Minor things that bother you

[Scott5114]

Well, the problem is that if you were to take the "politics is discouraged" rule as broadly construed as to mean "do not discuss anything that a politician has expressed an opinion on", with the current crop of politicians we have now, we would not be able to talk about things like:

- Travis Kelce
- Cracker Barrel
- Target
- Chicago
- Pennies
- Police
- Springfield, Ohio
- Dogs
- Sharks
- Batteries
- Hurricanes
- the Colorado River
- Shower heads
- Light bulbs

...which is obviously unworkable.

In general, the main thing I am looking for when I'm looking to see if a post is political are obviously inflammatory things like "of course you would think that, you're a fucking Monican" or "Alan Merritt ran this country into the ground" or "I hope everyone is supporting Jade Sault Sainte John Madden in this year's election". Anything else, I try to take a "wait and see" approach, because if a civil discussion happens, great, maybe people will learn from each other and we'll all have a good time. If it goes downhill and turns into an actual squabble, that's when I'm more likely to step in. (Also, I'm loathe to use mod powers in a discussion I'm actually involved in, because that just makes it look like I'm stifling people to win the argument, which would be pathetic.)

[kphoger]

Well, it would make me a hypocrite, since I make useless and stupid posts all the time, so.

Plenty of valuable, intelligent people make useless, stupid posts all the time.  I should know.

Can it as the forum rules are written?  P13 and Crash_It didn't get the axe for being stupid but rather when they crossed the line into other greater offenses.

I'm not aware of any express set of rules governing moderators' actions.  That is to say, the forum guidelines are all about what we are expected to do, not about what they are expected to do in response.  A mod could perma-ban all users who live in Florida just because his ex-wife moved there and, while all the other mods would certainly not take his side on that, it wouldn't actually break any rules.  But the mods have tried their level best—especially, or at least most noticeably to me, Scott N.—to keep their involvement limited to clear guideline-breaking behavior.

If it makes any difference, I'm not asking for anyone to be banned, just for moderation to be more effective about contentious issues and a little more transparency about what actually constitutes political posts that aren't allowed. And I didn't call anyone stupid or useless, just specific information within a specific post.

Flame wars need to be quenched whether they're political or not, in my opinion.  But there's no good way to define exactly what that means.  So, while there may be some inconsistent moderator action, I think we've generally reached a pretty good place these days.  By and large, forum members respect each other's positions enough to not do much more than drop a snarky one-liner.  And, in the event that an incendiary reply is made, we seem to do pretty well these days at not pouring gasoline on the fire.  Every once in a great while, a mod deletes some posts, but I personally appreciate the swift action when it happens;  the only thing is that I wish purple text would accompany every single such deletion.

Anything else, I try to take a "wait and see" approach, because if a civil discussion happens, great, maybe people will learn from each other and we'll all have a good time.

I've noticed several instances when this has worked out well.  It's a much different atmosphere than it was seven years ago or so.

[webny99]

Plenty of valuable, intelligent people make useless, stupid posts all the time

... but only a few have perfected the humble brag 

[1995hoo]

Unfortunately, I can't ban someone for being useless or stupid.

Sure you can.. 

As my mother (a retired English teacher) would say, "He can, but he may not."

[Scott5114]

A mod could perma-ban all users who live in Florida just because his ex-wife moved there and, while all the other mods would certainly not take his side on that, it wouldn't actually break any rules.

Well, other than the fact that to do so would involve banning Alex. Banning the guy who pays the server bills is more or less understood to be against the rules even if it's not written down anywhere.

[kphoger]

Unfortunately, I can't ban someone for being useless or stupid.

Sure you can.. 

As my mother (a retired English teacher) would say, "He can, but he may not."

Sure he may.  Who's refusing to allow him?

[Max Rockatansky]

Unfortunately, I can't ban someone for being useless or stupid.

Sure you can.. 

As my mother (a retired English teacher) would say, "He can, but he may not."

Sure he may.  Who's refusing to allow him?

Self restraint, so essentially himself.  Maybe Alex also, but he always struck me as being very hands off.