I wrote this moderator’s comment on a post by inthedarkness on 12/15. It is not just for him.
There is a rule against making personal attacks, but there is another rule that when someone breaks a rule and taunts you with an attack, DO NOT RESPOND. If a personal attack is met with a counter attack, then this forum spirals into an argument, not a dialog. Let the moderators handle it.
I have been allowing too much argument this year. It needs to end.
As the rules clearly state at the top, enforcement of those rules is at the discretion of the moderators. I talk to CFI staff on rare occasions, and they have never criticized or corrected our work. There is an email that is published on their main page and, also rare, it has been used by members here. Feel free.
That discretion includes ignoring some of the rules, especially those that are more like suggestions. We are lucky that disruptive users are rare, they tend to come in, flame out, ignore warnings, and get banned. If the frequency or quantity picked up, rule enforcement would have to pick up with it and probably be more arbitrary. Anyway, let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
In the other direction, how often do we add quality members? The “Related Topics” suggested at the bottom of threads can take me back to some nostalgic days, when more than 3 people engaged in threads, when topics didn’t trend back to some common themes. “Free will” got to be a bit of a joke, but I don’t remember the forum being like it is now.
So, I know you’re all busy, and the holidays are coming up. I tend to get a little busy through late January. To bring back the rule of “not making it personal”, I might temporarily ban members, even members who have here for a long time. I don’t expect quick changes, and don’t want to be working through this when I should be with family and friends.
If anyone feels it is me that is making it personal, please use the quote and link functions to show me what I did.