skinner, please don't bring back the 5 sentence rule though

Du'ers might take clar's concerns to heart

[CatWoman]

5. eat shit and die!!!!

:D

[madrchsod]

8. why don`t you

say exactly how you feel about the subject?? don`t hold back-let it all out!!

[CatWoman]

11. If it's not apparent

I was kidding.

[Robin Hood]

6. It's real simple,

If you don't like what is going on, don't respond and ignore it. You don't have to respond.

[DuctapeFatwa]

7. Scum, fascists and war criminals are a proud American political tradition

I guess you prefer the euphemism "electable?"

[Cronus Protagonist]

9. Hear Hear - GD is getting like the Lounge (eom)

Click Here To See Fair & Balanced Buttons, Stickers & Magnets!>

[oasis]

10. 5 sentence rule hampers last minute notice of events and programs.

example: Sen. Byrd on C-SPAN...Ahnold is getting booed on CNN...Conason is telling Tweety off on MSNBC.

[KoKo]

14. The five sentence rule could be modified so that announcing an event

could be less. I thought it was better here during the "experiment" but realized that for some posts the five sentences were really hard to do.

[juajen]

16. These should be the "exceptions" to min. rules.

N/T

[Clete]

12. Be patient.

The crummy posts are usually by disruptors and they eventually get tombstoned. I have been using alert lately on suspicious posts. I do qualify them that I don't want the poster banned, but they should be watched for a pattern of disruption.

[juajen]

13. I do agree in part,

I think any thread in GD should be thoughtful and well-meaning, but I'm not sure there should be a minimum amount of sentences. Maybe the flamers should be reined in by the Admin., but, we have voluntary mods and, frankly, the job is sorta daunting.

I disagree that this forum is getting "lounge-like", however. I rarely go to the lounge. GD is still my favorite and I just go more carefully through the topics. It is getting harder to weed out the flamepits. At that point I just get out and go to another thread. To be a free forum means there will be a certain amount of bashing and flaming. I think the mods do a good job. Sometimes some of these threads just have to be locked down.

We should expect a lot more trolling as our candidates and their views become more well known. We are, unfortunately, the flame the moths are drawn to. They can flutter, we just need to burn pure and bright, love all our candidates, and discuss them thoroughly, but with some compassion. They are all DEMS.

[quinnox]

15. I'm for it

bringing back the no profanity and 5 sentence rule.

[Rowdyboy]

19. I agree...

GD was more political and less childish under the temporary rules. I was sorry to see them go.

[ButterflyBlood]

17. NO NO NO NO NO

we don't need anymore rules.

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

18. no, rather just wade thru

enough with the rules.

rules tend to make DU too sterile.

I'd rather wade thru the bile and stench, than to
completely sanitize DU GD.

[clar]

20. How does the 5 sentence rule

for posts, create a sterile environment?
As far as profanity goes, I'm of two minds. I liked the brief respite from the bilge, but don't really see banning certain language as compatible with DU.
Exceptions could easily be made for announcements.

[newyawker99]

21. I am locking this thread.

Questions about Democratic Underground policies belong in the "Ask the Administrators" forum. All discussion topics relating to Democratic Underground policies, procedures, enforcement, etc., which are posted outside of the "Ask the Administrators" forum will be locked or deleted.



NYer99
DU Moderator